Brian Flores – October 18, 2020 (Postgame)
Sunday, October 18, 2020
Postgame – N.Y. Jets
Head Coach Brian Flores
(This is the Dolphins’ first shutout since 2014. What was the key to shutting down the Jets today?) – “I think we had a good week of practice. I think (Defensive Coordinator) Josh (Boyer) called a great game, did a good job getting those guys ready to play, and then the players played well. We got contributions from a lot of different guys. A lot of guys made plays, and they played for 60 minutes. I’m proud of that effort. That’s the focus we need really throughout the week, and then you’ve got to execute and play well in the game, which I thought they did. But our defensive staff, Josh, (Defensive Backs Coach) Gerald Alexander, (Linebackers Coach Anthony) Campanile, (Defensive Line Marion) Hobby, those guys, I know I’m leaving a couple guys out, but those guys do a great job. They really worked at it this week, showed up on the field.”
(I just want to know, that sack by DE Emmanuel Ogbah to take the Jets out of field goal range there in the fourth quarter, just could you explain how excited the sideline was for that, knowing that it had been such a long time, and since you guys have had a shutout, how satisfying it is to go out there and get a shutout?) – “I think there’s a lot of … These guys like playing together, so when other guys make plays, whether it’s offense, defense, special teams, you see a lot of excitement, a lot of energy. Guys were excited for Ogbah to make a play. Guys were excited about the situation, of getting a stop and getting them out of field goal range, and they were excited about the potential to get a shutout. That’s what I like to see, guys enjoying kind of the process of working through the week, prep and preparing, walk throughs, meeting, practice, and then going out and executing on a Sunday afternoon. I think they’re just happy for each other and kind of reaping some of the fruits of their labor.”
(I know last week we talked to you about putting QB Tua Tagovailoa in the game and obviously you did this game. What sort of went into that decision, and what did you see out of him in his two minutes of garbage time?) – “Well Cam (Wolfe) you can take credit for that. You had a great idea, so I listened to you. But I think he went in and had a run play, threw a couple passes, got some — just got some playing time. It was a situation where we could do it. I guess I listened to you, Cam, so you can take credit for that one.”
(Back to the defense, when CB Xavien Howard is on top of his game, how much more complete does he make the secondary and also just the entire defense?) – “I thought it was a really good team defensive effort. ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) played well, Byron (Jones) played well, Nik Needham played well, (Zach) Sieler, Elandon Roberts, so it’s a team effort. I know ‘X’ had the big play there with the interception, but it was a good rush, it was good coverage. It’s never just one guy. It’s a lot of things coming together, good calls by (Defensive Coordinator) Josh (Boyer) and then good execution and good play by ‘X’ in that situation, but good play by a lot guys in a lot of other situations. We need everybody to play well. We got a fair amount of that today, from ‘X’ as well as a lot of other guys, and that’s what you need in this league against the caliber of players we see on a weekly basis.”
(You’re going into the bye now at .500. If you could take stock of where this team is now, what would you say?) – “We’ll use the bye week and kind of self-reflect on the first six weeks of the season. I don’t think right now … I’d rather do that with all the information than going through that, and that’ll take us really through the end of the week, how we’re doing offensively, run game, play action, third down, two-minute, red zone, same thing defensively, same thing in the kicking game, evaluate the roster. But I think we’re happy to win today, happy to play well today. That’s kind of … As far as taking stock, that’s kind of where my thoughts are. Some things we could have done better, but we’re excited about getting a win against a division opponent.”
(I think when people remember that moment that QB Tua Tagovailoa ran on the field, they’re also going to remember QB Ryan Fitzpatrick’s reaction to that moment. He was just hyping up the crowd, hyping up Tua. What does that say about their relationship and kind of them as people?) – “I didn’t know that, but that doesn’t surprise me. The two … Those guys have a great relationship. They root for each other. Those are some of the relationships that are building really throughout the team. You like to see that. Hopefully when you watch them play, people see that. It’s nice to hear that. I didn’t actually see it, but I know there was some excitement once he went in, and I’m happy for Tua. But I like hearing that.”
(I wanted to ask you about RB Myles Gaskin. Obviously, this week the flirtation with RB Le’Veon Bell, do you think that got his attention, the reason why he contributed 126 yards or was just the run game finally got going?) – “I think he’s been playing well really these first six weeks. Look, most guys are … I know the guys on our team, they’re motivated to play, period, so I don’t think we need any extra motivation. Myles is a motivated kid. It’s important to him. I wouldn’t take much stock in that. But I thought he played well. I thought we ran the ball effectively at times. But like everything else, we can improve in a lot of areas, and we’ll work towards that. But Myles is tough, he’s competitive, and he’s been productive. Hopefully we keep going on that, keep building.”
(We saw some contributions from LB Sam Eguavoen today, your linebacker. Just wanted to get your take on him stepping up into a role and a couple of guys went down. We saw LB Kamu Grugier-Hill and LB Andrew Van Ginkel leave the game. Talk about the depth of your linebacker corps and his performance today.) – “We had a couple guys get nicked up in the game. Sam is a guy who obviously was here last year, can play multiple positions, plays in the kicking game, very smart, tackles well, can set an edge, hasn’t gotten as many opportunities as maybe he did a year ago, but his number was called today and he was ready to go and made some plays for us early and got a lot of snaps. That’s what we need. Some guys get nicked up and we need the next guy to step up and be effective. Our level of play can’t go down because we have an injury because injuries happen in this league, and we talk about that. We talk about guys having to be ready. Sam did a really good job of that today. But I’ve got to go back and watch the film. I’m sure there were some things that could have been better, but just my recollection of the game right now is that he went in there and played pretty effectively.”
