Brian Flores – September 9, 2019
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Monday, September 9, 2019
Head Coach Brian Flores
(After looking over the film from yesterday, what was your number one overriding concern?) – “There were a lot of concerns. I was disappointed in really all three phases. That starts with me. I didn’t think we coached well enough, we didn’t play well enough and we have a long way to go. The good thing is it’s one game, and that’s the approach we’re going to take. We’re going to come back to work, make the corrections today, make the corrections really all day today, and then we’ll get back to it. Tomorrow we’ll start preparing – tonight and tomorrow we’ll start preparing for our next opponent New England. Then the guys will be back in Wednesday ready to go.”
(From a coaching standpoint, what was one part of the game that maybe you – underestimated isn’t the right word – but you may have gotten wrong?) – “There were a lot of things that went wrong. We wanted to start fast, we didn’t do that. We did in the kicking game. We started fast that way. But defensively, we didn’t start fast. Offensively, we didn’t start fast. If anything, we went the other way. When you don’t play well against a good team, and you don’t execute, that’s what happens. We’ve got a lot of work to do and that’s what we’re going to do.”
(Was this an execution problem or was it a preparation problem? Or was it both?) – “Obviously I didn’t do a good enough job of getting this team prepared to play. There were definitely some things we could do better as a team in all three phases. We’ll be better. We’ll get better. (There are) a lot of corrections from that game and hopefully we can be better this week than we were last week. That’s the goal. That’s going to be the goal every week. I think the players understand that and I think they’ll work towards that.”
(What did you think about the defense’s tackling ability?) – “We didn’t tackle well at all. I think the things we talk about defensively – tackling is at the forefront. Setting the edge is at the forefront. Communication. We didn’t do those things well. Those will be things we harp on, that we have harped on, and we’ll continue to harp on, and harp on even more in the coming days.”
(There was a report last night that players after the game had contacted their representation requesting trades. Have you spoken to GM Chris Grier about the situation and does that report have any validity?) – “I can’t really speak to the accuracy of that one. We haven’t received any information like that. I think for us, we just need to focus on what’s going on inside of our building, and not worry about anything that’s going on outside. I think we have to get better from a fundamental standpoint, from a communication standpoint – really overall. That’s the goal right now. Everything else that’s going on outside, we just need to focus on what’s going on in our building.”
(What did you gather as the mood of the team as they came in today?) – “I think they were disappointed, as I was. At the same time, I think they are ready to get back to work and have a better performance next week. That’s the mood I felt today.”
(The bunch of guys that you brought in recently, were they ready to play on Sunday or was it maybe a little too soon for them?) – “We’ve got to do a better job of getting them ready to play as a coaching staff. That starts with me. Yeah, we had a lot of new faces; but again, we’re not going to make excuses, we’re not pointing fingers, we’re not going to feel sorry for ourselves. The situation is what the situation is. We’ve got to make the best of the situation. We’ve got to play better than we did yesterday.”
(On the topic of the new guys, you’ve had a lot of moving parts on the offensive line obviously, a big challenge there. How would you judge their performance?) – “I think we had some good spots and we had some not so good spots. I think we’ve got a lot of work to do there. I thought some of the communication was good, some of it wasn’t. Some of the play was good, some of it wasn’t. We’ve got a long ways to go. That group, I expect them to play better next week.”
(Some of the guys mentioned that you told them to let this sink in as part of your message after the game. What do you hope that does for the guys, kind of remembering what happened Sunday?) – “I think when you have a tough loss, I think sometimes you have to think about it, and thing about how that feels. You never want the feeling again. How do you – or how do we – not allow that to happen again? We go to work, we work hard, we do a better job with all of the fundamentals, the communication, we tackle better, we do a better job in the kicking game. I know no one wants to feel that way.”
(It seemed S Minkah Fitzpatrick came out of the game before most of the other defensive starters. Was he taken out for performance reasons?) – “We were rotating that group. Minkah was in, Reshad (Jones) was in there, we planned on getting Walt (Aikens) in there. We had issues really across the board. Minkah had some good plays, he had some bad plays. At the end of the day, we wanted to get some other guys in there. He’s a good player for us. We have a lot of confidence in him. Like all of us – players, coaches – he’s got to improve and perform better.”
