Brian Flores – October 4, 2021
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Monday, October 4, 2021
Head Coach Brian Flores
(You said postgame yesterday that the team has to look at everything and you didn’t rule out possibly making major changes, Now that you’ve had 24 hours to decompress from the loss, have you decided on potentially making a big change on offense or is the plan more so get by this week and see if QB Tua Tagovailoa’s return later could help matters?) – “I think we are still evaluating everything – offense, defense, special teams, our operation, the way we practice. It’s got to be better. We’ve got to do basically everything better. We are still evaluating some things. I don’t expect any wholesale changes, if that’s what you’re asking. We are still going through the evaluation process, making the corrections from yesterday, making those today. But don’t expect any wholesale changes.”
(Did you give any thought last night or have you this morning to changing who calls the plays whether it is Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends George Godsey or Quarterbacks Coach Charlie Frye or another person who’s doing it?) – “No. I like the system we have in place. Obviously we haven’t had the success we want or the production that we are looking for. I like our process during the week. I like our preparation. I think we’ve had some good plans going in, we just haven’t been able to execute and we are not getting the results we want. I think from that standpoint, I think the collaboration and the preparation, it’s not like I’ve gone into a gameplan saying, ‘I don’t like what we’re doing.’ We just haven’t been able to execute.”
(Do WR William Fuller V and CB Byron Jones look like multi-week injuries? I know NFL Network just said Fuller has a broken finger.) – “Fuller is going to be out at least this week. Again, still running some tests to see how quickly he can get back or get some more opinions on how quickly he can get back. But he’s definitely out this week. Byron is more of a day-to-day (thing). We’ll see how that goes and see if he’s able to practice on Wednesday.”
(Does Quarterbacks Coach Charlie Frye have the final say in play-calling?) – “I feel like we hit this every week. Charlie gets the call and gives it to the quarterback. We do that so he can give his last ‘watch this, watch that,’ on the play. Again, there’s collaboration. He gets the call and gives it to the quarterback.”
(I know we are watching the offensive line, all of them closely, but T Austin Jackson seems like he’s been struggling all season and it pretty much carries over from training camp. Is there any thought to what can be done to address this and any though to possibly moving him inside to left guard?) – “I think we are evaluating everything. We are evaluating what we are seeing on the offensive line, the defensive line and really across the board. We are going to take a hard look at really everything we are doing, to include the offensive line. We made changes really – we’ve had to make changes due to injury or performance this year and we will continue to evaluate it and if we feel like we need to make a change, we will.”
(Most of your guys, they take that second-year jump progression or at least that has been the case. What is going on in your evaluation with the second-year offensive linemen?) – “I think these guys, they work hard and it’s important to them. I think they are doing everything they can to improve and get better. I’ve seen improvement from each guy. I have. There’s some instances where we’re not getting the consistency that we are looking for but I have definitely seen improvement from each guy. I think what we’re talking about is consistency from the players you’re talking about on the offensive line, whether it’s Solomon (Kindley), whether it’s Austin (Jackson), whether it’s Rob Hunt. That’s something that we are still building towards. We are still developing players but we need that consistency and that’s something that we harp on and we talk about really on a daily basis. We need that. We need it in-game and we need it sooner than later.”
(When you like what’s going on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. And presumably if you do, then the players feel like it’s going well as well. And it doesn’t translate to Sunday a couple weeks in a row, how dangerous of a time is this if players aren’t giving the return on investment that they think they deserve from good work on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday?) – “To answer that question, I think the return on the investment, I guess that’s what you’re asking?”
(Yes sir.) – “To me, I think it’s a lot of plays that we make in practice that we are not making in the game. We are not holding in practice, we’re not dropping balls in practice, we’re not jumping offsides. And those plays that really are the result of a lack of concentration, lack of focus – those are the ones that we’re struggling with right now. I think if we did a better job with those, we would string together more drives, I think we would end more drives defensively and I think we would get better plays out of the kicking game. I like the way we are preparing. It’s not translating, I would say, not because the gameplan is bad. I think we are not executing.”
(I wanted to check on WR Jakeem Grant and DT Raekwon Davis. On Jakeem, where is he in terms of – is he the clear top returner still at this time? And also an update on Raekwon if you could.) – “I think we are still evaluating all positions, to include the returner position. Obviously Jakeem struggled a bit yesterday. He’s been very productive for a number of years but struggled a bit yesterday. We’ll take a look at that position, like we will for all positions, and do what we feel is best for the team. As far as Raekwon, he’s making a lot of progress and we’re hopeful to see him this week.”
