Brian Flores – December 3, 2020
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Thursday, December 3, 2020
Head Coach Brian Flores
(I wanted to ask you about S Eric Rowe and CB Nik Needham and the roles they play in your defense and the progress that they have made over the past two seasons. How valuable have those guys been to your defense this season?) – “I think both guys have played well. I think their communication has gotten better, I think they’re tackling well, I think they are both giving us competitive coverage. I think they are both playing well and hopefully that continues. It’s a week-to-week league so how they prepare this week will say a lot about how they play. I think they’ve prepared each week, or they have attacked each week, in the correct manner and it has showed up on game day. Hopefully that continues.”
(I wanted to get an update on QB Tua Tagovailoa. You watched him practice yesterday. What would be your assessment? Do you still see the thumb as an issue that can impact his performance?) – “He was limited at practice. I’m sure you guys saw that on the injury report. We’ll take it one day at a time. Both quarterbacks practiced yesterday. We’ll just take it one day at a time. We’ll see how he progresses through the week and make the decision come Sunday.”
(When we talked to QB Tua Tagovailoa yesterday, my impression was that he was a little bit concerned about how the injury could affect his throwing. That’s my impression. What is your impression of if it is impacting him and do you feel he has some concern?) – “I think it’s pretty well known that he’s dealing with something and anytime you’re dealing with something, you’re not 100 percent, you’re not at full strength and there is always some type of impact. But I think every player in this league is dealing with that in some form or fashion. Eleven games in, everyone is nicked, everyone is bruised up, no one is really at 100 percent like they were in Day 1 of training camp. Everyone is dealing with something. That is certainly the case with a lot of players on our team. I think guys find a way to work through things in this league and Tua is no different.”
(I had a question about sports science actually. Have you guys looked into and found a game plan when it comes to managing rookies through a season where they didn’t have an offseason, where they didn’t have training camp? I know the rookie wall is something that coaches talk about. I don’t know how much credence you give to that, but certainly these are very unique circumstances for a bunch of guys whose college season would be wrapping up pretty soon.) – “We have a sports science group and I think Dave Puloka, our head strength and conditioning coach and (Coordinator, Sports Science/Strength & Conditioning Assistant) Adam Lachance, those guys do a great job from that standpoint as far as yardage and numbers and things of that nature. I can’t really speak to it – I have a pretty good understanding but I wouldn’t speak to the exact numbers of what a player in this position, what’s the exact yardage he should or shouldn’t have right now – I would say more than anything because this is a little bit unprecedented. I think that’s kind of the time we’re in. There were no OTAs, there was a different training camp, it’s been a different year completely. That may be changing even more so. So yes, it’s something we take into consideration. It’s something we talk about. But the message to the young players, rookies – guys who haven’t been through an NFL season – is take care of your bodies, make sure you’re hydrating, make sure you’re eating right, make sure you’re getting your sleep, make sure you’re fueling yourself so you have enough energy to make it through the day. And I think communication is a big part of that and we talk to them about telling us when they’re sore or fatigued or things of that nature. We just try to work through it on a day-to-day basis. I don’t know if the numbers – we use numbers – maybe you tell me, if we had the numbers, what would we be basing that off of? Because it’s a totally different year. Maybe you could help me that. I don’t know. (laughter) If it was a normal year, then maybe those numbers would – I don’t want to say mean something, but maybe they would give us more of an accurate way to proceed. But in a year where everything is a little bit different, I’m not sure. Everyone’s in uncharted territory.”
(I also wanted to get your take on the Bengals special teams unit. I feel like that was kind of the phase that kept them in the game last week. Just kind of what you’ve seen from that.) – “Yeah, this is one of the best special teams units in the league. (Bengals Assistant Head Coach and Special Teams Coordinator) Darrin Simmons is one of the best kicking game coaches in the league. You see it year-in and year-out and like you said, that phase kept them in the game last week. I think they’ve got some – Brandon Wilson is kind of an underrated player, but this guy’s a very good returner. (Kevin) Huber is a really good punter. (Randy) Bullock – they’ve got good specialists. They’ve got good players on those units. They play fast. Schematically, they do a good job. They’re not afraid to run some fakes, which they got one off last week. This is going to be a challenge, I think, for our special teams unit, and we’ve got to play well in that phase. They’ve shown that they can keep themselves in a game strictly off of special teams. We’ve got to do a good job.”
(You mentioned I guess a few minutes ago that nobody’s 100 percent at this point. I guess with QB Tua Tagovailoa and the thumb at some point you’re going to have a decision with maybe 80 or 90 percent, 70 percent – wherever he is – Tua versus a maybe healthier QB Ryan Fitzpatrick. What goes into a decision when you’re trying to see if someone is healthy enough to play compared to someone else who may be healthier, if that makes sense.) – “I think there’s a lot that goes into that decision – what’s best for the player, what’s best for the team, what we need to do, what we need to be able to do to try to win a ball game. I think all those things – I think that’s at the top of the priority list when you’re thinking about who can play and who can’t, really at any position. But like I said earlier, everyone is – I would say every player in this league that’s played a significant amount of snaps is dealing with something and you try to work through it. That’s what Tua’s doing. That’s what a lot of guys on our team are doing and we’ll see it how it goes over the course of the week. It’s Thursday and I know you guys want to know right now if he’s playing, if he’s not playing; but we’ve still got two days of practice here and like always, we’re going to make the best decision for the team.”
(I wanted to get an update on the running backs. RB DeAndre Washington missed practice yesterday with a hamstring injury. You’ve got two guys coming back – RB Myles Gaskin and RB Salvon Ahmed. With their injuries, where are you from a depth standpoint and an availability standpoint based on what you saw yesterday?) – “I made this mistake also, it’s pronounced ‘OCK-med.’ Don’t worry, I made the same mistake. He doesn’t correct people like he should, which I told him he needs to do that. It’s good to get (Salvon) Ahmed back. Obviously (Myles) Gaskin was back yesterday – or last week (at practice) I should say. ‘D. Wash’ (DeAndre Washington), we had to hold him out, but we feel good about our backs – (Matt) Breida, (Patrick) Laird, Myles, Ahmed. I think we’ve got enough guys that we can line up and play. I think everyone’s dealing with injuries, COVID, things of that nature. We watched the game yesterday with a number of guys out for different reasons – some injuries, some COVID. We just have to do the best with what we’ve got. Guys are trying to come back and practice and guys who are banged up are doing everything they can to get back as quickly as possible and get into the game. Like I said, everyone is a little bit banged up this time of year. It’s not just one position. You guys have mentioned it’s running back, a little bit on the o-line. Other teams are dealing with it and we’re no different. We’ve just got to fight through a little bit of adversity and then the next guy’s got to step up and play. It’s a team game. There’s 53 guys on the roster and if somebody for whatever reason can’t be out there, the next guy’s got to be able to step up and play and I think they’re ready to do that. That’s what I like about this team. They pull for each other, they support one another and if someone’s got to – for whatever reason whether it’s injury or COVID or whatever the case may be – the next guy’s ready to step up.”
(Closing statement.) – “Real quick, I just want to say happy birthday to Joe Cimino. He’s our head equipment guy. He does a great job for us and I would say he’s tops in the league, so I’m very appreciative of him and his staff, and just wanted to give him a little quick shoutout. Thanks, guys.”
