Brian Flores – September 5, 2019
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Thursday, September 5, 2019
Head Coach Brian Flores
(There was a report today about players saying that it’s been really tough around here and it could be mentally draining under you and your coaches. What do you say to that?) – “I can’t really speak to the accuracy of that report, to be honest with you. I think when these guys are in the building and we’re in meetings and walkthroughs and practice, I see a group that’s high-energy, that’s motivated. Their thoughts, their efforts – the direction is on Baltimore and trying to get prepared to play a tough, physical, well-disciplined team. I can’t really speak to the accuracy of that. What I see is a group that’s motivated, is working hard and trying to prepare for a tough contest on Sunday afternoon.”
(Would it matter to you if that was the case? Is it a deal of you either get on or get off?) – “It’s not something I’m thinking about at all. We could talk about what would matter or what wouldn’t matter. What matters to me right now is Baltimore and preparing for them. We can sit here and make things up all day and think about things – would this matter? Would that matter? The things that matter to me are that my wife is happy, which I think she is (laughter) and my kids are happy. Those things matter, and the Baltimore Ravens, and that’s kind of where I’m at.”
(On the field, how do you see WR Albert Wilson being used? I know you’re not going to give away strategy, but is he at the level where he can be a starter and play a full load?) – “I like where Albert is. He’s come a long way from where he was early in training camp. He’s worked day after day after day, and he’s gotten better. Again, we’re getting starters, backups – a lot of guys play. When you enter the game, you’re in there for a reason. When guys enter the game, whether they’re a starter or backup, we want to go in there and execute and have good communication, play with good fundamentals and technique and play fast and try to go out there and help us win.”
(How would you describe TE Mike Gesicki’s progress from spring throughout?) – “I think he’s definitely progressed. That’s another young, talented player. I think he’s gotten better in a lot of different areas: blocking, conditioning, catching the ball consistently, route running. The goal right now is for him to take it one play at a time and try to execute every play in practice, every play in walkthrough, every mental rep he takes in a meeting and try to get better. The big thing is execution on Sunday.”
(Have you decided on a starting offensive line for Sunday?) – “For the most part – yes, for the most part. Yesterday gave us a good look. (Our) practice in pads gave us a good look at the entire group. We have a starting lineup in mind, yeah. We feel good about it. We’ll work that group again today. That could change; but yeah, we have a group in mind.”
(How close to being able to play a lot do you think do you think T Julién Davenport is?) – “I think all of those guys are in good shape and good condition. I think all of those guys are good condition, and all of those guys are ready to play. We have a good group of guys who have played a good amount of football. From (Danny) Isidora to (Evan) Boehm to (Julién) Davenport to (Daniel) Kilgore to (Michael) Deiter to (Shaq) Calhoun, we’ve got a good group there. We’ll play the five best guys. We may play more. I thought we had a good practice today. We saw a lot. We learned a lot about the new guys. Again, today’s practice is important as well.”
(QB Ryan Fitzpatrick has a history of being a little bit of a gunslinger. Is that something that you want to embrace or for him to curb that?) – “I think every good quarterback has a little bit of a gunslinger mentality to him. That’s part of playing the position. The thing you want at every position is to make good decisions – smart decisions. You don’t want guys to sit back and just check it down on every snap. That’s not going to get it done. You’ve got to make good decisions. When the opportunities are there to throw the ball down the field and guys are open and you want to give a guy a chance, yeah. I think that’s the right way to play and not just for ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick), but for any quarterback. We’ve got to make good decisions. We don’t want to throw the ball into traffic. We don’t want to force things that aren’t there. We’ve hit that hard. We never want to turn the ball over. We want to play a smart, tough, disciplined game. We don’t want to turn the ball over. We want to limit the penalties. Every team is saying the same thing this week, so hopefully we can execute.”
(How is QB Josh Rosen and his gunslinger mentality going with the second team and the backups this week at practice?) – “Josh – he’s doing well. He’s improving every day. He made some good throws yesterday. He made some good decisions yesterday. He just needs to continue that. As long as he does that and he keeps building, he’s moving in the right direction.”
(When you bring in a guy like CB Eric Rowe – obviously on the field what he does, but off the field, the culture stuff – how important was it to bring in a guy like that who knows what it takes to win at the highest level?) – “I think we’ve got a few guys. I think we’ve got a few guys who have that exact same mentality that brings some leadership and do the right things off the field – not just Eric (Rowe), but Bobby McCain, Reshad (Jones), Minkah (Fitzpatrick) – I think that entire group, they take it seriously. They’re in there meeting. They’re in there preparing. They’re practicing the right way. I could say that about a bunch of offensive guys, too – (Dan) Kilgore. They’re bringing some of these young guys along as well – (Michael) Deiter, Shaq (Calhoun). That’s part of growing as a team. Eric’s (Rowe) part of that. Obviously I’ve had some experience with him. I know what goes into his preparation, but these other guys – the guys here – they prepare well, also.”
