Brian Flores – December 3, 2021
Download PDF version
Friday, December 3, 2021
Head Coach Brian Flores
(I wanted to ask you on three guys – RB Phillip Lindsay, LB Jaelan Phillips, G/T Robert Hunt. Phillips, Lindsay, Hunt – their availability for this weekend?) – “Phillip (Lindsay) – we’ll see how today goes. Today will tell us a lot about Phillip. Who are the other guys?”
(Jaelan Phillips and Rob Hunt popped up on the injury report as limited this week – back and hip.) – “Yeah, I think both guys will be okay. Yeah, I think both guys will be okay. Anybody else?”
(And with RB Phillip Lindsay, he wasn’t at practice yesterday the injury report said. But he’s back today?) – ”Yeah, today will tell us a lot about whether or not we’ll get him.”
(I wanted to ask you on RB Malcolm Brown this week, was he able to do much? Is he close to coming off IR?) – “He’s working hard to get back as soon as he can. Definitely making a lot of progress. Right now, we’re kind of – we won’t have him this week so we’ll talk about that next week.”
(Your program focuses on consistency, day to day, what’s ahead of you. And as you kind of preach that message to your team, how do you think they respond to the success they’ve enjoyed the last four or five weeks here compared to what they were doing off the losing streak? How do you think they’ve kind of handled the approach to success?) – “I think the focus is on the Giants, their team, which is a good team offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. A well-coached team coming off a win with a lot of good players. They’re good schematically and I think that’s kind of where their focus is. I think that’s where it should be.”
(Do you have a feel yet for WR DeVante Parker and C/G Michael Deiter’s availability for the game?) – “Today will tell us a lot about both guys. I think they’re moving in the right direction but just want to see how today goes. They both practiced at a decent clip. There’s some soreness and things like that after that, so we’ve got to see how today goes.”
(No setbacks? So everything is going smoothly?) – “It was a padded practice so it’s been a while for both guys in pads. Certainly some soreness. So again, today is going to be an important day for us.”
(Are you optimistic that you’ll possibly get one of the two centers back or is – you don’t have that many roster spots obviously, so is one ahead of the other?) – “Yeah, we’ll make that decision after practice today.”
(I know you’ve been asked a lot about WR Will Fuller and you told us that a lot of broken bones. I don’t even know whether we should ask anymore in terms of this – do you expect him to play again this year?) – “He’s not going to play this week. The focus right now is on the Giants. He won’t be there for the Giants game. We’ll kind of talk about that next week, but he won’t be there for the Giants. That’s who really the focus is on. Again, they’ve got a good team, good players, good coaches. That’s the challenge. Will (Fuller) won’t be there for that.”
(Did preparation this week for QB Daniel Jones and QB Mike Glennon – did that add to the workload in terms of needing to prepare for both with Jones’ injuries?) – “We’re preparing for the Giants offense so that’s – like we talked about the other day – this is a good skill group, good back, good tight ends, good receivers. The o-line works well together. So if (Mike) Glennon is in there – this is a veteran quarterback who has seen a lot of defenses, can throw the football. If (Daniel) Jones is in there, he’s a younger guy. Talented. Both talented. I think we’ve got to get ready for all of them.”
(You had DB Logan Ryan when you were back in New England. I think he’s coming back this week. What does he add to that Giants defense?) – “Smart, experienced, communication, versatile. He’s been a corner, he’s been a Star, nickel. He’s playing safety now, but he kind of plays all those positions still. Good tackler. Instinctive. This is a good player.”
(With Joe Judge having a background in special teams, are there ways in which you see his characteristics as a head coach come through in the special teams unit?) – “Yeah, it’s a good unit. They’ve got a lot of good players. They have a good scheme. It’s going to be a big challenge in the kicking game. They play tough, they play aggressively and they do a good job in the kicking game. I think they do a good job across the board.”
(We saw WR Preston Williams back there as kind of an H-back against – I forget the opponent, I’m onto the next week. What does he do that made his skillset fit that and is that just a one time matchup situation? Or is that something that he can kind of evolve into?) – “Preston, he just wants to help the team any way he can, whether that’s catching the football, blocking or in the kicking game. Every week the gameplan is a little bit different. Carolina played a little bit more safety in the box and we had to get that player, so Preston was in the backfield to block that particular player. Every week is a little bit different. He may be back there, he may not be. We’ll see.”
(How did TE Hunter Long do in his 24 offensive snaps last week if TE Adam Shaheen can’t play again on Sunday? I guess we might see him again.) – “I thought he did some nice things. He was excited to get out there and there were definitely some things that he can improve on, which we made those corrections. He was ready when his number was called. We’ll see how Adam feels today. Again, I know we mentioned those other guys but it’s a big day for him too and we’ll see how it goes.”
(Last week you had a chance to get some guys some snaps that haven’t played a whole lot. CB Javaris Davis for instance, made his NFL debut. How valuable is it for those young guys to have game snaps compared to what you have on practice tape?) – “I think game snaps are very important. I think when you’re teaching off of game snaps, it’s different for a number of reasons. But to go in there, I know he made a play at the end of the game, I thought he did a nice job. I think it’s a good experience for him to see and feel the experience of the game. It’s different in practice. Those plays that are made are not made in the game. That’s where I think there are some real opportunities to teach and get a lot of attention to get those right or ‘Hey, I did something right and I had some success doing that. I’m going to do that again.’ When you get that in a game, I think those corrections are, especially for young guys, important.”
(How would you describe TE Durham Smythe’s development as a receiver?) – “I think Durham is a team-first guy. I think whatever we ask him to do, he just wants to help the team win. Whether that’s catching the ball or blocking or on the punt team or sneaking the ball on fourth-and-1 or third-and-1. I think he brings a lot to this team and we’re going to need that this week against the Giants.”
(Have the last couple of weeks left you encouraged about the process of the left side and the offensive line with T Liam Eichenberg and G/T Austin Jackson?) – “I think we’ve got a big challenge this week against a good defensive line led by Leonard Williams and Austin Johnson and Dexter Lawrence and (Azeez) Ojulari. They’ve got a good group there. The last few weeks don’t really – we’re just trying to prepare for this group this week and try to string good plays together.”
(LB Jerome Baker talked about how his role has changed, varied and obviously it’s gameplan-specific stuff. How important is it to have a piece like that, who can do as many things that Jerome does? And how difficult is that to find in a linebacker?) – “I think it gives us versatility. His versatility gives us flexibility to move him around so we talk about that every week. (We want) the best spot to play really every player but specifically with Jerome. It’s not different this week. I would say the Giants, they create a number of potential issues with the amount of skill players they have. So when you have somebody like Jerome who can play a few different spots, you have some choices that you can make defensively. That’s a conversation we have every week.”
