Brian Flores – September 7, 2020
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Monday, September 7, 2020
Head Coach Brian Flores
(How much better do you expect your defense to be Sunday than it was a year ago at this time, in your first game as an NFL head coach?) – “We’re not really worried about what happened last year. I think the guys are really focused on this particular week. I think they’ve worked hard over the course of training camp and we’re just going to try to put our best foot forward and try to play a good 60-minute ball game against a good opponent.”
(It’s game week. I wanted to see if you could let us know who your starting quarterback is.) – “This isn’t groundbreaking news; but ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) is going to be the starter. In a year like this with limited – no OTAs, no minicamp – limited training camp or modified training camp, we just felt like that was the best decision for the team. He’s done a good job through the course of training camp and he’ll be out there.”
(I wanted to ask, I guess we saw you guys obviously made your roster cuts. How do you plan to use those two practice squad spots? I know this year there’s the rule change where you can use those two practice squad spots to have guys active. Have you guys started to have discussions on how that will be used?) – “Once that rule was put in place with the new CBA, it’s something we talked about as a staff – myself, (General Manager Chris (Grier), (Vice President of Football Administration) Brandon (Shore), (Assistant General Manager) Marvin (Allen) and the coaching staff. It’s an interesting – being able to flex up a practice squad player. It’s something that I think a number of teams are going to use. We’ve talked about it. We may use it as well, so we’ve had discussions. It’s really case-by-case and week-by-week and a lot of it depends on the game plan so we’ll try to – without giving too much away here – we’ll use it when we need it. And if we don’t, we won’t use it.”
(I just wanted to ask you about what appealed to you about WR Lynn Bowden Jr.’s skillset in the trade with the Raiders and just the possibilities you have now with two exciting former college quarterbacks who can do a lot of things. Does that intrigue you having two of those types of players?) – “It’s two young players that have a lot to learn, haven’t played in the National Football League, don’t know the speed of the game. They’ve got a long way to go. I’m excited about both Lynn (Bowden Jr.) and Malcolm (Perry) from a talent standpoint. They’re tough. They’re competitive guys. It’s important to them. As far as Lynn, obviously we did a lot of work on him pre-draft and when the trade was an option here, we did a lot more work, so we’re excited about having him join our team and once he gets here, there’s a lot that he’s going to have to – he’s not just going to jump out there and start playing. He’s got to learn how we do things around here. It’s obviously a new environment. He doesn’t know where our facility is. He’s not going to know where the meeting rooms are, the training room, the weight room. So he’s got a lot to learn in a little bit of time. He’s excited. We’re excited to have him. We’re excited to have Malcolm also and a lot of guys in this rookie class, so we look forward to working with all the young guys and really everyone on this team. Hopefully – but this week obviously we’re locked in on the Patriots. We’re trying to have laser focus on that, but at the same time getting guys acclimated and trying to develop them is always at the forefront.”
(Speaking with a few defensive players who were here last year this past week, a lot of them talked about LB Kyle Van Noy and just having him around and the familiarity with you and terminology, personnel, etc. Have you been able to see that in camp and just heading into Week 1 the importance of having Kyle here early on?) – “Obviously we’re excited about Kyle (Van Noy). We’re excited about a lot of guys on the team – offense, defense and special teams. I think Kyle’s history with me and history with the defense has been helpful. I think I would say in a lot of ways because he and I have been together so long, it’s good for other guys to hear that I haven’t changed. I coach guys hard. I’m demanding. I’m still that way and I’m going to be that way, so I think for a lot of guys when Kyle says, ‘yep, he’s losing it, but he’ll get back here. Give him five minutes.’ (laughter) I think that part of it’s been good. And whether that’s Kyle or Elandon (Roberts) and I would say some of these – the guys that were here a year ago – they understand that, too. Not that I lose it all the time, but I am passionate about coaching, passionate about getting guys better and it’s something that – I love coaching. It’s great to have Kyle. It’s great to have Kyle and really a lot of the guys defensively – Bobby McCain, (Davon) Godchaux, ‘Bake’ (Jerome Baker) – so I’m excited about that group. We’ve got to put together a good week to play against a really good football team and I think we’ll do that.”
(I know we are just minutes away literally from the first depth chart of the season being revealed. What can you tell us about which starters are going to be listed as first-team and what gives you confidence that they’re ready to start right away?) – “Well you’ll get the depth chart here pretty soon, so the guys who are, let’s call it ‘starters,’ are guys who obviously had good training camps and showed that from a consistency standpoint, from a technique/fundamentals standpoint, from a communications standpoint; they were ahead of some other guys. Again, that initial depth chart, I wouldn’t put too much into that. There are so many groupings. What grouping are we talking about? Are we talking about 12-personnel, 11-personnel, 20-personnel, 10-personnel, big nickel, little nickel, dime; so I’m not into the whole starters, back-ups. I think in football, you’ve got 11 guys on the field, a lot of different groupings. I would say this year specifically with no preseason games, we’re going to see a lot of guys who are playing. Every rep counts. Every snap counts, so I don’t really put too much into, ‘hey, this guy’s the starting this’ or the starting right guard or left guard or defensive tackle. So you’ll get it here in a little bit and I’m sure you guys will (laughter) take a long hard look and write about who’s starting, who’s not. But I think we’ll see a lot of guys playing in a lot of different groups.”
(Last year you guys were able to get a young backup quarterback reps in the first few weeks even though he wasn’t starting. How might you and the staff approach that scenario this year?) – “We’re going to do what we feel best to try to win a game. That’s going to be our approach every week. I would say if young players get reps in a game, that’s good; and if they only get reps at practice, then that’s what it is and we’ll have to make do with what we have.”
(I wanted to ask you about the readiness of CB Xavien Howard to go into a game. We heard from him over the weekend. He’s obviously making progress. Where would you say he’s at right now?) – “I would say, echo is words, he’s making progress … Look, Xavien’s health is very important to me. I know everyone is excited about game one, but we’ve got to take a – we’ve got to look long-term as far as the overall 16 game season. That’s (not just) with Xavien but that’s with everyone. That’s the approach we’ll take. We’re not going to rush anyone; but if the guy is ready, he’ll be out there.”
(Locking in on the Patriots, how different is it to prepare for a Patriots team that does not have Tom Brady at quarterback?) – “They still have a lot of talented players. They are well coached, they are tough, they’re physical. Playing on the road is always hard. I know there are no fans, but playing on the road is a tough thing. They still have a talented roster. Cam Newton is a former MVP, former No. 1 overall pick. Julian Edelman’s a great player. They have good backs, good offensive linemen. Defensively, they’ve got the Defensive Player of the Year in (Stephon) Gilmore and J.C. Jackson, and Devin McCourty. I know we’re all saying this is a very different team. It is in some respects but they are still very talented and they are still well-coached. This will be a tough test for us. We’ve got to have a good week of practice, a good week of preparation and go up there and try to play a tough, smart football game.”
(Have you guys names captains for the football season yet and can you tell us those?) – “Yes. We named captains the other day. Players voted two on special teams – Clayton Fejedelem and Kavon Frazier – three on offense – Ryan Fitzpatrick, Ted Karras, and Jesse Davis – and three on defense – Bobby McCain, Kyle Van Noy, and Elandon Roberts.”
