Brian Flores – September 22, 2021
Download PDF version
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
Head Coach Brian Flores
(Opening Statement) – “I’m going to open with Tua (Tagovailoa). I said on Monday that we were going to run some more tests. We ran those tests and Tua will be out this week. He has fractured ribs. Obviously he is in a lot of pain. He will be out this week. Jacoby (Brissett) will start. We’re just going to take it week to week. Let’s call it day to day and week to week but he’ll be out this week. I just wanted to put that out there right now. This is a tough kid. He wants to play. He’s actually trying to play. We’re going to save him from himself a little bit on this and hold him out this week and then take it week to week from there.”
(Is this injury one of those where you have to let it rest? Is there much you can do? Is it just time?) – “I’m no doctor so I don’t want to speak out of turn here when it comes to an injury like – or any injury. Rest always helps. We’ll just take it one day at a time; but right now we know that he’ll be out this week.”
(Do you anticipate QB Tua Tagovailoa being placed on IR?) – “Again, we’ll take it day to day. Like I said, he wants to play and I think he would try to play. But we will see how he responds over the next days. That’s not something that we’re really thinking about right now, but we’ve got to see how this trends over the course of the week.”
(What are you going to do as far as backup quarterback?) – “Reid Sinnett will be the backup quarterback.”
(You said QB Tua Tagovailoa took some additional tests after Monday or Tuesday. Was it a surprise that what you found on the additional tests weren’t on the initial tests?) – “Again, I’m not – X-rays, MRIs, CTs, that’s really not my ballpark. We did some more tests and that revealed the fractures. So that’s what it is. He’s in a lot of pain. Was I surprised? Is that what the question was? We got an initial diagnosis and we decided to run some more tests like we talked about on Monday. We ran them and we got this information. It’s unfortunate, but thankfully it’s not something we think is going to be – I don’t want to put a timetable on it. He’s taking it day to day. He’s better but he’s still dealing with some pain. We’ll take it one day at a time.”
(None of this is ideal obviously, but the fact that you’ve got some definitive answers early in the week, does that help him in terms of installing a plan and that sort of thing and not having certainty until Thursday or Friday or whatever?) – “You don’t want this. Nobody wants this. We are going to deal with – we have the information, we’re making a decision and we’re going to move forward with Jacoby (Brissett). The team knows that, the team understands that. Not ideal but we’re just going to move forward with the guys we have available.”
(How do you anticipate being able to get a lot of practice reps on Wednesday and Thursday or Wednesday and Friday, might help QB Jacoby Brissett compared to the situation last week?) – “Practice reps always help. We’ll have Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to go through our practice routine – early down, third down, red zone. Obviously he didn’t get a lot of reps last week. He will get a lot more this week and build some timing and some chemistry with the offensive line, the backs, the tight ends and the receivers. That always helps. You get that timing and you get those reps, you get some execution with some of those guys in practice, and hopefully it carries over to the game.”
(How does QB Jacoby Brissett’s skillset affect what you might focus on as far as running the offense compared to QB Tua Tagovailoa’s skillset?) – “Do you mean right-handed versus left-handed? I think that’s one obvious situation. One is right-handed and one is left-handed. The ball comes out a little bit differently from one guy to the other, so I think we’ll work through that from a practice standpoint. I think all of the receivers, tight ends and backs have caught the ball from both quarterbacks and really all three quarterbacks. This week, it will be Reid (Sinnett) as well. As far as a skillset, I don’t really think much changes, to be honest. We’ll just kind of move forward and try to prepare a game plan that puts us in a position to have some success.”
(Were there things that QB Jacoby Brissett did on Sunday that you liked? I know there is obviously a lotto correct, but were there things that he showed you that particularly stood out?) – “That’s a hard situation to go in with limited reps against a good team. Some of the timing things that you gain through practice, he kind of did it on the fly. I think this week will be good. I think we’ll use today, tomorrow and Friday to try to build some of that chemistry and build some of that timing in the pass game, as well as the run game, as far as ball-handling and things of that nature working with the centers. That’s the plan this week.”
(You mentioned QB Tua Tagovailoa is in a lot of pain and he wanted to play. How is he doing emotionally obviously knowing that he has to be down for this week?) – “He’s in good spirits. He’s a tough kid. He’s doing everything he can to get back as quickly as he can right now. He’s getting better. He wants to be out there. He wants to be with his teammates and I think this is the right move for him from a health standpoint and again, he wants to be out there. We’ve got to protect him though.”
