Brian Flores – October 11, 2021
Download PDF version
Monday, October 11, 2021
Head Coach Brian Flores
(Were you able to talk to QB Tua Tagovailoa yet today? Is he still feeling much discomfort in the ribs and is it affecting his throwing as of today from what you know?) – “Yeah, I talked to him today. He threw today. He’s definitely making progress and we’ll take this day-to-day but we are hopeful that he can practice this week.”
(One other quick thing, just on how T Liam Eichenberg and T Austin Jackson played in their new positions after watching the tape and your thoughts on that?) – “Overall as a team, we were disappointed. But just specific to those two players, I thought they did some good things, some things that we can try to build on. There are certainly some things that they can do better. I thought the both of them on that left side did some good things.”
(Whenever a team struggles, loses a couple of games in a row, a lot of negativity starts to swirl out there around the team. How do you keep the locker room positive, upbeat and looking forward as the team is struggling?) – “I think that’s more about the people who are in the locker room, who are in the building. I think we’ve got a group that sticks together, supports each other, that understands and knows how hard they work, how hard they prepare and we’re just not getting the results that we want right now. My feeling is that it’s a good group, they’re going to band together, support one another and try to play better and get back on track as a team.”
(I’m sure after yesterday there were a lot of concerns that you have regarding the defense. But after looking at the film, what’s the one thing that jumped out at you regarding the defense more than any other?) – “There’s a lot of things but we’ve got to do a better job in the run game. That stands out. That starts with me. I’ve got to do a better job of putting these guys in better positions. That’s the one thing that sticks out. We talked about it this morning and we’ll talk about it this week. We’ve got a big test in the run game this week with Jacksonville and I think that’s the one thing. If there’s one – there’s a lot there, but if you’re asking for one, it’s that.”
(Offensively, I wanted to get your thoughts after watching the film of the changes made to the offensive line. Did it look like something that could be long term or was this just a patch situation in terms of trying to fix the leaks? How do you view what’s going on with your offensive line right now?) – “I see this as potentially long term. I think Liam (Eichenberg) at left and Austin (Jackson) over there inside at guard, I think that’s something that we’ll probably stay with for the foreseeable future. Obviously, nothing is set in stone. I like some of the things we saw in practice last week and then in the game. I think we can try to build from there.”
(I’m going to ask you on DE Jabaal Sheard and the safeties. On Sheard, what led to him being active yesterday? I know he got in for 11 or so snaps. And on safety, I know it’s a tough call every week because you have four good safeties that you want to get playing time to. We saw something a little different yesterday. We saw a heavy tilt towards the young guys. S Jevon Holland and S Brandon Jones played a lot more than DB Jason McCourty and S Eric Rowe. Was that entirely a matchup thing or has Jevon reached a point where you and Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer have decided he must be on the field more, he’s a talented young kid who we need to play more?) – “Jevon has done a nice job. We think he’s talented. Experience and playtime, I think he’s earned it and that’s why he’s out there. We’re comfortable with all four of those guys. They all played but Jevon and Brandon have done some good things. The gameplan was to get those guys in, get Rowe in and Jason in in specific packages. Sheard has done a really nice job in practice, really since he came on the practice squad early in the year. We wanted to add another edge rusher, edge defender. We had space for that in the gameplan and decided to make the move and get him some snaps in the game.”
(I was wondering if you could tell us the extent of TE Adam Shaheen’s injury? He left the game Sunday and I don’t know if there was ever another update on him.) – “He’s in getting treatment. Let’s call that one – I think it’s still a little early. Kind of call that one day-to-day and see how he’s feeling here and whether or not he will be ready to practice this week. Obviously he left yesterday and didn’t come back. He’s definitely sore, I would say. We’ll see how he feels in a couple days or if he’s ready to practice here Wednesday or Thursday.”
