Brian Flores – August 6, 2019
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Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Head Coach Brian Flores
(You’ve obviously coached for one of the best coaches of all time – Bill Belichick – but I know you’re obviously your own man as well. Did you give any thought maybe during a quiet moment the last eight months of what you want to take from Belichick and do things like he does as a head coach and what do I want to do differently? I’m not obviously asking you what those are, but was there sort of an introspective moment you had where you thought about that issue?) – “That’s a good question. During this process, I tried to take a little bit from anyone with a leadership position that I could. So that was Bill, that was my high school coach (Dino Mangiero), that was my college coaches, my parents, anyone who has a leadership – who I viewed as a leader – Pastor A.R. Bernard at the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, New York – shout out to him. But anyone from a leadership position, I try to take little bits and pieces from each one of them. They’re all different and I’m different. I’m not any of those guys. I’m myself. Again, I take a little bit from each one of those individuals but at the same time, it’s important for – I think leadership, the big thing about leadership, is being authentic. So if you try to be someone else, it’s not real leadership in my opinion. It’s hard for – who is going to follow a guy who is trying to be somebody else? I think that’s part of leadership is trying to help individuals find themselves and try to become the best version of themselves. I think in order to do that, you have to be genuine, sincere and authentic. Yeah, I’ve tried to take a lot from a lot of people – a lot of different leaders that I’ve come across – but at the end of the day, I’ve got to be me.”
(We’ve seen a lot of the offensive and defensive linemen wearing knee braces out there. Is that your idea and if so, what is the thinking behind it?) – “I think nothing is more important than the health of the team. I think knee braces obviously protect the players from the lower extremity injuries. That’s really what that’s about. I realize players would rather not wear them. I’ve worn them before. They’re for protection, just like shoulder pads and a helmet are for protection. If I told them to go out there and play without a helmet, I think they’d fight me on that. So I’ll fight them on the knee braces. I think it’s for their protection. It’s for their safety, it’s for the health of the team. I think it’s hard for them (because) it may be a little bit – not awkward, but restrictive in some cases. Whether or not we wear them in a game is yet to be determined; but at the end of the day, it’s about their safety. It’s about player safety. That’s extremely important to me and I think at the end of the day, if you have the players’ best interests in mind, they’ll – for the most part – do what you ask them.”
(Where do you come down on analytics and old school stats versus new school stats? How much do you delve into analytics and use them?) – “I think anything that could potentially give us an advantage or help us in any way from analytics to really anything, I’m definitely willing to take a look at. I think nothing is more important than fundamentals, technique and repetition. But if there’s something that can help us in-game, situationally or even from a fundamentals standpoint – GPS tracking and total yardage in a practice – those things, I mean if they help us, I’m all for it. What I don’t want is for that stuff to become a crutch in any way. ‘I ran too much.’ How do you push limits if you’re looking at a number that says you ran too much? Maybe you can do more. I think about breaking the 4-minute mile barrier. People said you could never do it. It couldn’t be done. It was humanly impossible. But I think you have to push beyond those limits. I think maybe if an analytic or some metric says you can’t, then perhaps you can.”
(Are we likely to see established veterans like QB Ryan Fitzpatrick for a series or two on Thursday?) – “I think everyone has to be ready to play for an extended period of time. We’ll see how the game goes. We have a plan for some players but I would tell these guys, and I’ve told them, that everyone has to be ready for an extended period of time. There’s no ‘(these are) your three plays and then you’re out.’ There’s no set parameters as far as the substitution process from that standpoint. I think they all know that it could be three plays, it could be 30 plays, it could be 50 plays. We’ll see how the game goes. If you slate somebody for three plays and they have three mental errors, I don’t think it’s time for that person to come out. You never know how the game is going to go. To lock in a specific ’10 plays for you, 12 plays for you,’ I don’t think that’s realistic. It’s a good thought process and we have a plan from that standpoint as far as who we want to play a certain number of snaps, but we’ll see how those snaps go. If they go well, maybe we’ll keep them going and keep the momentum going. If they don’t, maybe we just want to take them out. Maybe they’re slated for 15 snaps and three look so bad that I don’t want to see it anymore. That happens too. There’s no – it’s case-by-case. We have an initial plan. For the most part, I hope we stick to that; but things happen. Things change in this game, so you have to be ready.”
(We haven’t seen much of LB Kiko Alonso during practice. A lot of it is injury related but then he’s also not in that nickel package. What is your vision for Kiko in this defense?) – “Well, Kiko has been a very productive player and made a lot of plays in this league. He’s a very good player. I think he played a lot. Obviously he’s dealt with a little bit of injuries – minor injuries – and been out a little bit. He was in there yesterday and played a good amount yesterday. I thought he practiced well yesterday. He’s running with all of the different groups. Again, there’s a lot of packages. He fits in a lot of those packages. I think we’re still – having missed some of that time, we didn’t really get a full evaluation. Now we’re just trying to get him back in there and see exactly what that is. His history says that he can be productive. He’s played a lot of snaps in this league and he finds the ball. At the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to.”
(Is it your anticipation that QB Josh Rosen will work with the ones on Thursday, or do you see him working with the twos?) – “That’s something we talked about as a staff. I would see ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) going with the ones as we’ve done, really the entire training camp; but that could change. We’ve got a meeting tonight to talk about it, and that’s kind of where I see it right now. He’s done a good job. Josh has done a good job. Again, the preseason games will tell us. It’s just another part of the evaluation. I think they both – it’s a good competition. It’s what it is. That’s where I would see that.”
