Brian Flores – August 29, 2020
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Saturday, August 29, 2020
Head Coach Brian Flores
(Obviously we didn’t see QB Ryan Fitzpatrick out there today. Are you able to provide an update on what his status is and why he didn’t participate?) – “’Fitz,’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) – we’ve talked about him having a personal situation. His mom passed away this morning. So yeah, there’s no quarterback controversy. There’s no – he’s not opting out. He’s not retiring. There was a lot written the last time he had some personal situations, but his mom passed away. ‘Fitz’ has tried to work through this. He always wanted to practice. He tried to go out there today, but you know, and I’ve had multiple conversations with him having dealt with this also. And it’s a tough situation and our hearts go out to him as a team, as an organization. This is a competitive guy – tried to go out there, but some things are more important than football. So he left to be with his family. So yeah, there’s no quarterback controversy. There’s no – he’s not retiring. He’s not opting out. Just wanted to – just so you guys know.”
(We saw you have a personal moment with him as he was walking off the field. As a coach, how difficult a situation was that for you and do you think what you said may have helped him a little bit?) – “As a coach, as a friend, as a man, as a – I mean, they’re all kind of intertwined in this game. Obviously our conversations are going to stay private, but I went through this a year ago. Our moms were about the same age. We’re about the same age. We’re both – I’m a former athlete; he’s an athlete, but we’re both competitive guys and leaders; and you know, you want to be strong, but there are moments where you can’t. You’re not able to be and so I understand that, and it’s – I just try to support him. This team is supporting him and that was – essentially, that was my message to him.”
(I guess it may be indefinite. Will it be indefinite how long Ryan misses any time with the team coming up in the next week or so?) – “He’s going to take as much time as he needs, and I think me, as an organization; we’re going to give him this time to grieve, and my thought on this is he’s going to try to get back as quickly as he can because that’s the competitive nature in him. And like a lot of us, football is our sanctuary, and it’s our place to get away from the tough times, the pain, the anguish in our lives. I know he’ll probably try to get back as soon as he can, but we’re going to give him as much time as he wants or needs.”
(Without QB Ryan Fitzpatrick out there, what did you think of the atmosphere? Obviously it was the first time you guys… competed for a scrimmage. What did you think of how basically everyone looked out there?) – “There’s a lot – without preseason games – that’s our first real look in a stadium, sideline operation, headsets, officials; so there’s a lot to clean up I would say just from a coaching standpoint. So we got a little bit of that cleaned up from first half to second half – making adjustments on the sideline with the tablets. That’s something we haven’t been able to do, so to incorporate that going from series to series, that was good. On the field, I think we had some penalties out there. It’s good to feel that defensively, offensively how they extend drives or kill drives in some instances; so the importance of trying to play penalty-free but also being aggressive and playing with good fundamentals, technique and discipline. So I think overall any time you get a live look or as close to the game as possible, it’s good.”
(Obviously you QB Ryan Fitzpatrick has bigger things than football going on right now, but obviously you as the coach you have to prepare going forward. I know you haven’t made a final decision as quarterback, but how does this change for how you prepare for Week 1 given the uncertainty of what could be your starting quarterback?) – “I mean, especially given this time in a pandemic, we’ve got contingency plan after contingency plan after contingency plan. I think myself, (General Manager) Chris (Grier), our coaching staff; if I go down, if a player goes down, we’ve kind of gone through this multiple times. We have an idea of what we would do. Obviously there’s a competition going on and that plays a role in it, which that’s not – we still have a week left of training camp or a few days left of training camp. I know we’re two weeks away, but nothing’s set in stone offensively, defensively, on the kicking game. But obviously as a staff, we go through those different scenarios. Whether a guy has a situation like this or doesn’t, you know, could be – obviously this is a death in the family, but we treat it no differently than an injury, so the next guy would have to step up. I know the next question is, ‘hey, is it this guy or this guy?’ I would say that that’s yet to be determined.”
(Maybe I missed this, but as we write this, I’m trying to be as accurate as possible. Is there a chance Fitz would miss the opener?) – “It’s hard to say. We’re going to give him as much time as he needs. If that extends into the season, then that’s what it is, but I can’t put a time frame on it. I mean I won’t call it insensitive, but I’m not going to put a time frame on someone who just lost a parent.”
(I wanted to ask you about the decision to trade LB Raekwon McMillan, what went into that and how do you see the depth of your linebacker position now?) – “Obviously Raekwon (McMillan) is someone I have a lot of respect for. He’s a talented player. I think people are going to say that, you know — people are going to say what they want to say. He’s somebody I respect a lot. He’s a good football player. I think he’s going to have a long career but there’s a lot of depth in that room. There’s, again, like a lot of decisions we make as an organization, there’s a lot of things that go into it that you’re not going to know about, and we’re not going to tell you. But in every decision we make, it’s in the best interests of the Miami Dolphins. I have a lot of respect for him. I wish him all the best. He’s a good kid.”
(What went into your decision to pull Tua in the final drive and put Rosen back in in the final three minutes there?) – “We pulled the whole offense and the defense. Yeah, we pulled both teams. So we only have two quarterbacks, so he was in on that group, so we pulled him. We pulled the entire offense. (Josh) Rosen, you know, yeah, so we put Rosen back in.”
(Obviously we don’t have the view that you guys have or the film to look at, but seemed like it was a rougher day for the quarterbacks as a whole. I don’t know if that’s what you saw, how could you grade maybe how QB Tua Tagovailoa did in his first game action since the injury and QB Josh Rosen, as well?) – “I think it’s hard to really — every game is a little bit different. So I think if you don’t see a bunch of touchdowns scored, you feel like the quarterback is not playing well. That’s not necessarily the case – my view, as well. Although, not in my – not in my opinion, I should say. So I have to go back and look at the film. I saw some good throws. I saw some good decisions to – could have thrown it in some tighter windows. Potential turnovers that guys didn’t make the throw; but I’ve got to go watch the film, to be honest with you. I think when you don’t see a bunch of touchdowns scored or big passes, you start to think the quarterback’s not playing well. That’s just not the case. Honestly, I thought those guys – I thought there was good communication. I thought we were in and out of the huddle. You know, turnovers were down; so those are the things that are important – give us a chance to keep the game tight. But I’ve got to watch the film.”
