Brian Flores – December 13, 2020 (Postgame)
Sunday, December 13, 2020
Postgame – Kansas City Chiefs
Head Coach Brian Flores
(Obviously not the outcome you guys would want, but what can you say about your team’s resolve to come back after the early scores in the third quarter and make it a ball game here in the fourth quarter?) – “I think we have a resilient team, don’t quit, but I think that we didn’t make enough plays to win the game. We’ve got to play better. They know that. We prepared the right way, and we just didn’t make enough plays. It’s a good team. They made a lot of plays. They made more plays than we did. We fought until the end, came up a little short.”
(I wanted to ask you about the job QB Tua Tagovailoa did in the fourth quarter. It seemed like he got more comfortable as the game went along. How would you assess the way he played today?) – “I thought he made a lot of plays for us, especially in the fourth quarter, made some throws in tight windows, scrambled a little bit, put us in position to score some points. But at the end of the day, I’m sure he’s not satisfied. None of us are. We’ve got to do a better job. We’ve got to make more plays to come out. We’ve got to make more plays than we did today. They made more plays than we did.”
(How do you assess the performance of the defense against the Chiefs offense, four takeaways?) – “The turnovers were good. I think we played well in spurts. It’s a good offense, so they moved it, moved the ball at times, especially that last drive, got enough yards to kick the field goal and really stretched the lead. We made some plays. I thought the guys played hard. I thought we executed, again, in spurts, but against a team like that, one misalignment, one miscommunication, and they take advantage. That was the case today.”
(This is, I guess, the second straight week that the offense has started off slow and then kind of got faster and more effective in the second half. Have you figured out maybe what the thread is in the slow starts and kind of figure out how you can correct that?) – “I think execution. At the end of the day, that’s really what it boils down to. We had a good plan going in. I think we moved it effectively on I guess it was the second drive, missed a field goal. There’s things we can do better. At the end of the day, it really all boils down to execution.”
(I know you’re just coming off the field, but do you have an update on the severity of injuries to TE Mike Gesicki and WR DeVante Parker?) – “We had a number of injuries today. I checked in on a couple guys, but it’s too early right now. They’re still being evaluated. I’ll probably have more information later in the week.”
(Considering the depth chart on the offense coming into today’s game and then the injuries to WR Jakeem Grant, WR DeVante Parker, and TE Mike Gesicki, what do you think it said about QB Tua Tagovailoa, Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey, and the guys that were in there to keep Kansas City sweating until the final second?) – “That’s something we talk about on a weekly basis. Everybody’s got to be ready to go. I think those young receivers – Malcolm (Perry), Lynn (Bowden Jr.), (Antonio) Callaway, Mack (Hollins), Jakeem (Grant) – all those guys, they kind of stepped up, stepped in, and helped make some plays there at the end and moved the ball. We really need that across the board. Bobby (McCain) went down, (Kavon) Frazier went in. That’s what you’ve got to do in this league.”
(When you lost RB Myles Gaskin, what kind of situation did that put you into coming into this game? I know you’re a next man step up kind of guy, but did that force you to change or alter your game plan?) – “Look, I mean, it’s 2020. There’s a pandemic. Every night, when we get the results, I think we’re ready to go if guys go down. So, no, I didn’t change the game plan. We just had the next guys step in, just signed Elijah McGuire, and he was up today, and ‘D. Wash’ (DeAndre Washignton) and (Patrick) Laird, they took the lion’s share of the snaps. Obviously, you always make adjustments and alter some things, but we did that when Mike (Gesicki) went out and DeVante (Parker) went out. I think that’s just part of the game. Guys stepped in, and I thought they went in and worked hard and did a good job, but it wasn’t good enough today. We’ve just got to learn from the mistakes today and make the corrections and be better next week.”
(You guys were able to get four punts and four takeaways on defense today, but they had that stretch where they scored 30 consecutive points in a row. I’m just curious, in your opinion, what was the difference in those two periods of the game?) – “This is an explosive team, and they went on a little bit of a run there in the second half, really the end of the second quarter, got the ball back, punched it in, got a return. It was just a quick spurt there, and that’s kind of how they’re built. They go on runs. They went on one there in the end of the second quarter to beginning of the third quarter. We had to settle in and collect ourselves. I thought our guys did a good job of that and playing with some poise and got ourselves back in the game. But we’ve got to limit those big plays, and we weren’t able to do that today. Ultimately, that was the difference.”
(What happened on the punt return?) – “I’ve got to watch the film, but just on the field, looked like (Mecole) Hardman made a good play. He’s a good player. He’s a good punt returner. You give him a chance, and he makes people miss. That was the case on that play. It’s a good player making a good play.”
