Brian Flores – November 1, 2019
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Friday, November 1, 2019
Head Coach Brian Flores
(One real positive is the few penalties that you have. That TNT wall clearly has worked. Are you happy about that? Was there any guy over the last few years who said, “Oh, why do we have to run to a wall?”) – “Everyone’s got their different ways of showing how important those – from penalties to turnovers to communication to not blowing an assignment – everyone’s, you run a lap or you run to a wall or you just outright just yell at the guy. I think every coach has different ways to get that point across. I think from a penalties standpoint, I think that’s gotten across to our group. I hate to even talk about it because we’ll probably go out there and it won’t be the way it’s been the last few weeks; but there’s a lot of other things on that wall that we could a lot better job with – turnovers being No. 1 on my list. That’s the goal for this week, is to limit the turnovers and create some more and hopefully we can get that done.”
(It seemed like there was a few last week that DBs got their hands on and couldn’t quite bring them down. How do you kind of look at that where guys who don’t work on the J.U.G.S. machine a lot but those plays are still game-changers?) – “Like you said, they’re game-changing plays. Every turnover is, wherever it shows up – offensively, defensively or in the kicking game. We had some opportunities last week. Last week, we didn’t take advantage of them. They did and that ended up being the difference in the game. That’s the difference most weeks. I would say, I guess the silver lining there is that we did have some opportunities; but at the end of the day, it’s just a long foul ball if you don’t take advantage. We’ve got to do a better job form that standpoint whether it’s getting on a fumble or making a play on an interception or punching the ball out. There still are several opportunities and there have been over the past few weeks that we’ve got to take advantage of.”
(Do you think S Reshad Jones or C Daniel Kilgore have a good chance?) – “Both guys are really working but we’ll see. I think it’ll be tight for both guys. The injury report comes out in a couple minutes so we’ll see.”
(You guys obviously have the top waiver claim coming up and WR Josh Gordon was just released by the Patriots. Did you guys put a claim on him?) – “Those conversations are between (General Manager) Chris (Grier) and I and (Vice President of Football Administration) Brandon (Shore). I’m not going to give that information out in a press conference. They’re internal. We’ll keep them internal. Obviously we do work on everyone on the waiver wire, so it’s a daily thing. We look at everybody who’s been waived, who’s been terminated, practice squad transactions – we look at it all. Those guys do a really good job of (that) and our personnel staff. They do a good job of scouting through it all. You can basically – every guy that’s on that, we have a conversation on. Obviously we’ve talked about Josh and we’ll see what happens then.”
(After seeing S Bobby McCain at safety back in May, April-May, obviously you made the decision to leave him there even though he could play corner. With CB Eric Rowe, have you seen enough at safety – obviously he’s tackled well and done some other things well – have you seen enough to want to leave him there, or do you think he’s still a corner who you can occasionally play at safety when you want?) – “I think he’s a defensive back. I think it depends on the week. It could be a corner. It could a safety. It could be a nickel. It could be a linebacker some weeks. I think his versatility is important to us and it’s allowed us to do a few different things. I think he’s in a good place right now and hopefully he continues to grow in the position that he’s in now, but that could change very quickly. We’ve – clearly we’ve had some injuries at the corner position – and hopefully we can – what I know about Eric (Rowe) is whatever we need, he’ll do his best and try to give it to us. I love that about him.”
(WR Preston Williams leads the team in receiving and yards. WR DeVante Parker leads in touchdowns. You guys are getting contributions from WR Albert Wilson, WR Jakeem Grant and WR Allen Hurns in recent weeks. How do you like your receivers group where it is right now?) – “I like it. I think we’re gelling as a receiver group, as an offensive unit – quarterback, tight ends, o-line, backs, receivers – but that group, I think they’ve really done a good job. I think they work well together. They watch film together. They work out together. There’s a good rapport and working environment there from that group and a lot of other groups. Each one of them has their own skillset. Hurns is tough, reliable (and has) really good hands. Preston – obviously he’s made some big plays. DeVante is the same way. Albert is an explosive playmaker. Jakeem is explosive as well. We like them all. Isaiah Ford – he’s gone in there and made a few plays as well. I like the group, but we’re just continually trying to get better and improve.”
