Brian Flores – October 25, 2021
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Monday, October 25, 2021
Head Coach Brian Flores
(You had three guys leave the game yesterday with injuries. What can you tell us about RB Malcolm Brown, LB Jerome Baker and DB Jason McCourty?) – “So Jason and Malcolm, we expect both guys to go on IR for at least three weeks. ‘Bake’ (Jerome Baker), that will be day to day. We’ll see how that one goes.”
(Anything new on the C/G Michael Deiter situation? How ready might he be to come back off IR?) – “He’s actually making a lot of progress. Don’t expect him this week but he’s certainly making a lot of progress.”
(Yesterday was the third time you’ve had to watch a last play field goal beat you. I’m sorry if this kind of sounds like a broken record but just how much more can a team take with everything that’s gone on and to lose six in a row and three of them in that way? How concerned are you for the psyche and all the comes with that from this group?) – “I think it’s a resilient group. We talked about that today. We’ve lost three games with a field goal at the end. We’ve talked about the margin for error the last couple of weeks and really all year. We’re really on the wrong side of that and there’s a myriad of reasons why but when it comes down to a field goal at the end, there’s always one or two plays that could have turned it and could have been the difference. We understand that. We just have to make more plays throughout the game so it doesn’t get to that point. Or if it is in that situation like it was yesterday, we have to do more offensively, defensively and in the kicking game to pull it out, which we haven’t been able to do. It’s been disappointing. But as far as the psyche of the team, I’ve said this all year that this is a resilient group. This isn’t an effort issue. This isn’t a desire issue. This is just a situation right now where we’re just not doing enough to pull these games out. We’ll continue to prepare the way we’ve prepared. We’ll always look at different ways to do things. But we need to find different ways to help these guys finish these games out.”
(I think we all appreciated yesterday that both you and QB Tua Tagovailoa spoke about how you guys have had conversations to sort of deal with the outside noise, the trade rumors, the distractions. I was just curious – you talked about the psyche of the team. For a young quarterback like Tua, do you feel like in just two years he’s been through almost an inordinate amount of distractions with all of the things around him? And how do you keep him locked in to where you want him to be, given everything that’s going on?) – “I think he’s been locked in. I think he’s played well the last two weeks. Not perfect but I think he’s played well and moved the ball and given us a chance to win the last couple of weeks. We haven’t been able to pull it out but I think his psyche is in a good frame of mind. He’s dealt with a lot the last couple of years with the hip and last year obviously being a COVID season and not having a normal training camp or OTAs. Then this season, with another injury. So he’s dealt with some adversity. He’s overcome it. I think he’s doing a lot of good things and putting us in good positions.”
(WR Will Fuller, where does he stand in his recovery as he’s now eligible to be removed off IR? If he’s healthy. It’s been three weeks now.) – “Will is also doing everything he can to get back as soon as he can. I don’t think it will be this week but I think we’re getting closer.”
(I also wanted to ask about S Sheldrick Redwine. There are reports out there that the team picked him up. Now we know that DB Jason McCourty is going on IR. What can he bring to the team?) – “He’s a young player, a young safety. He was in Cleveland for a couple of years. We had some love for him coming out. We think he has some ability. We’ll get him here, try to teach him the system and try to get him going. He plays in the kicking game as well. We’ll see. We’ve got to get him here and get him going.”
(I know you’ve talked to us about the development of players being important to you. I’m curious now after 12 full games for QB Tua Tagovailoa, how would you evaluate the job that you guys have done as a staff, helping him develop?) – “I think he’s getting better. I think he’s getting better every time he steps on the field. I think he’s pushing the ball down the field more. I think he’s making better decisions. I think he’s making quicker decisions. I think he’s doing a lot of things – look it’s a small sample size, but every time he steps out there, I see progress. I saw that yesterday for sure. I think one of the things – I think he showed some grit and some growth dealing with some adversity, dealing with a couple of interceptions and then coming back and giving us an opportunity to win the game at the end. He’s a young player. Everyone develops at a little bit different pace. But I think he’s doing a lot of good things.”
