Brian Flores – December 7, 2020
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Monday, December 7, 2020
Head Coach Brian Flores
(Given the way that things unfolded yesterday, I’m wondering is it your understanding that the actions of WR Mike Thomas on those two punt plays, is that grounds for an ejection and if not, do you think it should be in the interest of player safety? Secondly, can you update us on how WR Jakeem Grant is dong today?) – “Jakeem is banged up like a lot of guys on our team are. That was a tough, hard-fought game yesterday. To answer your first question, we’ve kind of moved past it. We talked about it as a team today. We’ve got to do a better job keeping our composure, playing with poise and not getting penalties. That’s going to be a point of emphasis this week, and we’ll leave it at that.”
(I wanted to ask about G Ereck Flowers. There are reports out there that he suffered an Achilles injury. I don’t know if they are accurate or not. Where is he in terms of the medical status and finishing out the season?) – “As you guys saw, he left the game yesterday and didn’t return. He’s getting treatment this morning. He’s getting evaluated. We’re still kind of working through that process this morning. He’s a tough guy. He wants to be out there. I know he’s going to do everything he can to get back out there as quickly as possible. As far as any reports that are out there, again, I’m not going to talk about anyone’s medical situation until we have all of the information ourselves. That’s where Ereck is.”
(You’ve won eight out of nine now that I believe, and most of those wins have been in double digits. You’re playing at a high level. Do you think this team is ready for the challenge that the Kansas City Chiefs presents?) – “The Chiefs are a very good team. I think we all know that. They are the reigning Super Bowl champions. They’ve got a great coach, great quarterback, great players defensively, they do a great job in the kicking game as well. It will be a great challenge for us. We’ve got a bunch of guys in our locker room who will compete and are tough. We’ve just got to do a good job of preparing. Right now, we’re just making the corrections from yesterday’s game. We’ll get into the preparation later in the week over these next few days. It’s a very good team. I think we all know that. We’ve just got to take this one day at a time and just try to prepare the best we can, and try to play a good football game this week.”
(I know you talked yesterday about Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey going into the up-tempo offense in the second half for QB Tua Tagovailoa, and he talked about how it confused the defense a bit. The obvious question would be, should we see more of that and what are the pros and cons of running more up-tempo offense?) – “I think it’s week to week. Every week is based on what we see from our next opponent. If we can turn on the tape and see someone else running no huddle against Kansas City and they are getting stoned every play, in that case we wouldn’t do it. That’s the case for up-tempo. That could be the case for something else in the kicking game, offensively and defensively. It’s very early. All of the focus was on the Bengals. It’s a one game season. We’ll turn our attention to Kansas City and we’ll see. We’ll see if it’s something that – if we think it will help us, we may implement it; but again, I don’t think that’s an every week thing. It’s more something you can go to in the offense. But every team has some form of two-minute or up-tempo. You have to have it if you get into a two-minute situation.”
(With an elite opponent coming into town, what’s your message to the team?) – “The same as every day. Prepare the correct way, make sure we’re getting our rest and hydrating, getting the right nutrition in our body, trying to get ourselves to an optimal level for next week. That’s a daily process. Let’s have a good meeting today, let’s get into our weekly routine, which everyone’s is a little bit different. Mine is different from yours, is different from the next player. So get into your routine, watch the film, study your opponent and we’ll be in touch with the players about game plan and things of that nature later in the week. Really nothing changes, to be honest with you.”
(How would you say CB Noah Igbinoghene responded with his opportunity to fill in for CB Xavien Howard? He got 20-plus snaps and it seemed for a good part of that second half he kept things pretty quiet on his side?) – “Yeah, I thought he played well. He’s a guy who’s been practicing very well. I’ve seen a lot of improvement with him at practice. I think he’s made a lot of plays in the kicking game for us over the last few weeks. Those things don’t go unnoticed. He’s young. He just turned 21-years-old last week. I think he’s getting better. Like I’ve said, developing players and watching them improve is something that we always have an eye on and I’ve seen that in practice and he got an opportunity yesterday. I thought he played well.”