(What sense do you and the coaching staff have about QB Jacoby Brissett relative to his ability to understand defenses and sense pressure and be good in the pocket awareness category?) – “I think all the quarterbacks do a good job from that standpoint – can step up in the pocket and move laterally and avoid the rush that way, have a good understanding of what we’re seeing or what the defense is doing. I feel good about all of them. That includes Jacoby and we’ll work through all – we’ll put them through some of those situations in practice where we try to create some instances where he’s got to step up and slide and avoid a little bit of a rush. That’s just kind of part of being a quarterback.”
(You mentioned you have to protect him whether it’s QB Tua Tagovailoa or QB Jacoby Brissett. Have you made at this point any decisions that you’re willing to share as far as the o-line and how you can fix that?) – “Every week we look at it and say ‘hey, who are our best five?’ I think we’ve talked about that numerous times in this setting. That’s no different this week. I think obviously we’ve evaluated last week’s game and we’ve got to be better. That’s kind of the message we’ve sent to everyone on the team. I know you’re talking specific to the offensive line. They’ve heard that message as well and I think there’s going to be a lot of competition in practice this week and when we come out of practice this week, we’ll make the decision on who will be out there.”
(You talked about after the game on Sunday that being the next man up was nothing new for QB Jacoby Brissett. He’s been in this position before. Just kind of your faith in him as a coaching staff and kind of stepping into that role and the confidence that he brings.) – “This is someone who’s played a lot of football in his career. He’s started games, come in as a backup. He prepares the right way, puts himself in position to come in, play as a backup, play in a starting role and I think he’s done a nice job from that standpoint. I think he’s preparing that way, preparing the same way he prepares every week this week. I think we’ve just got to build chemistry with the o-line, with the backs, with the tight ends, with the receivers, some timing and I think if we do that – we’ll work towards that throughout the course of the week.”
(Kind of a similar line of questioning – QB Jacoby Brissett said after the game he doesn’t refer to himself as a backup quarterback, that he sees himself as a starter. What does it do for your team’s morale, for your team’s I guess mentality, when it has to go to a backup quarterback who has that kind of mindset?) – “I think that’s the mindset every player should have. We’ve got a lot of good players and not everyone can ‘start.’ I’ve coached positions where we’ve had six, seven guys who I felt were starting-caliber players, but you can’t start all of them. So you kind of try to build that mindset that each one of them is a starter. They may be a backup, but when they go into the game, they should prepare like a starter every week and we’re counting on them to go into a game and play as such if the opportunity presents itself that they go in. I didn’t know Jacoby (Brissett) said that, but that makes sense. That’s the message that he should be getting. That’s the message that we really give to everyone. But yeah, it’s good to hear that and I think guys have confidence in Jacoby and his ability to lead the offense. But we’re going to have to prepare the right way and work throughout the week to put ourselves in position to execute.”
(Do you anticipate having to tweak the offense at all to fit QB Jacoby Brissett’s skillset versus QB Tua Tagovailoa’s?) – “No. No, other than the right-handed to left-handed.”
(Regarding offensive line changes, because it’s only been two games, how is your mindset relative to, “okay, we can tweak this scheme or this guy,” as opposed to we need to reshuffle the whole deck? What’s the process and the factors that you consider about tweaking versus a reshuffle?) – “I think the process starts in practice first and foremost. So we have a lot of information on all of our guys. The games give us more information and then if we are going to do anything, we would see what that looks like in practice and then really evaluate and make a decision. So ‘reshuffling’ or ‘tweaked’ – I think we’re always kind of moving some guys around during practice anyway because that could happen in the game. But as far as how we start the game or anything like that, I don’t think we’d make any decisions until we’ve actually practiced.”
(There’s only six or seven teams that have started 2-0, the Raiders of course being one of them. What jumps out when you study them?) – “It’s an explosive team offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. They’re well-coached and they’ve got some explosive players on both sides of the ball, all three sides of the ball. From (Darren) Waller to (Henry) Ruggs to (Hunter) Renfrow to Maxx Crosby to Yannick Ngakoue, they can create big plays really a few different ways. They’re explosive. They’re really moving the ball. Derek Carr does a great job. I should always mention him first. He’s done a great job of taking total control of that offense, putting them in good positions to have success. He finds the matchups. He knows what defenses he’s looking at. And then defensively, I think Gus Bradley is doing a real nice job of getting those guys coached up. They’re doing a good job in the run game. I think they’re tackling well and they’re making people earn it. So I think collectively they’re doing a lot of good things.”
(You mentioned last time WR Will Fuller rejoining the team. Where is he physically and mentally?) – “He’s here at practice and he’ll be out there today.”
