Brian Flores – November 1, 2021
Monday, November 1, 2021
Head Coach Brian Flores
(I know you’re tired of the topic and you’ve said QB Tua Tagovailoa is our quarterback. But with that being said, I just have one simple question. You know what’s going on talking to General Manager Chris Grier and Chairman of the Board/Managing General Partner Stephen Ross. The question is this: is there any possibility that you guys will acquire a starting-caliber quarterback within the next 26 hours before the trade deadline tomorrow?) – “I understand the question. I basically answer it every day the same way. Tua (Tagovailoa) is our quarterback. Any conversations that I have with Chris, I have with Steve, I will keep them internal and it will remain that way.”
(One unrelated thing. Several readers reached out to writers yesterday it appeared as though you were calling the defensive plays and not Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer based on the papers you had in your hands. Were you calling the defensive signals yesterday or was Josh?) – “No. Josh called the game.”
(With the deadline coming up in a day, you’re obviously focused on the next game trying to end this losing streak. But do you talk to the team telling them to avoid it or is it just something that is natural within a locker room? How do they deal or how do you tell them to deal with the next 24 hours?) – “Really, today’s conversation was about the game yesterday and really the focus was there. Corrections from the game yesterday, obviously mistakes we made, things we did well, things we can build on. We didn’t really get into any deadlines or anything like that. My job is to be focused on the guys in our room and that’s the approach I take.”
(I wanted to ask you about the offense’s passing game. You guys attempt more passes than everybody but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and you’re second to last in yards per attempt. Is this a byproduct of the situations you are in in terms of you guys trailing so often or do you view yourself as a pass-first team?) – “You always want balance. That’s something that we’ve talked about. We haven’t been able to create the balance that we want for a variety of reasons. It’s certainly, something we put an emphasis on, something we talk about. Some of the games, score has dictated some of that. As we’ve talked about, you always want balance. I thought there were some instances, especially early, where we got some positive runs and we just weren’t able to sustain it or stay with it is probably a better term. It’s definitely something that we talked about as a staff today. It’s something that we’ve talked about in recent – really every week and we need to do a better job of that in the second half of this season.”
(You mentioned after the game that you kind of just sat there for a while. I’m curious how you thought and compartmentalized the last seven games, losing and not going the way you want it to go?) – “It’s disappointing. Our guys work hard. Our coaches work hard. I think about the people around the building. I think about our fan base. I want to do better for all of those people. I know the team does. Those are the thoughts that go through my mind and I just think about what I can do to get us over the hump, turn the tide. Is it a scheduling thing? Is it play calling? Do we have to switch a guy’s position? What do we got to do? That’s kind of where my thoughts are. But yeah, disappointing. But at the same time, I’m motivated to get back out there and make the improvements, make the corrections and turn it around.”
(I know you’re a one day at a time guy. Do you allow yourself to ever think big picture, look backwards on what’s going on this year or the first two-and-a-half years of your tenure and try to use any of that to move forward?) – “Yeah, I try to look back and reflect on some other experiences that are similar. But every year is so different, every team is so different. The players are different, the year is different, the time and everything is so different. To reflect on maybe an instance where there was this type of adversity, you think back on it but you think about some of the people I was around and those people, those players, some of them are different, some of them are the same and then you just try to think about the group you have now and what’s the best way to motivate the group we have now to turn the tide.”
(Can you confirm whether WR Preston Williams and S Sheldrick Redwine will be back at practice this week?) – “Yeah, they’ll be at practice on Wednesday.”
(You mentioned that you pull from some of the adversity that you guys faced, you faced particularly previously. Are you going back to the 2019 season or are you going back to maybe Boston College and your Patriots tenure?) – “I think adversity comes in a lot of different ways. It’s not necessarily just football. As you know, I could be pulling from a lot of things that I’ve dealt with personally. That’s normally what I do. From a football standpoint, obviously yes, probably the 2019 season. But as far as just getting knocked down and picking yourself back up, there’s definitely been some other instances that we all pull from when we’re dealing with adversity. This isn’t as hard as this, I picked myself up from this situation, that situation. I know the players have dealt with that. I know each one of you has dealt with that in some form or fashion. I don’t think it’s just a specific season.”