(But to have a guy who’s actually won a Super Bowl. That has to go long way, no? Especially with such a young group.) – “I’m trying to win today. That’s the goal: to win today, have a good practice, have a good meeting. Hopefully they’re – which I know they are because I saw them yesterday – they’re meeting a little bit afterwards and trying to get a little bit more – trying to get prepared a little bit better on their own as groups. That’s where the focus is.”
(What’s your confidence level with how the front seven is shaping up for you on defense?) – “I’m confident. We’ve got some disruptive players in there. We’re preparing against a tough, physical team. The run game’s going to be a big part of this. We’ve got to do a good job with our fundamentals, our technique. We’ve got to set the edge. We’ve got to handle the quarterback. There’s a lot here. They’ve got backs, the quarterbacks, they’ve got receivers, they’ve got tight ends, they’ve got a big ole offensive line. It’s going to be a challenge. (laughter) It’s going to be a challenge.”
(I wanted to ask about T Julién Davenport’s progress. He started at left tackle for the Houston Texans against the New England Patriots, and the Patriots defense – you’re familiar with, I think – had two sacks against him and a bunch of hurries. How far has he progressed from that?) – “The first thing I’d say is what’s happened in the past is in the past. Our thing is – like everything – we’ve got to move on to the next play. That’s my message to the team on a daily basis. I think he came in these last few days, and he’s worked hard. It’s important to him. He’s got ability. He’s working really hard to get it right and improve and get better on a daily basis. That’s the conversation we had when he got here. I think that’s a good thing. Sometimes failure is a good thing. It’s something that, ‘Hey, look. I now this happened, and this is how you can correct it.’ That’s part of coaching, too. That’s kind of my feeling on that.”
(Brian, do you have a general philosophy on going for it on fourth down and how much do you imagine gut feeling coming into play?) – “Yes, I have a general philosophy on going for it. We will see how the game plays out. A lot of that is a feel, understanding the other team, a feel of where we are at offensively. Again defensively, we are always expecting them to go for it on fourth down. So, I am not going to give out any secrets today. (laughter)”
(When you have a quarterback like Lamar Jackson, and typically teams that just kind of use one player to kind of spy on that player, does that kind of get you out of the 11-on-11 and things that you have been working on during the preseason and the scheme that you want to run when you have to account for one player or have one player account for a guy like him?) – “Yeah, I mean look, when you play against a guy who can make that much of an impact, your scheme changes a little bit. Again, at the same time, you want to be aggressive. You don’t want to take the aggressiveness, the physicality, away from any player. Sometimes you’ve just got to let it rip and whatever happens, happens. I am not saying that is the game plan; but again, you don’t want to take the aggressiveness away from the team.”
(Talking about QB Ryan Fitzpatrick – Finding that perfect balance between when to chuck it down field and when to check it down and play it safe. Based on what you have seen from him in the past, do you think he was at that right balance or do you think he needs to dial it back or dial it up?) – “Again, when we go into the past and what has gone on, really – Yes, there is some. We talk about it, we talk about some decisions that have been made. The hope is that the good decisions – you continue to make those decisions. The bad ones, hopefully we have learned from them. That is not just the case in quarterbacking. That is the case in life. I think a lot of us – hopefully you learn from your bad decisions and the good decisions you make, you continue to do those. So, I think that is the case with every player. I think with the quarterback position, that guy handles the ball on every snap. So, the decisions he makes affect the team on a holistic standpoint. Their decisions are very important. But yeah, decisions of the past – good and bad – are things we talk about and are things we say. We don’t just point out the bad. I don’t think that is how you coach it. You say ‘hey, you have done this, this, this, and this. Those are good decisions. Let’s keep doing those. This and this? Not so good. Let’s stay away from those. Here they are, you have seen them. Let’s try not to do those again.’ Hopefully, they make the right decision.”
(We have seen nickel, dime, sometimes seven and eight defensive backs. Will you need as many guys on the back end just to not only defend against pass but also catch QB Lamar Jackson?) – “Again, this is as dynamic of a player as there is in the league. So, whatever we feel like we need, we try to put it out there on the field. Again, if you put seven DBs out there and (they’ve got) Mark Ingram and they’ve got two tight ends, you probably don’t want to do that. So we will see. I think our coaching staff has worked hard to try to put a plan together to give us a chance to win and hopefully we execute it and we tackle well and play penalty free and play the game the right way and give ourselves a chance.”
(You have coached dozens and dozens of games in your career – This is the first time you are going into the regular season as the guy. What is your schedule going to be like and what is your preparation going to be like addressing the team, keeping a snack, things like that.=? What is your weekend going to look like?) – “Well, I spent a lot a time on that in particular. I kind of take it from the game back. So I have got a plan and schedule and I know when I am going to speak, and I have an idea of what I am going to say, but that changes. That changes based on what happened in practice, the pulse of the team, and you have to be fluid. I can’t just lock it in and say ‘I am going to say this on Saturday night.’ That may not apply at the time. I think that is part of being in this role is you have to be fluid. You have to have a little bit of a pulse of the team and try to give them the right words that will motivate them and put them in the right mindset to get them to play at their best on Sunday afternoon.”
