Brian Flores – September 27, 2021
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Monday, September 27, 2021
Head Coach Brian Flores
(A couple weeks ago you mentioned T Austin Jackson is a left tackle. Was his play yesterday good enough to where that continues to be the case? Obviously, there were a couple late penalties and a pass protection breakdown. He had some good moments too. Is he still your left tackle moving forward or do you look potentially at competition there moving forward?) – “There’s always competition every week. I thought Austin did some good things yesterday and there are some things he can do better. I think that’s the case for really everyone on our team, myself included. The goal is to make the corrections and improve throughout the course of the week. I know he’s a hard-working kid and it’s important to him. He’ll try to do that and we’ll help him try to do that.”
(With the offensive line as structured yesterday, do you feel like you want to give this particular group with these guys in these positions some time together moving forward and grow with these five, health permitting?) – “I think they did some good things, that group yesterday. Some things that we can do better. We’ll make those corrections. I thought the communication was good. I thought there were spurts of good execution and I think it’s a group we can move forward with.”
(In terms of the running game, how encouraging was it to see the unit get – I know QB Jacoby Brissett had a lot do with it – over 100 yards rushing and do you feel like that is something that can be sustainable?) – “I think you always want to get the run game going. I think we were able to do that – not consistently enough but we got it going a little bit and we will try to build on that. The o-line was a part of that, obviously Jacoby was a part of that and the backs ran hard. We will try to build on that.”
(I noticed QB Tua Tagovailoa on the sidelines yesterday, just curious as that’s a long flight and a big pain to travel. Is he feeling any better or are there any signs of progress with how he’s doing?) – “We are taking it one day at a time. He’s getting better each day. He’s working hard to improve and get out there. He wanted to be with his teammates and support his teammates, that’s why he made the trip. That speaks to the kind of kid he is and we were happy to have him there. He’s doing better. He’s getting better every day.”
(The defense has a lot to do with it but when you are putting together an offensive game plan for the week, can a team even say ‘We want to get more deep balls, we need to get more deep passes?’ Can you even say that as part of a game plan knowing that flow of game is going to dictate so much of what goes on?) – “Yeah, I think every week you’re trying to create explosive plays offensively. Once you get in the game, you have to take what they give you. Oftentimes, most teams are trying to limit the big plays and you have to have good execution to create explosive plays. Every team wants them. We try to get them and we had a couple opportunities for them. We got the ball downfield. Didn’t make as many as we needed to win the game and we’ll always work to try to create more.”
(How much consideration, if any, was given to the idea of going for the first down on fourth-and-2 in overtime and if so, what led to the decision to with the field goal instead?) – “We were going to kick it. That was the thought there. Pick it up or kick it. We believed Jason (Sanders) was going to make it, which he did. We thought we were doing some good things there defensively at the end to give ourselves an opportunity to get it back. Unfortunately we weren’t able to do that, we weren’t able to execute the way we needed to. We were going to kick it the whole way if we didn’t get it. Kind of give ourselves an opportunity to extend the game and give our defense a chance to get the ball back.”
(I noticed yesterday CB Byron Jones traveling quite a bit with TE Darren Waller. I was curious if you could tell us what it is about Byron’s skillset that went into the decision to have him cover Waller so often and how you felt he performed that task?) – “Waller is a great player. Obviously he’s been extremely productive throughout the last couple years. We knew we had to have a good plan. I think part of that was having Byron cover him a little bit. Eric Rowe covered him. We tried to jam him. He still got his targets and made a couple plays for them. At the end of the day, we didn’t do enough. That starts with me and we need to do a better job of getting them prepared to go out there and execute.”
(We heard from QB Jacoby Brissett yesterday. He said that it was part of Gus Bradley’s defensive scheme to keep offenses in front of them and that it’s a battle of attrition to see who breaks from their scheme first. Is there ever a point where taking what the defense gives you becomes inefficient?) – “I don’t think so. I think there’s a discipline. I don’t think it becomes inefficient. I think oftentimes what happens is when you take what they give you, if you continue to get first downs doing that, move the ball and they will change what they are doing and that’s when you get your opportunities offensively. That’s kind of a back and forth game that offenses and defenses play with one another. I think we had some other opportunities where we could have pushed the ball a little bit. I think they did a good job, credit to Gus and Coach (Jon) Gruden for their game plan. At the end of the day, when it’s overtime, we weren’t able to execute and pull out the ball game. But no, I think the best thing to do and the smartest thing to do is just take what they give you. But you have to execute. I think there’s plays to be made on any defense but you have to execute.”
(You talk about execution then you also take ownership for the fact that the team is not executing. How much do you put on what’s going on or the struggles that are there on the coaching staff not reaching or utilizing the team in the right fashion?) – “I think that’s how I feel about the situation right now. We’ve got to do a better job of putting these guys in position to have success and close out games and be competitive in games. Like I said, that starts with me. We have to prepare them better and then we have to play more consistently. We got off to a fast start yesterday, kind of leveled off in the second and third quarter. Las Vegas made some plays, came back and that’s the game. There’s ebbs and flows in every game. They played well, then we played well. We played well, then they played well. That’s kind of how it goes. We need to play more consistently and that’s going to be something that we talk about a lot this week.”
(What did you think about what you saw from WR Will Fuller in his first action with the Dolphins?) – “Will looked good. I wish we would have gotten a few more opportunities. He made a few catches, made a few blocks in the run game. I thought he did some good things. It’s good to get him out there. It’s been a while since he’s played. He was happy to get out there, feel the speed of an NFL game, get hit and things like that. It was good to have him out there.”
(In terms of the run defense, it has to be disheartening for them to be able to run 19 yards to be able to put themselves in scoring position. Where do you feel like this team is stopping the run at this point?) – “I think we’ve done a good job in spurts. We were actually just talking about this. I think when everyone is taking care of their responsibility and doing what they are supposed to do, it’s good. We’ve run into some issues, especially in a game like that where everyone is trying to make a play and everyone is trying to help the team win. It’s genuine, it’s sincere. But we had a couple guys get out of their gaps trying to make a play several times, I would say, in the second half and it was to our demise. That’s something we need to learn from and we just need to – even though everyone is trying to help the team and make a play, it’s always best to handle your responsibility, be in your gap, be where you are supposed to be and as a team and as a unit, we will handle the run game.”