(In the past, we’ve seen your defenses where you have the ability to trick the quarterback. Where maybe you’re lining up and it looks like a blitz, disguised coverages and going in your bag of tricks. When you’re going up against QB Tom Brady, which is what we saw yesterday, was it just the case of one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time doing the types of things the greatest quarterback of all time does?) – “Yeah, I think you have to give him credit, give them credit. I thought they had a good plan. I thought they executed their plan. He made some good throws. They made some good catches. Obviously we want to play a lot better than that but I think you have to give them some credit. We’re disappointed. We want to make more plays and do a better job across the board. We weren’t able to do that yesterday and we just have to turn the page and move on to the next opponent.”
(You mentioned yesterday postgame an emphasis of getting to the line of scrimmage quicker for more motion and pre-snap shifting. In what ways do you think that benefited the offense yesterday?) – “I thought offensively we did some good things. Obviously not enough. Some guys showed up. I thought Preston (Williams) showed up. I thought Myles Gaskin showed up, did some good things. There are some things to build off of offensively, but not enough and we’ve got to do a better job of putting these guys in position to make plays. We have got to play more complementary football so we have more opportunities offensively. When you can’t get off the field defensively, they can’t get the ball offensively and we just didn’t have enough possessions. I thought there were some good things. I thought we moved the ball more efficiently yesterday. We were on schedule a little bit more. We protected better than we had. We have some things to build off of but we certainly need to be better.”
(This is the week that QB Tua Tagovailoa is going to be back on the practice field. I know you don’t have a green light in terms of how he’s going to look but what are the things you are looking for from him to let you know that he’s ready to return to the football field?) – “I saw him today and he’s making a lot of improvement. What we’ll need to see is him move around, see him throw the ball, see him make throws on the run, see the deep ball. The one thing we won’t see is real and true contact on the quarterback. There’s obviously going to be from a pain-tolerance standpoint some things he’s going to have to push through, which I’m sure he will. Yeah, that’s what we’re looking for. Just get him to go through a normal practice, make all the throws and go through a two-hour practice.”
(Keeping on the quarterback theme, we’ve had so much focus on QB Tua Tagovailoa but I want to revisit QB Jacoby Brissett for a second. He came out temporarily yesterday. How is he doing today? Any soreness or anything or is he fine?) – “Definitely sore. Definitely getting treatment. Definitely sore. I thought he really toughed it out yesterday with the leg injury. Look, he’s tough, he’s competitive. I thought about pulling him a couple times and he fought me to stay in. That just speaks to his competitiveness. We’ll see how that goes this week but he is definitely sore.”
(Does the fact that you’re going to London affect in any way the possible move back to QB Tua Tagovailoa? Does that complicate things in terms of how much time you have to work Tua back in or is that totally a nonfactor, the travel distance part of it?) – “I don’t think so. I think we’ll see how it goes in practice with both guys. Obviously, like we just mentioned, Jacoby is dealing with something as well. But no, I don’t think so. We’ll see how it goes. We’ll see how it goes with both guys. We’ll see how it goes with Tua. I would say he’s moving in the right direction, Tua I would say, based on what I saw today. We’re hopeful that he’s ready to go this week in practice and this week for the game.”
(Speaking of London, other than the fact that it’s a longer flight and you are playing in a different country, what tweaks or changes do you make to the way your week is set up and what, if anything, is different because it’s a London week?) – “We’re leaving Thursday night, so that’s definitely different. Well, Thursday evening. We’ll get there Friday in the morning. That is all very different. Our practice schedule, we’re basically bumping it up a day. We’ll do a little bit tomorrow, a little bit on Wednesday and a little bit on Thursday. Leave Thursday. Do a little bit on Friday, walkthrough and try to get back to our normal Saturday-Sunday routine. It is different. The time change, going five hours ahead, definitely is a little bit of a difference, the long flight. Some things will definitely be different for us this week but they’re also different for Jacksonville. It’s just what it is and we’ll make the best of it and do a good job with our preparation and go out there and try to play a good football game.”