(I hear what you were saying about before about this being a fluid plan as you go through the preseason games; but in a perfect world, do you subscribe to the general theory that the third game is a dress rehearsal?) – “In a perfect world, yes. The world’s not perfect, as we know. (laughter) I think the third game, you want it to be a dress rehearsal for what game No. 1’s going to look like. There’s a lot of things at play there. From an injury standpoint, from a tactical standpoint, schematically, do we want to do everything? Are we ready to do all the things that we’d like to do in Game 1? Yeah, theoretically, that’s what you would like. We could go that way. We could not go that way. That’s something that we’ve talked about a little bit. Right now, I would say that’s probably the plan is to try to make it a dress rehearsal, but things change. They do. So I wouldn’t put too much stock into what happens in that third game. A lot of things change from a roster standpoint. We may see something there that we don’t like, and we may want to change it. Again, it’s a fluid game. I think you guys have – in dealing with me on a day-to-day basis, you know that I like to be able to adapt. I want our team to be able to adapt really in any situation. That’s from a personnel standpoint; that’s from a rain, heat, snow, hail standpoint. We’ve got to be able to do that. We could dress rehearsal it, but Game 1 may not look like that. We could have a guy’s shoe fall off, and somebody else has got to go in, so it’s fluid.”
(Players mentioned those one-on-one interactions. I’m talking about QB Ryan Fitzpatrick’s leadership. Can you talk about how often that happens and why that’s important to you?) – “I think it happens really on a play-to-play basis. If a guy makes a good catch, there’s a little interaction. If a guy misses a side adjust or a hot (route), there’s a little interaction. If a guy makes a good block that springs a run, there’s a good interaction. If a guy misses a block, there’s a not-so-good interaction. I think that’s on a play-to-play basis, and I think the leaders on the team – in a perfect world, those guys are coaches on the field and holding guys accountable on a play-to-play basis. You will definitely want that out of your quarterback, but the leaders defensively, in the kicking game, offensively – you want them holding their teammates accountable as well. It can’t always be the coaches. As you grow as a team, you’ll start to see the leaders on the team holding guys accountable the way – and maybe even more so – than the coaches do.”
(Are you going to the sneak the stadium walkthrough in tomorrow?) – “For the players you mean?”
(Players and/or coaches.) – “Yeah. We actually did that the other day, so we snuck it in. (laughter)”
(How did it go?) – “It went well. Like I told you guys a couple of days ago, we went in, saw the locker rooms. (There are) a lot of guys who haven’t seen it. We saw the locker room, the weight room, the meal room, walked the field a little bit, coaches’ booth. I thought that was important for us to see as a team. Glad we snuck it in. (laughter)”
(From a personal standpoint, even through it’s a preseason game, what’s your level of excitement heading into your first game as an NFL head coach?) – “I’m very excited. I’m very excited. I’m excited to see all the hard work we’ve put in from April 1 until now (and) to go out and try to perform and execute at a good level. I think the things that are important to us and this team right now are having a good operation, getting the right guys in the huddle, having good communication in the huddle, breaking the huddle, just having a good overall operation. Then obviously playing penalty-free, limiting the turnovers, and I think if you do those things, you give yourself an opportunity to at least string some good plays together. The plan offensively is obviously not to go backwards, keep the ball moving forward. I think that’s a simple thing; but all too often, you see false starts and holding penalties, so let’s move the ball forward. Defensively, let’s tackle well, defend the deep part of the field, do a good job communicating. In the kicking game, it’s ball security. It’s good fundamentals and technique when you’re blocking, and it’s tackling and doing a good job down the field in coverage on the coverage unit. Whatever happens after that, happens. I think the good plays will happen once we start to play off from an operational standpoint, from that standpoint.”
(Have you allowed yourself to reflect maybe a little bit on your coaching journey now that you’re coaching your first game as an NFL head coach?) – “I think every once in a while, there’s a little bit of reflection from where I was 15 years ago to where I am now. It’s nice to reflect that way. I’m excited to be here. I’m very fortunate to be here. I love South Florida, the people here. This team is filled with guys who are motivated and talented and hard-working, and it’s a joy to work them. It’s a joy to work with (General Manager) Chris (Grier) and (Vice President of Football Administration) Brandon (Shore) and our ownership, Steve Ross. I think we’ve got – it’s a great group of people, so from that respect, yeah, I’ve had some reflection; but as we move forward, I’m motivated to try to play some good, solid, fundamental, smart, tough, disciplined football for those people, for this community and try to improve on a daily basis.”
(I want to ask you about G/T Jesse Davis. Are you getting what you wanted out of this two-week experiment with him at right tackle and pros and cons to him actually making that transition?) – “Yeah, we wanted to see some versatility really across the offensive line. Jesse, specifically, we wanted to see him play some right tackle. He’s played guard, obviously. He’s a guy we like. He works hard. He embodies a lot of things that we’re looking for from an offensive line standpoint. He’s tough. He’s physical. He’s smart. I would say these last two weeks have been good for him and good for us in that we know or we feel comfortable that he can play both spots. Now which one he plays is –we’ll see how everything else shakes out, but he’ll be part of the five, for sure.”
