Brian Flores – November 12, 2020
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Thursday, November 12, 2020
Head Coach Brian Flores
(Question for you. RB DeAndre Washington – what is it that intrigued you guys to make him the back that you wanted to trade for and add to this team?) – “We watched him during the free agency process last year. I think he’s got good vision, good run skills, can catch the ball out of the backfield. Just doing some background on him, he’s a hard worker. It’s important to him. He’s competitive. We saw an opportunity and (General Manager) Chris (Grier) and the personnel staff did a nice job kind of pinpointing the type of guy we’re looking for and they got it done.”
(I wanted to ask you, I know you mentioned it a little bit yesterday, but Chargers QB Justin Herbert being more effective against the blitz, how does that change what you guys do? Obviously you want to be aggressive and send some blitzes. Does that do anything knowing a quarterback’s been effective at that?) – “Yeah, when you see some of the things that you’ve done in the past or in previous games show up in another game and he’s been effective against the (blitz), it makes you think twice about going that route. We’ve kind of gone through the defensive game plan extensively without getting too deep into what we’re going to do or what we’d like to try to do. That’s part of it, part of the equation. He’s done a good job against pressure; but he’s really done a good job against everything. They do a good job offensively – run game, pass game, screens, draws, they move the ball efficiently, third down, red zone – so it’s a good football team. That’s one element of it, is pressure; and if we call it, when we call it, we’ve got to do a good job executing knowing full well that they’ve been able to execute against those types of let’s call it defensive structures. It’s definitely a tough test. He’s a good player. They’ve got good coaches. They’ve got receivers, tight ends, backs. It’ll be a tough test for us.”
(I wanted to ask you about RB Matt Breida. I know yesterday was just a walkthrough so you might not be sure how much better he’s feeling, but also we know he’s one of the fastest players in the league. What are some of the things he needs to do beyond being fast in order to maximize his potential and help the team?) – “I think he’s definitely helped the team thus far, but it was nice to see him out there yesterday and just take a few reps and see him move around a little bit, so that was nice. But like you said, he’s fast, he’s explosive, he’s tough. I think he’s done a really nice job for us in the kicking game. He’s gotten his opportunities as a runner. He’s broken some big plays, and he just needs to do what he’s been doing. He prepares the right way. It’s important to him and if he just continues to do what he’s been doing, I think he’ll be just fine.”
(I have a very high football IQ question. I’m wondering what you think of the throwback uniforms and would you ever support having those uniforms as your full-time uniforms?) – “I’m not a big fashion guy. It’s not really at the top of my priority list. I like the new uniforms, I like the old uniforms, I like the old logo. I just like coaching football. So sorry, that’s not really at the top of my priority list. It’s not really something I think about, and I know there’s people who love the old uniforms. But old uniforms, new uniforms; I like to coach. I don’t really care what we’re wearing. If you want me to vote, I’ll vote for the old uniforms if you want me to cast a vote. So if I had to choose the old or the new, I’d probably go with the old.”
(I wanted to ask you about Chargers WR Keenan Allen. He’s a very good route-runner just to simplify things, and he works a lot in the slot. Does that create different challenges for you guys? I know you’ve faced good slot receivers before, but when you have two dynamic boundary guys, do you consider putting them inside to go against him?) – “Keenan (Allen) is a very, very – he’s one of the top players in the league. Very productive, very good route-runner, good hands, good after the catch. I feel like I’ve seen him every year for the last 10 years. He’s a very good player and he poses a lot of problems; but they’ve got other guys that pose problems as well. (Jalen) Guyton, Mike Williams, Hunter Henry. So we’re going to have to deal with guys on the perimeter. Obviously we have to deal with Keenan in the slot when he’s in the slot. They move him around, so you can try to pinpoint where he is; but again, ‘A. Lynn’ (Chargers Head Coach Anthony Lynn) does a good job of moving these guys around. So again, that’s part of it. Some of our things we have to deal with defensively. But all those conversations are had. Do we move a guy that’s primarily outside inside? Do we leave him outside and deal with the issues inside or if we move and they don’t move, we’re good? If we move and they move, now they got what they want. Those are all the kind of gymnastics you go through as you’re trying to game plan, so we’ll see. We’ll find out on Sunday, but what we all know is that Keenan Allen is a very good player and we know (Justin) Herbert will be looking for him, as he should.”
