Brian Flores – January 3, 2022
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Monday, January 3, 2022
Head Coach Brian Flores
(I know you have another game this weekend and you’re probably not prepared to do another autopsy of the season as of yet, but I just wanted your initial thoughts about what you were feeling when you found out last night that the playoffs are no longer a possibility?) – “Disappointment. I think you’re in the wrong business if you’re not disappointed by that. That’s probably the – disappointment for our team, for the people in the building, for our players, coaches, support staff. Everyone works really hard and they put a lot into this, so definitely disappointed.”
(I know you don’t want to dissect the season yet, but just an overview on a particular thing that you’ve ranked bottom in the league all season and that’s points. Do you think part of the issue is that you simply don’t score enough points offensively as a team?) – “Right now, the focus is to make the corrections from last night and really get started on our next opponent, which is obviously a very good opponent in the Patriots. You’ve got to score points to win games. You’ve got to have more points than the opposition, so that’s always something that is at the top of the priority list. We’ve got to do a better job from that standpoint and that starts with me.”
(After facing QB Mac Jones in the opener, how have you seen him grow from then to now as you get started in preparations this week?) – “He’s done a great job for them. Good command of the offense. I think they play well together as a team. Balanced run-pass. They do a great job defensively, a good job in the kicking game. It’s a very good team and he’s done a nice job for them.”
(I know it’s early in game preparation, but obviously it’s a situation where you’re not competing for a playoff spot. Has there been any discussion within the coaching staff about maybe getting some of the younger players who may not have had any opportunities a little bit of playing time or some snaps this weekend?) – “No. We’re really focused on making the corrections from yesterday and getting the beginning preparations for this game. We always have conversations about who is going to play, how much. Those conversations will be had. We’re always going to try to put our players in the best position to have success and our team in the best position to have success.”
(I was wondering if you could share with us your message to the team this morning following the loss and a lot of disappointment I’m sure in the building.) – “It’s a tough loss. I know they are all disappointed. I think there are a lot of emotions that come with being eliminated. I think it’s easy to go and lament all of those feelings. A hard thing to do is pick yourself up and move on to the next challenge. That’s what we need to do. That was the message. I think they took to that and we’ll make the corrections today and I’m sure we’ll be out there Wednesday with great energy and excited to go out there and compete.”
(Could you possibly walk us through the decision to put QB Jacoby Brissett in the game n the third- and fourth-and-short yardage situations?) – “Jacoby has gone in there in those instances really pretty much throughout the year. He’s kind of been the sneak quarterback and we felt like it was an opportunity to push the ball down the field.”
(I don’t want you to go through gameplans because there is still a game left but it feels like the past several instances have been going into the game and usually end up in either like the pass attempt like we saw yesterday or trying to get around the edge. Is that more you guys trying to keep defenses off guard by not just sending QB Jacoby Brissett up the middle automatically every time he’s in the game?) – “Yeah, I would say so. I think it’s a little bit of you think it’s a sneak and we do something else. You think it’s not a sneak and we try to sneak it.”
(Is there ever a thought to sending QB Tua Tagovailoa around the edge or just trying to pick those short yards up with Tua?) – “Yeah, I think we’ve done that throughout the course of the season as well. He’s snuck it and he’s also thrown some of those dash passes to his left. I think we’ve done both if you kind of look at it.”
(Looking over WR Jaylen Waddle’s stat line from yesterday, he had a dip in targets, receptions, yards and everything from what he’s been doing the last couple of months. I’m just curious now that you’ve had a chance to watch the tape, what they did to take him away from the game and if there is anything he can learn from how the Titans attacked him yesterday?) – “They did a nice job. There was some double coverage. Obviously, they paid a lot of attention to him. We missed him on a couple of throws. A combination of all those things was a reason for a little bit of the dip but I thought he made one nice catch there in the fourth quarter. He put us in position, we just couldn’t finish the drive off.”
(I guess it’s been three weeks since RB Malcolm Brown has returned to practice so you have a decision to make there. What will you do with him?) – “We’ll talk through that and make the decision we feel is best for the team. I’ll talk to our staff about that here tonight, tomorrow. We’ll do what’s best for the team.”
(Are there any guys on the practice that you may consider using a final elevation to get a good look at here in this finale?) – “Potentially. Again, we’ll have those conversations on the roster, which will include the practice squad and any guys who could potentially come off of the IR and play in the game. We’ll look at it all and try to get the best 48 to the game.”
(I was going to ask you if there was any thought in retrospect to wishing that you had used RB Duke Johnson a little more in the second half on runs? I know it’s very difficult when you’re trailing to get the running game going in the second half of a game but was that a thought you had at all after the game?) – “I thought Duke ran the ball well in the first half. We probably could have stuck a few more runs in there. When you’re down, you want to try to get back into the game and try to create some other plays, which we missed on some of those other plays that we had guys open as well. Look, we just didn’t execute across the board – offensively, defensively or in the kicking game – and we didn’t get the result we wanted.”
(In terms of, I know you talked about the thoughts you had in your mind last night and not to probe if you want to keep this personal, but was there anything kind of gnawing at you when you went to bed last night or woke up this morning with regard to how the season played out missing the postseason? Fans might say the Jacksonville loss, others might say different things. Was there anything gnawing at you last night or this morning?) – “No. There’s always – I try to just not think about what’s happened or look too far ahead. I try to stay present and the focus was on making the corrections from the game, thinking about my message to the team today and that’s kind of where I am right now.”