(I wanted to ask about LB Jaelan Phillips. We’ve seen him be able to stack performances. Last week he got the most playing time to date. He didn’t get as many snaps yesterday, but we did see him make an impact. Where have you seen him grow and improve the most from training camp up to now?) – “I think he’s playing with a lot more confidence over the last couple of weeks. I think that’s the big piece here. He’s playing fast, he’s being aggressive. It’s not perfect, but he’s definitely playing with more confidence. He’s playing better.”
(I wanted to revisit the thing we’ve seen the past couple of weeks of the offense being able to move the ball very late in games, but not up until that point. What did the film tell you in that regard as you watched it from this past game? Specifically, were there many occasions where you saw receivers open downfield that QB Jacoby Brissett just didn’t take a shot? You mentioned postgame that there were some plays that you checked out of that were designed to take shots downfield. Do you have to do something as drastic as take away audibles in order to get those plays going?) – “After the game, we just talked about there were some shot plays that got checked down, not audibled. There were definitely some missed opportunities on some downfield shots. We’ve got to take advantage of them, that’s really what it boils down to. We had a couple of guys open. We missed those opportunities. We’ve got to execute better. That means getting the protection and getting the ball downfield when the opportunity presents itself. I don’t think we should force the ball down the field. I think if we need to check it down, we should because that’s the right play. Right now, we’re pushing it down the field late in the game because we have to, because we have to force it to get back into the game. We’re having some success there and we need to do a better job earlier in the game of finding ways to create explosive plays. And if the opportunities present themselves, we’ve got to try to take advantage of them, which we have not done. We’ll continue to coach it and create situations where we can do that.”
(One of the hallmarks of your teams so far in Miami is they’ve been very disciplined and they don’t beat themselves. So after every game, you’ve somewhat been saying lately that you put it on yourself, you have to coach them better. Is there something that you’re doing differently this year, do you think, upon evaluation, that you weren’t doing before that might be leading to this?) – “You’re right, we’re not playing disciplined football. I think we’re undisciplined. We’re inconsistent right now. I would say we’re putting as much emphasis as we have in the past on playing smart, disciplined football, trying to play penalty free and we’re just not getting that. We’ve got to do a better job because it’s costing us chunk plays offensively, like it did on the first drive, or extending drives defensively because we’re getting penalties on third down. It’s cost us in the kicking game as well. The emphasis is always there. It always will be there. But again, just because something was some way last year doesn’t mean it’s going to be that way this year. Every year is different. The coaching points are the same, the emphasis is the same but the execution is not. We’ll continue to work on playing more disciplined and playing more consistent football.”
(Is that something you can draw on though? In the past, you were able to do it versus now, it’s a difficulty. Is it something where you can look back and go, “Ok, these were my notes last year where it was working, and now I see I’m doing X different or Y different,” or whatever specific factor it might be?) – “Yeah. I’ve personally gone through that and I’ll continue to place an emphasis on it. I would say if you’re asking if I’m doing the exact same thing I’m doing last year, the answer is yes. But look, every year is different. Every team is different and I’ve got to find a different way of coaching it so that we’re better in that area.”
(Can you touch on that, in terms of the difference? I think we take it for granted that you’re supposed to pick up right where you left off, even though it’s a new roster, a new schedule, new elements. Then also, can we get an update on QB Tua Tagovailoa and his status? There’s a report that he’s going to be healthy and back for the Jacksonville game and we have not had you address that.) – “Tua is doing – I mean he’s working to get back as soon as he can. He’s starting to throw a little bit. We’re just taking this one day at a time. I would say – look, he’s getting better every day. I forgot the first part of your question.”
(Do we take it for granted that you can’t just pick up where you left off in 2020 with a new roster and new team and new players?) – “I try not to take it for granted. Actually, I don’t take it for granted. Every year is different. Every year has been different. Every year I’ve been in this league, every team is different. There’s always different players on your team. Every year you’re trying to just find the right formula or put the right pieces together on each team every year, and try to make them fit in a way that allows you to play good football. That’s every year. Every year is a little bit different.”
(I was looking at WR Jaylen Waddle’s production splits by quarter and his catches and yards go down by each quarter. I’m wondering if it’s an emphasis to get it to him early and if so, what has prevented that emphasis from continuing throughout all four quarters?) – “I think that speaks to our entire team. We’ve gotten off to some good starts and we haven’t been able to sustain it. That’s something we’ve talked about for the last three weeks. We’ll continue to talk about it. We’ve got to be more consistent. We’ve got to sustain drives really throughout better. We’ve got to get off the field better. I think those stats kind of speak to that.”
