Brian Flores – August 5, 2019
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Monday, August 5, 2019
Head Coach Brian Flores
(We saw S Reshad Jones in a walking boot on Saturday. Do you expect him to be back by the start of the regular season?) – “Reshad’s getting – he’s working hard to get better each day. He’ll be back as soon as he can be back. I’ve had a couple of conversations with him. He’s making progress on the injury. He’ll be back as soon as he can be. When that will be will – every injury is a little bit different. Everyone’s different, but I know I can tell you this: he’s doing everything possible to get back. He wants to get back in there. He’s made that very clear to myself and the entire staff. Hopefully we see him soon.”
(Does S Reshad Jones know when and where it happened? We didn’t see it out here.) – “I think we have a pretty good idea of when it happened. It’s one of those things where – he’s a tough player. He’s been that way for a long time, so who knows? I think this is one of those situations where I think he toughed through it for a few days and then got off of it for a couple days. We’ll see where it goes from there. Again, Reshad – like a lot of our players – look, you’re going to be sore. You’re going to have some nicks. You’re going to try to play through them; but at some point, if we feel like we’ve got to back off, we’ll do that for sure. Obviously, nothing’s more important than the health of this team. He knows that. We made that clear to everybody on this team. That applies to everyone.”
(Can you talk about your two coordinators – Offensive Coordinator Chad O’Shea and Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham – and the fact that both will be calling plays for the first time in a game?) – “I think it’s exciting for both guys. I would say both have called a game previously – not in the regular season, but preseason games. It’ll be exciting for both guys. I remember being in that role just a year ago. There’s some excitement. There’s this feeling that you want to do everything right, make the perfect call on everything, but the game’s not played that way. It just doesn’t work out that way normally. I’m excited to see both guys perform on Thursday night. I have a lot of confidence in both – well really, all three coordinators and the entire coaching staff, or else they wouldn’t be in that role. Both are smart. Both are creative, and I’m excited to see both of them Thursday night.”
(Didn’t get a chance to talk to you after the practice scrimmage on Saturday. I would imagine, knowing your attention to detail and discipline, you were not pleased with the number of penalties that was committed?) – “Yeah, I think that’s something I talked to the team about. I think that’s something we need to work on. It starts with me, I’ll say that. Our goals really moving forward – and really every day – are the same. We want a clean operation. We want to get 11 guys in the huddle – the right 11 guys. We want to get in and out of the huddle quickly. We want to have good communication. We want to play fast. We want to have good, sound fundamentals and technique. We want to be a disciplined ball club. I think that there were too many penalties in the scrimmage the other day that I was – (the players) heard about that. They understand that – I think people think of football, and they think of touchdowns and sacks. They don’t think about penalties and negative plays and being in good field position and taking yourself out (of it). Nobody thinks about those things, but those are how you lose games. Those are how you lose opportunities to score points and to put yourself in good position. I think those are the little things that are very important. We need to be good at those things to give ourselves a chance. The team knows that. I think that’s the case for every team in this league. Again, it’s early. We’ve got an opportunity to correct those or to right those wrongs. That’ll be an ongoing thing the entire year – is to have a clean operation, play with discipline, play with poise, play penalty-free, limit the turnovers. If we do those things, we’ll give ourselves a chance. If we don’t, it’s hard. It’s hard in this league if you don’t do those things.”
(With the referee situation – you guys only had refs at once practice since the first two weeks of training camp outside of the scrimmage. Was that intentional, and do you reconsider that stance in terms of making sure refs are out there a little bit more?) – “I think you’re wrong on that as far as the refs at practice. I think we had them at more than one; but at the start of training camp, we didn’t have the refs. That was for a reason. We brought them in – I think to include the scrimmage –four days straight. We didn’t have them for four days and we had them for the next four days. It was good. It was good to kind of hear their perspective on holding calls, OPI (offensive pass interference), DPI (defensive pass interference), hands to the face, just from a rules standpoint. It’s a good learning tool for the players, for the coaches. Those first few days, we just kind of want to get out there, get acclimated, get them in pads, get them focused on the fundamentals and the technique and then bring the refs out to really reinforce the idea that the fundamentals and technique are why we preach them so much – because if you don’t play with those techniques, then penalties happen. All that’s done for a reason. They were there – I want to say four days straight.”
(We noticed that T Jordan Mills on the first depth chart is listed as the starter at right tackle. Can you tell us how he has performed, what he needs to work on and what went into the decision to start out the preseason in this manner?) – “I think Jordan is – he’s a guy who’s started a lot of game in this league. (He’s a) veteran (who is) tough, smart, works hard. He does a lot of things behind the scenes that we like as a staff; but again, there’s really still a lot of competition at that position as well as some of the other – really all the positions. Jordan’s done a solid job. We’ve had a few guys in that position. Jesse’s (Davis) been there. (Will) Holden’s been there. We’ve had Isaiah Prince – he’s been in that role. You’ll see multiple guys in that spot. Hopefully, out of that group, the best guy will play.”