(I don’t know if you’ve been asked about the change to the change to the Rooney Rule and providing compensation to teams that lose minority coaches to head-coaching positions. I wanted to get your reaction to that change and I was curious, was your input asked by the league, or by Chairman of the Board/Managing General Partner Stephen Ross when that came up for a vote?) – “I’ve said this multiple times. I think there are a lot of very good minority coaches in this league – good teachers, good coaches, good leaders – and if given the opportunity, I think they would have success as head coaches in this league – head coaches, general managers. I support the change. As far as any conversations that I’ve had, those kind of stay internal within our building and then with whoever I have conversations with. I think that’s just common courtesy. But look, there are a lot of good coaches in this league – white, black. But if you’re asking me about minority coaches, there are certainly a large contingent of capable, smart, bright leaders in this league. I’m hopeful that they get the opportunities they deserve and I’m sure if given those opportunities, they’ll have success.”
(I wanted to ask you about the COVID situation. Do you expect any coaches to return to practice today and also WR Lynn Bowden Jr. on the COVID list? I also wanted to ask you about any advice or talks you’ve had with G Solomon Kindley after the O-line changes against Arizona last week?) – “As far as Solomon Kindley – I’ve talked to all of the offensive linemen, I try to talk to everyone on the team. My message is normally the same: let’s improve, lets get better every day. What happened last week or six weeks ago really doesn’t matter. It’s about what you do today, how you perform in practice today. That’s how you take advantage of your opportunities when they present themselves. I expect Lynn Bowden to be back today. Coaches, we’ll get a couple back. I won’t get into who, but we may get a couple back. Our guys have done a good job as far as having the next-man-up mentality. Whether it’s players, coaches, equipment, training room – I think everyone has that mentality. It’s been good that way. It’s always good to do something that you’re not normally doing. It may be a little uncomfortable, but in the end, you’re probably better for it and have a better understanding of the overall scheme and different vantage points of how other positions or how other players see things. There is some good that comes out of it, I think, in my opinion.”
(It will be helpful to know this year whether WR Lynn Bowden Jr. and RB/WR Malcolm Perry – not to lump them together but obviously two rookie former college quarterbacks – if they’re more change pace guys or if they actually could develop into legit slot revivers. Could you please address where both of them stand in their growth toward that goal?) – “It would be helpful to know for who? For you guys? (laughter)”
(It would be helpful to know for you guys, for Dolphins fans, for the writers who cover the team and trying to determine ok, could these guys be long term slot receiver options?) – “When we start talking long-term, that’s when I’ve got to revert back to today. I think the message is and always will be let’s not think about long-term and how far down the road, or how many years we’re going to be, this, that and the other thing. The focus is today – improving today, having good meetings, having good walkthroughs, having good practice and stringing them together. That will hopefully manifest itself in the game, if and when their opportunities show up in the game. I think sometimes you can make progress and no one sees it, and it doesn’t show up on the stat sheet. It may be the long-term answer, or someone may be the long-term answer and you guys don’t know and I don’t know and no one knows, and then bam, things happen. And it’s because of the work that was done in the previous eight to nine weeks. Looking for the long-term answer in one game, I don’t think that’s normally how it happens. I think it happens over time. I think it takes time. It’s called a compounding – basically there’s a growth that occurs over a period of time, and we don’t know if it’s long-term because it’s still very early. That’s kind of my thoughts on both of those guys as well as every other young player we’re dealing with on this team. That’s probably not the answer you’re looking for, but’s that’s what I got for you. (laughter)”
