Brian Flores – December 1, 2021
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Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Head Coach Brian Flores
(Has there been any progress with WR DeVante Parker and WR Will Fuller and will either of them practice this week?) – “Will won’t be able to practice this week. DeVante will be out at practice today along with Greg Mancz.”
(It’s My Cause My Cleats week. I know you’ve talked before about your mom and some of the people that you’re repping the cancer cause for. I was curious if you can share why that means a lot to you?) – “I think it’s pretty obvious why. I think cancer is something that affects a lot of people. It doesn’t matter. All walks of life – poor, rich, black, white. It doesn’t care about religion, race, nothing. It affects everyone. Obviously it has affected me as well and my family. I’m not alone in that and any way I can support the fight against cancer, I will.”
(Earlier this week, Giants Head Coach Joe Judge had commented about your time coming up together in New England. I just wanted to get your take on what that time meant to you and how it taught you and prepared you for where you’re at now and maybe some of your favorite memories from that time with Coach Judge?) – “We came up together as young coaches trying to pave our way in this league. Early mornings, late nights, a lot of conversations and it wasn’t just myself and Joe, there were a lot of guys on that staff. Some that are here, some that are in New York now. I think we challenged each other as far as trying to learn from one another. We asked a lot of questions. I know Pat and I have challenged each other, Joe and I have challenged each other. ’What do you think about this? What do you think about that? That’s a good way to do it. I wouldn’t think of it that way.’ I think that’s how you get better. Iron sharpens iron. I believe that on any team. The coaching staff is a team. The players are a team. It’s one big team. I think that environment was great for me, personally, being around a lot of great coaches. I certainly was able to get better, make improvements, teaching styles and methods. Joe is somebody I definitely learned from and he’s got a PhD in education, so he knows how to teach. I don’t think people know that. But at the end of the day, coaching is teaching and I learned some teaching methods from him. Again, I learned a lot from him and a lot of people there. I have a lot of respect for him and he’s a friend first.”
(I know a couple weeks ago you said there is no set amount of time you can use to judge any particular player or a young player coming into this league. But last Sunday was QB Tua Tagovailoa’s 16th career start so now he has a full season’s body of work. Where do you think he’s improved the most over this time?) – “We’d have to wait until after this week. The full season is 17 games now. (laughter) So I’ll answer that one next week. But through 16 games, I think he’s obviously – we get up here and he’s made a lot of positive, there’s been a lot of positives. He’s improved every week. I think he’s getting better every time he steps on to the practice field. He’s getting the reps from a preparation standpoint and he’s doing better. He’s doing a lot better and hopefully he continues to just keep working the way he’s working and I’ll probably have a better answer next week.”
(How would you describe QB Tua Tagovailoa’s accuracy and when a player has a high completion percentage, how can that impact an offense and how the defense has to defend that quarterback?) – “Accuracy is always good. If we can throw it accurately, catch the ball – those are normally positive plays. Positive plays keep you on schedule and if you’re on schedule, then normally good things happen. When you’re off schedule or behind in the sticks, it’s harder to pick up the yardage with the amount of downs that we have. I think accuracy is very important. He’s been accurate. We’ve asked him to be accurate. He’s practiced that way in practice and it’s showing up in games.”
(I know accuracy is kind of a general term, getting the ball to the receiver but is there a way that you guys track the ball placement and whatnot? I feel like that’s kind of an underrated aspect of accuracy?) – “You’re right on it. It’s something we talk about with Tua (Tagovailoa) – put it in the spot where the runners can run away from the defenders. Tell the receiver where to go with the ball with where you place it. We try to do that as best we can. I think he can be accurate enough to do that, so we ask him to do that and that’s a big part of it. A run after catch is, if you throw it behind, you can’t run after catch. You have to put it out in front, put it in a spot where we can do something with it. That’s something we definitely harp on and at the same time, the receiver has got to trust that the quarterback is throwing it to where they need turn and run.”
(How much of accuracy do you think is innate and how much can be learned, developed and improved?) – “It can certainly be learned, developed and improved. I would say it is innate. I can only be so fast. I can develop it but it’s going to be slow. I think it’s similar in that way. Probably not a good comparison but I think there’s definitely some natural ability to put the ball where you want it.”
(With Will, what is he doing these days and … [inaudible]) – “With who?”
(WR Will Fuller?) – “He had a pretty significant fracture in the finger. There were a lot of broken bones in there and it’s still healing. He’s just not able to get out there yet.”