(I wanted to ask, you guys keep talking about the tide needs to start rolling from a positive standpoint and cleaning up a lot of mistakes. How close do you feel that you guys are based on your last performance?) – “I think we did some good things yesterday. It’s a good team. I thought we played them tough. I thought we played hard for 60 minutes. I thought there were certainly some missed opportunities on our part to score some points that we would have liked to have later in the game obviously. There were some opportunities to make some plays and we didn’t make them. From that standpoint, I do see some things we can build on. But every week is different. Every opponent is different, every week is different. So we have to start over this week with our preparation for Houston and try to have a good week.”
(How puzzling or perplexing has it been that there hasn’t been more of a pass rush? I know you’ve had pressures, but they haven’t been converted into high sack numbers or obviously as many turnovers as last year. It seems puzzling, just because DL Adam Butler is a four sack a year guy consistently in New England and hasn’t had one here. LB Jaelan Phillips we know the pass rusher he was at Miami. DE Emmanuel Ogbah we know his record. Is it puzzling to you that you haven’t seen bigger sack numbers overall as a defense?) – “I think we’ve had this conversation on the sacks versus the pressures versus the effect on the quarterback. Yesterday we had some of an effect on the quarterback. I thought Josh Allen did a good job of scrambling around and getting the ball off. There were some instances where we were on him and didn’t get him down, but there was an effect on the quarterback. There have been some other games where we haven’t had as much of an effect on the quarterback. We’ve got to do a better job. I think that’s always at the top of the priority list as far as how do we affect the offense. We want to affect the quarterback or really more so the offense and the passing game. We want to affect the quarterback. It’s always a point of emphasis. We need to do a better job there. I thought yesterday (Defensive Coordinator) Josh (Boyer) did a nice job of calling some pressures and getting Allen off the spot in some instances. He didn’t get him all the way down for sacks but created some quicker throws that in some instances benefited us.”
(WR Will Fuller and C/G Michael Deiter, any update to whether they’ll be able to practice this week?) – “Those guys are still week to week. We won’t see them this week.”
(If I can ask you about the offensive line development, we’ve asked you a few times throughout the year about that. But when you are evaluating some of the young guys and where they are in this season, are you happy? What would describe how you feel about G/T Austin Jackson, G/T Robert Hunt and some of these first or second year guys who you’ve had to play a lot?) – “I think they’ve played well in spurts. They haven’t played so well in some other situations and I think that’s kind of the development of a young player. I think Austin at guard, I think that’s been a good transition for him. I think that’s the right spot for him. The same thing with Rob Hunt. It’s a young group. The experience of playing with crowd noise yesterday, with that type of crowd noise and silent cadence, is something that was definitely a learning experience for them yesterday. I think we could’ve been better as far as our execution on some of those things. But overall, I think they are all improving. I think they all are making progress. I’m looking forward to watching them improve more as the season progresses.”
(I want to ask you about a sequence late in the game. You were out of timeouts and the outcome was pretty much decided. Buffalo, whether than I guess the traditional thing to do there is kneel down, they scored instead and went for two. Did that catch you eye? Did it get the attention of the players that they chose to go that route?) – “No. Their job is to score and our job is to stop them. Regardless of score, regardless of time in the game, that’s my approach. Our job is to go out there and stop them.”
(You’ve said several time that QB Tua Tagovailoa is your quarterback. If that’s the case, why can’t you rule out acquiring another starter?) – “I think when I say Tua is the quarterback, I’m not sure what more I can say. That’s kind of the way I’ve handled this and approached this the last few weeks.”
(For record-keeping purposes, I was remiss without asking you if S Sheldrick Redwine, was that also a disciplinary issue that he wasn’t on the trip?) – “Yes.”