(You mentioned everybody develops at a different pace. When you have that quarterback position, obviously that gets a lot of eyeballs. How do you view maybe the timetable needed to evaluate whether this quarterback is developing how you want them to?) – “I don’t know if I’ve thought about it from that standpoint. We’ve had close to – let’s call it a year and a half – with Tua (Tagovailoa) and it’s been an unusual kind of year and a half for a number of reasons. He’s coming off the hip (injury), he dealt with another injury this season. But I would say the last two games, he’s done a lot of good things. I think he’s headed in the right direction. We’re pleased with the development that he’s shown over these 18 months.”
(I wanted to ask primarily about WR Will Fuller. I know he’s got the hand injury but there are players with injuries who are around the team or on the field or at practice. Why is it that we haven’t seen Fuller not just since the hand injury but during OTAs and training camp? Why has Will Fuller not been present? Why isn’t he there watching?) – “He’s been around. I see him every day in rehab. As far as getting out there and being at practice, mostly he does his work during practice. That’s how we have it set up for him and most of our guys who are on IR. They kind of work in our meetings and practice.”
(Last year, you probably talked about this with Miami reporters, but last year you were No. 1 on third-down defense. Can you pinpoint what have been some of the factors for the drop off on third-down defense?) – “Probably communication, overall execution. I would start with communication. It’s not good enough from a fundamentals and technique standpoint. It’s definitely something that we need to improve on. That down is a big down from a momentum standpoint, getting off the field, getting the offense back on the field, getting return units back on the field. Again, last year was last year and this is a totally different situation, totally different year, new opponents. We’ve got to improve in that area for sure.”
(Just looking at the Bills offense and where they stand right now, the addition of WR Emmanuel Sanders, do you see them being more balanced as a passing unit than last year?) – “Certainly an explosive unit already with (Stefon) Diggs and (Cole) Beasley, (Devin) Singletary and you add (Emmanuel) Sanders. It’s definitely an explosive unit. They do a good job, they are well coached and it is definitely a tough test.”
(You waived QB Reid Sinnett to make room for WR Isaiah Ford. Do you expect Reid to return to the practice squad? And second, with LB Jerome Baker missing most of the game, did S Jevon Holland handle most of the communication duties on defense?) – “No, Sam Eguavoen handled the communication from (Defensive Coordinator) Josh (Boyer) to the rest of the defense. What was your first question?”
(Do you expect QB Reid Sinnett to come back to the practice squad?) – “We’ll see the waiver wire today and see how that shakes out. But if so, yeah we’d like to get him back.”
(You had mentioned QB Tua Tagovailoa being aggressive pushing the ball down the field. I just wanted to get a philosophical coaching point with regards to being aggressive versus calibrating when to pull that thing back for a young quarterback. On the pass to TE Durham Smythe it looked like there was a couple guys in the area. How do you calibrate being aggressive with also making good decisions for a quarterback so early in his career?) – “I think that’s a very valid point. You want to be aggressive but you also want to make smart decisions and not put the team in a position where you could potentially turn the ball over or create a negative play. That’s a fine balance. I think every quarterback goes through that thought process. I think a lot of it is based on what defense you’re seeing, the players you have on the field and I think a lot of it is based on how you practice it. If you can see those areas of the field where you can create some chunk plays, you hit them in practice and you have an opportunity to hit them in the game if you get the same look. It’s something we practice, it’s something we try to put an emphasis on and then players have to go out there and execute.”
(QB Tua Tagovailoa talked about a miscommunication on that particular throw. Is that something where there’s a sight adjustment post-snap where they can both read something and make an adjustment based upon the original call?) – “Which play are you talking about? We may be thinking of two different plays.”
(The first interception where TE Durham Smythe was in the area.) – “There was a miscommunication on that one, unfortunately. I think it’s one that Tua wishes he had back, Durham wishes he had back and something we have to learn from. When you look at it that way, there’s some other places we could have went with it. What I liked most about that was Tua’s response, Durham’s response and being able to turn it around and create some positive plays after that mishap.”
(Based on the history against the Bills in Miami, is it one thing that seems to go wrong? Can you pinpoint what have been your struggles against the Bills over the course of the six-game skid over the past couple of years? Is it one thing, is it a number of things and what is your approach to now facing them this Sunday?) – “Well they’re a good football team. They’re a balanced football team on offense, defense and special teams. They are well coached. They got good players. When you play a good football team, we have to play well on all three phases to have success against a good team or really any team in this league because every team is good in this league. That’s really what it boils down to. They got good players. They got good coaches. They execute well. They play well together. It’s always a tough test, especially going up there.”
