Brian Flores – November 2, 2020
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Monday, November 2, 2020
Head Coach Brian Flores
(From the beginning when you got here, you talked about team football and all three phases of the game complementing one another. For a lot of people, that’s a vision and a goal; but it seems like your team has found a way to do that in the last month. What has that process been like?) – “I think probably the word you use it for is coach speak. I really believe in it, though. I’ve seen it. I believe that that’s the way the game is supposed to be played. No phase is more important than the other. Nobody’s job is more important than anybody else’s and that’s from ownership to the people who clean to everyone in between. It’s a total team effort. I think the phases can complement each other if you place an emphasis on it, and that’s something we’ve talked about here and as you mentioned, that I’ve talked about with you guys and I’ve talked about it with the team. I think you get what you emphasize and it’s something we emphasize and it’s starting to show up on the field a little bit; but we have to continue to emphasize it and continue to make it – stress its importance so that it’s not just coach speak and it’s not just in one ear and out of the other like what happens to a lot of people, and one can actually play that way on Sundays.”
(After watching the tape, what did you think of how QB Tua Tagovailoa played? And also, with RB/WR Malcolm Perry, was him being active yesterday a function of WR Lynn Bowden Jr. had a baby and Malcolm’s practiced well? Or was the chemistry that he and Tagovailoa had in training camp, where they had several long completions, did that factor into your and Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey’s thinking about him playing yesterday?) – “Malcolm practiced well, so we wanted to give him an opportunity. We thought he played well in his limited snaps. (With Tagaovailoa), like everyone else, (he had) some good plays, some bad plays. We’re making the corrections now. A lot of things we can get fixed. For his first time out, again, some good and some bad. Hopefully we see some improvement next week.”
(You’ve been eloquent and passionate about some of the issues with social justice and such. I have a question for you regarding an election-based story we’re doing tomorrow. I’m wondering in what ways do you see a difference in this election in the willingness of players to speak out and try to be more of a part of the conversation than they’ve been in the past?) – “I think players are always part of the conversation, or those conversations are behind had, I should say. I think they’re difficult conversations to have and I think they’re important conversations to have. I think the players understand that. I think they also understand that they have a platform and they can use that platform to encourage people to go out and vote; but also, encourage people to listen to one another, to unite and come together more so than divide. I think that’s important to a lot of the players. I think they want better for this world. I think, to a man, you hear that over and over again. I think a football locker room, and I know it’s been said and I see it, that in a football locker room, there’s a lot of different guys from different backgrounds and somehow we all come together and have those conversations and learn about one another. I think a lot of guys feel that and they want that for everyone else. Unfortunately, that’s not the case; but I think we all, us in our locker room and in our little bubble, we see that it can happen, and I think that’s why guys are maybe a little bit more outspoken right now, along with what’s going on in the world. I think the George Floyd situation obviously struck a chord with everyone. People are still feeling the effects of that and I would say that would be at the top of the list of why people and our guys are much more vocal.”
(I wanted to ask you about your defense. Last season, you guys finished last in scoring defense, last in yards allowed. This year, you’re already first in scoring defense and top five in a lot of other categories. How do you feel about the vision of your defense? Everybody playing well, playing together, the new pieces – how do you feel like it’s all coming together so far, knowing that you have a lot more to go?) – “This morning – I’m very leery about statistics right now because I look at the stats from yesterday’s game and we gave up this many yards passing and this many yards rushing. When you look at it, it felt like we got dominated and I didn’t feel that way during the game. Look, this is a week-to-week league. I’m not – we’ve got to just focus on today and focus on improving today and focus on getting better in practice this week, and not worry about the statistics. Just worry about the next play and the next practice. Hopefully our guys understand that. We’ve got a tough opponent this week. We’ve just got to play good football, and that starts in practice.”
(A year ago today, you guys were 0-7, and a lot of things were being said about you guys. Since then, you guys have been 9-7 over the last 16 games. I wanted to get your view on what you think is the heart of that turnaround and are you where you expected to be?) – “I think the heart of it is the players. They are the ones who are out there on the field. They are the ones who are out there practicing and preparing. The credit goes to them. I know I’m not out there tackling anybody. Nobody wants to see that. (laughter) The credit goes to those guys. It’s football and you’re never really where you want to be. There has never been a perfect game played. There is always room for improvement; but I do think these guys are improving. I think they’re coming together. I think they are building relationships and I think you see that on the field. When you see Jakeem (Grant) make and his big return and guys are flipping out on the sideline, it makes you want to build that rapport on the team. I think that’s grown over the last year-plus. Hopefully it continues to grow. You can never get enough of that.”
(An T Austin Jackson question. Does he need some more time or is he ready to practice or close?) – “He’s doing everything he can to get back as soon as he can. I know he’s eligible and I understand the question to come off and start practicing, but we’ll see. We have a couple of more workouts, a couple more rehabs before we make a decision on that and whether or not he’s going to practice. I’m not going to say he’s close or not close. I don’t want to put a timetable on it. He’s doing everything he can to get back. He’s making improvements.”
(We’ve had a lot of conversations over the last few days about QB Tua Tagovailoa. I wanted to ask you about the 10 guys surrounding him. Do you feel like they did enough of their own job yesterday, and if not, how much might that influence your thinking as we near the trade deadline on how active you might be?) – “I thought the other 10 guys played well in spurts and they didn’t play well in other spurts. I think at the end of the day, we need to get all 11 guys playing well from play to play. When they get that consistent … that’s something we’ve talked about and stressed today in these meetings, really in all three phases – offense, defense and special teams. The second part of that question was about the trade deadline. The trade deadline is what, tomorrow? I’m sure there are going to be rumors swirling around, who we are trading for and things of that nature. (General Manager) Chris (Grier) handles all of that. I’ll be getting ready for the Cardinals. I honestly won’t have too much information on that. Chris handles it and as soon as I’m off of this call, I’ll be trying to figure out a way to get Kyler Murray, and (DeAndre) Hopkins, and (Chase) Edmonds and that group contained or limited. Try. We’ll try to do that.”
(I’m sure you’ve heard that the Cardinals had two players test positive over the weekend. I have no idea what is proper in a case like this, whether you would have contact with the Cardinals or concerns about that, or whether it changes anything or what you do at all. Secondly, what is your election plan? Have you already voted or are you going to vote tomorrow?) – “I already voted. Mail-in ballot. It’s in and accounted for. As far as Arizona and their COVID situation, I haven’t talked to anyone over there. I haven’t talked to (Head Coach) Kliff (Kingsbury) or anyone over there, or anyone from the league for that matter. We’re just going to do business as we normally do it. We’ll prepare the way we normally prepare, and prepare to travel the way we always have for an away game. We’ll try to get ready to play against a very good football team.”
(Is there some concern about the game possibly having to be pushed back, or at what point do you worry about that? Or does the league inform you as soon as possible?) – “We just follow the league’s lead on that. They’ll let us know if there are any changes, postponements or things of that nature. As of right now, we’re scheduled to play Sunday at 2:25 Arizona time. That’s the information I have now. It’s 2020, so we all have to be ready to adjust and be flexible; and if that’s the case, that’s what we’ll do. If they want us to play Saturday, Monday, tomorrow, that’s what we’ll do.”