(I wanted to ask you about CB Xavien Howard – not the ejection, but just about his play throughout the season. Do you believe that he’s one of the best players in the league?) – “’X’ (Xavien Howard) is very, very talented. Yeah, he’s one of the best corners I’ve been around and he’s improving, and he works at it on a daily basis. He’s playing with a lot of confidence right now and we have a lot of confidence in him, and hopefully that continues. With the way he works and how important the game is to him, I don’t see why it wouldn’t (continue). He’s a key piece to this team.”
(You’ve done a good job of preaching day-to-day and it seems like these guys certainly listen you to, just take the next-game, next-day approach. But big picture, with four games left and this team being in the hunt, do you want them to embrace that, the fact that with four games left you’re right where you want to be as far as potential goals and maybe the postseason?) – “We try to take things one day at a time. I think that’s the only way to approach it. We’re in a position where we get to play some meaningful games and that’s good, but in order to take advantage of them, we can’t be thinking three, four, five weeks ahead. You’ve got to focus on today, focus on this week, focus on this team. We’ve got plenty to focus on with the Kansas City Chiefs. As you guys know, this is a very, very – look, they’re the reigning Super Bowl champs. They’ve got great coaches, they’ve got great players, they know how to win. They played a tight ball game yesterday and you see them pull it out at the end last night. They play well in situations, they play well in the kicking game; so again, getting ahead of things is not really my nature and obviously I don’t really see how it helps us all that much. We just need to focus on trying to get better today and trying to get ready for the Chiefs.”
(I know you obviously don’t want to go back to the Bengals situation, but do you immediately try to take that and turn it into a teaching moment for your players? How do you think that is going to bring you guys even closer together and what have you learned about your team so far this season?) – “These guys, they enjoy playing with each other. They care about each other and they celebrate with one another in good times; they support one another in bad times and I think that’s important on the team. I think this is a resilient group. I think this is a hard-working group and I think they know that as a team, this is a – let’s call it a very supportive team. I would say so. And I think that they play hard for one another.”
(You’ve started 10 rookies at different points this season. It is the most in franchise history. I’m wondering if there is a certain intersection between the coaching staff that you assembled with that teaching mentality and development in mind, like you mentioned with CB Noah Igbinoghene, and also the knowledge that you had so many draft picks coming into this season and how would you evaluate the development of all these first-year players on your roster?) – “I think – we’ve played a lot of young guys – I think they’ve all developed at different paces. I think some are further along than others. I think they’re all getting better, they’re all improving, they all work hard, it’s important to each one of them. I think they’ve all had a little bit of different circumstances for a number of reasons, whether it’s injury or whether it’s a couple guys have been inactive, down, inactive for multiple games and then they get called up. Some guys played early and then didn’t play as much and it’s basically just being a rookie in the National Football League. I think every experience they’ve had on the field has been a good one. Whether they’ve played well or didn’t play well, each one of those experiences is good for them and are opportunities for them to learn, grow, and if it went well, then they take that and say, ‘hey, well, whatever my process was to get that result, let’s stick with that and build on that.’ And whatever the process was if it was a bad result, then they know they have to change that. That’s life in the National Football League and honestly that’s life, period. So those are kind of some of the lessons we try to give those guys as far as process, routine and trying to accomplish something. So I know we’ve played a lot of rookies. Honestly I wasn’t sure the exact number until you mentioned, so if we’ve started 10, then it’s a good thing. They’ve earned that opportunity. I think a lot of these guys are playing well and we’re counting on them. Somebody mentioned last week that this is around the time when their seasons are over, so they really have to push through this portion of the year, which is different and there’s a lot going on. They’re tired mentally, physically and emotionally. They’ve got to push through. This is the – you’ve earned the right to play in some meaningful games. I think they’ve got to push through and I’m confident they will. But yes, each one of them has developed and gotten better, I would say.”
