Brian Flores – December 9, 2020 (Conference Call)
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Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Head Coach Brian Flores Conference Call with Kansas City Media
(I want to take you back to your time in New England in 2018. Obviously you got a chance to see Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes in his MVP season; but I’m curious, now that you look at the tape two years later after the fact, what are some of the small things that you see that he’s doing differently compared to 2018?) – “Obviously that was an MVP season for him, so he was doing a lot of good things, a lot of things very well that year; but I think you see a lot of growth from him, even more command of the offense, more confidence, more – to say he’s more accurate is – but he is. I think that’s in part due to even a raised level of confidence. You see a more mature player, which makes sense as well. He’s very well-coached and he does a great job. (Offensive Coordinator) Eric Bieniemy does a great job and he’s got a lot of skill players and he does a good job of spreading the ball around and making sure – taking what the defense gives him, going after big plays, hitting them and just running that offense at a very, very high level.”
(As somebody who has come from the Patriots, you’re used to the job of defending a Super Bowl championship. What are some of the things – the challenges – for a team in that situation like the Chiefs are in this year?) – “I’m not sure if that’s kind of the mindset for those guys, as far as defending last year. I think they take a one-game-at-a-time approach. I think they deal with what’s right in front of them. I think that’s the approach. I think it’s about executing in practice and in meetings and walkthrough and executing at practice. They play as if that’s how they go about their business from an execution standpoint. I think they just deal with what’s in front of them and take it one day at a time and one game at a time. I believe that that’s how they’re handling their business. It certainly looks that way.”
(You’ve been around and seen some high-quality tight ends in your time. With the level that Chiefs TE Travis Kelce is playing at right now, what’s the approach? How do you handle a guy like that who seems to be playing at the best level of his career right now?) – “Yeah, this is an elite-level player in this league. Good in the pass game, good in the run game. They move him around and he goes up and makes very good catches, very good (yards) after the catch. Again, this is an elite player in the league and it’ll be a tough challenge for us from a matchup standpoint, from do you man (coverage) it, do you zone (coverage) it? Very good players, well-coached and obviously he has a great rapport with the quarterback, so it’ll be a tough challenge for us.”
(You’ve got a pretty good tight end down there in Miami as well with TE Mike Gesicki. How much film does he watch of Chiefs TE Travis Kelce or even some of the other tight ends in the league to help his growth?) – “Yeah, Mike (Gesicki) watches – I think he watches a lot of the tight ends – the good tight ends in the league, Kelce being one of them. Mike is improving, getting better on a weekly basis and I’ve watched him develop a lot over the last couple years and hopefully he continues to develop. Obviously he’s got a great challenge with the Chiefs defense this week. I think there are some guys on there – Daniel Sorensen, obviously (Tyrann) Mathieu, (Frank) Clark, (Chris) Jones – I think they’ve got a very good defense. They’re well-coached with ‘Spags’ (Chiefs Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) there. My guy (Chiefs Run Game Coordinator/Defensive Line) Brendan Daly, who is probably one of my closest friends in the coaching business, is there, and he does a great job. They’re a great staff from that standpoint. I’m sure I’ll certainly be saying my hellos to Andy (Reid) and Eric Bieniemy and Brendan and ‘Spags’ and Merritt (Chiefs Defensive Backs Coach Dave Merritt). So they’ve got a good staff and you can see kind of the tenacity and the toughness and the competitiveness that I know a lot of the guys on that staff, you see that kind of manifest itself through the way they play. It’ll definitely be a challenge for us.”
(Here in Kansas City, Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes got to sit for a whole year and kind of watch and learn before he had to start and now your guy, QB Tua Tagovailoa, got to sit for about a half a year. What’s his growth been like? Have you seen him – he’s taken a few lumps here and there – but has he continued to show you what you want as the season has gone along?) – “Yeah, I think Tua has improved on a weekly basis, like all over our rookies have. We’re playing a good amount of rookies this year; but to me, every experience you get on the field is a good one. I think he’s kind of learning on the fly how to be a professional in this league (and) the things you’ve got to do in meetings and walkthrough and practice, to have success in games. I think he’s improving every day, getting better and hopefully we just continue to get better. We are about developing players here – not just at the quarterback position, but we’ve got a handful of rookies that are playing a good amount of snaps. Tua is just one of that group and I know the quarterback position is a big one that everyone talks about, but I think he’s doing a good job.”
(Following up on that last question, have you learned anything about QB Tua Tagovailoa in the five, six games, whatever it’s been since he’s been your starter?) – “Yeah, I’ve learned a lot about him and I think it just reinforces a lot of things we thought about him when we selected him. He’s tough, he’s resilient, he’s accurate throwing the football, and I think he’s an improving player. We’ll just continue to coach him, help him grow.”
(From your point of view, obviously there’s a lot going on with the 2020 year and also the 2020 season. What’s been the biggest challenge for you as we get near the end of the regular season, to keep your players diligent and not get complacent with COVID protocols?) – “The biggest challenge, I think every team deals with adversity in some form or fashion. I think we’re all – the entire league is under the same protocol – so it’s hard to call it a ‘challenge.’ I think these are just things we deal with. I think you deal with injuries every year. I think you deal with matchups every year – offensively, defensively. If I had to point to one thing – it’s hard to point to one thing, to be honest with you. Hopefully our team doesn’t sit there and say ‘this is the biggest challenge.’ It’s just, another challenge and we try to do our best to deal with it and overcome it. And that’s been the case this year given the pandemic, given trying to play football through it and I think our guys have really worked hard to give ourselves a chance to work through it and hopefully we continue to do so. That starts definitely this week.”
(How’s the confidence level of your team grown? You lost three of the first four and you kind of got on that roll. Have you seen that grow as the entire team – even with a quarterback change kind of back and forth in the middle of it? Have you guys really kind of gotten that confidence going as the season has gone along and how do you feel as you push towards the playoffs?) – “I think we’ve got a group of guys that enjoy playing with one another, that support each other, that fight for each other and football is important to them. They’re all tough, competitive guys. This is a scrappy team and it’s really important to them. I think as you grow, I think they’re confident in one another and they know that we’re going to go out there and compete. It’s a tough group.”
(You go back to the Chiefs game on Sunday night against Denver and the one touchdown they got came on a free play where the Broncos jumped offsides and QB Patrick Mahomes threw a touchdown pass. He looks like he’s got a knack for those kind of situations. He’s done that thing a few times. Is he about as good as you’ve seen in that area? Have you seen guys who are better than him and what’s your advice to your guys as you prepare to play for him in those situations?) – “Look, this is a great quarterback. You put him up there with the other guys you’ve seen do something similar – the Aaron Rodgers, the Mannings, the Bradys. He’s an elite quarterback. I think that goes without saying. So it’ll be an incredible challenge for us. If you make a mistake, he’s going to make you pay for it; and he’s got a lot of guys on his side of the ball that help him make you pay for it. We’ve got to do a great job across the board and I think if you watch enough of this group. teams try basically everything and at the end of the day, you’ve just got to play smart, disciplined football (with) good fundamentals and let the chips fall where they fall.”