(LB Andrew Van Ginkel has been making a lot of plays, it seems recently more so than earlier in the season. Do you see anything different in him or is it just a matter of getting more opportunities and capitalizing on them?) – “I think he’s always consistent, he’s tough, he’s physical. He always plays with high effort and motor. Every game is a little bit different. He normally takes advantage of his opportunities. He took advantage of some rush opportunities last week, but he also does a good job of setting the edge, getting some batted balls. I think collectively as a group, they are making more plays and he’s a part of that.”
(Your three rookies have played really well, especially the last couple of weeks. The top rookies I guess – WR Jaylen Waddle, LB Jaelan Phillips and S Jevon Holland. I’m curious how have you seen them evolve from when you first got them to where they are now?) – “I think the entire rookie class, they are all working hard. They are all improving, getting better. Those three in particular are getting a lot of playing time along with Liam Eichenberg is getting a lot of playing time as well. He’s making improvements as well. It’s really what I’ve been saying all year, they are sponges. They are eager to learn, they are eager to improve and get better. I think they’ve made a lot of improvements over the course of the year. I think some of the flash stats came up last week. That’s why we’re spending a lot more time (talking about them) but I think they’ve all made improvements whether it’s sacks or yards or interceptions. We’ve had this conversation on the big stats. I think if – if there’s 1,000 plays and you get 10 sacks, that’s one percent of your plays. Big picture-wise, I think they’ve been doing a good job the last four or five weeks. They are making improvements and some of those bigger plays are showing up. It’s the little things that I try to put a lot of attention to because the little things turn into big things, and that’s where they’ve taken care of some of those things. Getting aligned, knowing their assignments, knowing their responsibility, being in the right gap, taking the right angle on a stunt, which will put you in position to potentially get a sack. I think all of those little things are showing up and that’s where they need to keep their focus.”
(With LB Jaelan Phillips and S Jevon Holland in particular, both of those guys I think you started them off a little slower as far as reps, and now they’ve ramped up to full-time players. How is your philosophy on how to treat them maybe paid off?) – “I think it’s hard to come in and jump right in, I would say. If it’s possible to do it incrementally, we try to do that. We’ve tried to do that as much as we can. Sometimes there is a need and you’ve got to throw them in there. We were able to take our time with both of those guys and when we felt like they were ready, we put them in there.”
(Do you expect RB Phillip Lindsay to be a bigger part of the game plan this week? Has he learned enough that you could extend his package a bit?) – “He’s in here every day trying to get a better grasp of the terminology, the ball handling, the protection calls and little nuances within a run scheme or pass scheme. We’ve got to go out there and walk through it and practice it and see what it looks like. There will be an opportunity for that. We’ll see how it goes this week at practice.”
(A couple of weeks into the season, S Eric Rowe said we have to do what’s important on the early downs in order to do what we do best. How important specifically has your defensive front been in stopping the run, limiting early down success, and you guys being able to do what you do best on third downs?) – “I think that’s always – trying to execute on early downs, put them behind schedule, they’re trying to stay on schedule. I think that is always the case. That’s certainly the case this week against the Giants. We’re not talking enough about them. They’ve got a good football team. They’ve got good backs, they’ve got good receivers, they’ve got a good defense, they’ve got a good defensive line, they keep the score down, they play well in the kicking game. That’s certainly going to be something we’re going to have to do this week. We don’t know the health of their skill players but if they are all healthy, this is a good skill group. Like very good. Between (Kenny) Golladay and (Sterling) Shepard and Kadarius Toney and (Evan) Engram and (Darius) Slayton and (Saquon) Barkley, it’s name after name, after name, after name. And (Kyle) Rudolph. And guys we have to cover. It’s going to be a big test. That’s where our focus is right now. We’re going to have to do a good job on early downs for sure.”
(How does the status of QB Daniel Jones impact the way you’re preparing right now, or are you preparing for the team as a whole?) – “We’re preparing as if he’s going to be up. We take a look at all of the quarterbacks. They have plenty of guys to prepare for – offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. They’ve got some really good players in the kicking game as well – Julian Love, Keion Crossen. They’ve got some really good players across the board. Leonard Willimas – he’s a problem. A major problem. (James) Bradberry. They’ve got a good team and I know this staff, so they’re going to have their team ready to go for sure. This will be a major challenge for our team. We’ve got to prepare the right way and keep our focus right there.”