(It appeared QB Josh Rosen had a good day Saturday and he’s had a good week. Is this a guy who was hot for a week or is this a guy who is turning a corner?) – “I think the big thing for everyone on this team is to try to improve on a daily basis and I think Josh has taken to that, along with a lot of players on this team. I’ve seen a lot of improvement from a lot of guys. He’s one of them but he still has a long way to go. By no means are we anointing him or crowning him. I think he has strung a couple of good days together. We still have the preseason games ahead of us. We still have a lot of practices ahead of us, starting with today. Hopefully it continues on this trajectory and that’s the case for not only him but everyone on this team. I think the one thing is if you start to focus in on what you did the last practice, you lose a little bit on today. He just has to keep stringing them together. Really, we’re telling that to everyone. Yesterday only matters if you build on it today, to be honest. That’s something that we talked to everybody about within the entire organization. I think they understand that. I think that’s how you build and get better and improve. Once guys really internalize that and have urgency and urgency and you’re neurotic about that, I think that’s when you’ll start seeing really great improvement. Until then, it’s just day by day. One day it’s good, one day it’s bad, one day it’s good, one day it’s bad and you’re really never stringing them together. Until then, it’s day by day.”
(Fairly or unfairly, QB Josh Rosen came here with question marks about his maturity, leadership and the way he related to his teammates. I’m wondering what you’ve seen from him in that regard, particularly since training camp started.) – “I think this is a mature kid. I think he relates well to his teammates. I think every young player is developing in those specific areas. I think that’s something you have to develop. You don’t just walk into a place and say I’m the leader of the team or the franchise or the building. It doesn’t matter what field you’re in. I don’t think that happens anywhere. It’s something you have to earn. I think he understands that. I think every player on this understands that. You don’t just walk in and you’re a leader and at the top of the food chain. It doesn’t work that way. He’s got to earn it. He’s got to earn the respect of his teammates. I think he’s doing that. I think for any player – not just Josh but speaking specifically about the quarterback position, those guys are in more of a leadership role and have more of an opportunity to take control and lead. So you see it a little bit more at that position, but it’s earned. It’s earned on the practice field, it’s earned in the meeting room, it’s earned in the weight room, it’s earned in the locker room, to be quite honest. It’s things that we won’t see, that you won’t see, that I won’t see. I get a little bit of a closer view but that’s the position – the quarterback position. Any leader on this team, specifically young guys, that’s something you develop. You have to earn the trust of the coaches, the players and everyone within the organization before you can kind of take that step.”
(Are there things in QB Josh Rosen’s personality that are holding him back in that regard, just the way he is by nature you think?) – “I think it’s too early to tell. I think everyone is a little bit different. People lead in different ways. I would say this: I think if you work hard and put the team first, you’re leading. I think I’ve said that before to you guys, that we want 53 leaders on this team, and he’s done that so he’s on the right path. As far as being vocal and do you have to be a ‘rah-rah,’ vocal, jump up and down (guy)? No. I don’t think he has to be that. I don’t think anyone has to be that. I think you just have to work hard and put the team first. And if he does that and he’s productive on the field and they see that he’s working his fundamentals and his techniques and he’s getting better, finding a way to be consistent and does those on a day-in and day-out basis – I’m not just talking about Josh. I’m talking about the quarterback, and we’re talking about anybody. That could be – John Denney is a good example of that. He comes in, he works hard, he puts the team first. He works hard in the weight room. Nobody is in better shape than him. When he speaks, people listen. So he has leadership attributes from that standpoint. I think you start there from a development standpoint. We can get into – if you have to get into a guy’s face, you get in a guy’s face. That’s something that we can talk to him about. But right now, I don’t think there is anything about Josh that is holding him back. I think it’s a learning process.”
(This time last week you gave us an update. You had a day off to look at the film and talk to the coaches about where the quarterback battle stands. Does it still stand that QB Ryan Fitzpatrick has a gap on QB Josh Rosen or has that gap closed?) – “I would say that both guys are doing well. I like some of the things that Ryan did. I like some of the things that Josh did. I think this is a good quarterback competition. I’ll stick by what I said last week but I think Josh – I think Jake (Rudock) went in there and did some good things, as well. This is a quarterback competition. That’s what I’ve said all along. This is going to be an ongoing process. The preseason games will tell us a lot, practice will tell us a lot, and we’ll just keep going. I think both guys are working. I think all three guys are working and the best man will win.”
(Some guys may look at that first unofficial depth chart and see S Minkah Fitzpatrick and S T.J. McDonald as backups per se and wonder why they aren’t full-time players. How do you plan to play them a lot even if they aren’t necessarily starters per se?) – “We have a lot of packages where – we’ll get the best 11 guys out there – trust me on that – one way or another. You mentioned Minkah, T.J., it could be Akeem Spence, it could be – there are a few other guys there. If you practice well and you play well in the games, we’ll find a role for you, and the best 11 will play – offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. That’s kind of how we’re going to operate. That’s one grouping. I’ve got 12 of them. (laughter) We’ll get the right guys out there.”