(Looking ahead to this week, you have a team that you’re pretty familiar with you are playing. What sort of emotions do you have to deal with given all of the personal connections there?) – “My focus is on this team and getting this team to improve. New England is the next opponent. We have to prepare for those guys – that group. This is obviously the defending world champs. They are well coached; they have good players. We’ve got to prepare at a high level to go out here and compete and try to win this game. That’s where I’m at, and the personal connections are what they are. There are a lot of people within that organization that I know that I have great relationships with; but my focus right now is on the Miami Dolphins.”
(Given the 59 points yesterday by the Ravens and your defensive background, do you by any chance see yourself drifting over towards the defensive end more in practice this week?) – “We had issues offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. I’ll be drifting everywhere. Unfortunately, that’s the case. But yeah, obviously, being a defensive coach, you never want to see a performance like that. But as a total team, we’re not going to wallow in yesterday. We’ve got to turn this thing around. We’ve got a long season ahead of us. There’s a lot of football left – a lot of opportunity for us to get better, improve and play the game the way we want to play it. That wasn’t what we had yesterday. That’s not how we want to play, ever. That’s the goal right now. There’s a lot of season left. There’s a lot.”
(I thought I noticed DE Charles Harris as the only defensive lineman out there on one play. The rest were linebackers and DBs. From a scheme standpoint, were you guys able to do what you wanted to do, and did any of that throw Baltimore off-balance, even just a little bit?) – “We had a plan going in. That was one of them. We didn’t execute the way we wanted to, so at the end of the day, it wasn’t good enough. That’s just as honest as we can be as a team and as an organization. It wasn’t good enough, so we’ll go back to the drawing board. We’ll go back to work and try to improve this team and get better.”
(When you talk about going back to the drawing board, how much of it is – obviously there’s an execution issue – but how much of it is the game plan versus the personnel?) – “I think it is all-encompassing. You have to – when you reflect on the past week, you go through the game plan, you go through the personnel. How could we have done things better? That’s part of our evaluation as a staff, players, coaches, everyone. How much of it was game plan, how much of it was personnel? I would say it’s all of it. We’ve got to do a better job of game-planning with the personnel we have. Players have to play better and execute and do the fundamentals and technique that we talk about on a daily basis, so it’s all-encompassing. I wish it was as simple as one or the other, but it’s all-encompassing.”
(From a penalty standpoint, do you feel like you guys had a performance that met your standards or no?) – “No. Definitely not. We had way too many penalties. Way too many, and that’s something we talk about on a daily basis: playing penalty-free, playing turnover-free, tackling, field position. We didn’t do any of those things well.”
(What are some things that make you feel encouraged moving forward?) – “The O-line I thought played well in spurts. For a group that hasn’t worked that much together, I thought they played well in spurts. Preston (Williams) played well. He had the drop in the end zone, but he’s a young guy (in his) first game (and) I thought he made a couple plays. I thought ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) made some plays. He was under some duress and kind of spun out of a few plays and gave us an opportunity on a couple of those pass plays there. I thought Walt Aikens – he had energy and maximum effort the entire game, so I was pleased by him. There are a lot of things that happened in the game that are correctable. Looking back and watching the film, if we could correct those things, we’ll be in a lot better shape. There’s a lot there that’s correctable just from a pure fundamentals and technique standpoint. If we get that done, we’ll be better this week.”
(As far as DT Christian Wilkins, I think he was lined up across form Baltimore Ravens G Marshal Yanda for a large part of the game. How did you think Christian performed?) – “I thought he played okay. Again, we’ve got 11 guys. It’s hard to single one guy out. I thought he had a solid performance. He could get off blocks a little bit better, but I think you could say that for everyone. We didn’t do a good enough job of defeating blocks in this game. That’ll be the focus this week along with a myriad of other things. We’ll improve and get better.”
(Did you have any conversation with Stephen Ross after the game, and what were the nature of the conversations with General Manager Chris Grier afterwards?) – “Yeah, I talked to Steve. I talked to Steve after the game and Chris, as well. Those conversations are going to remain private, as they should; but yeah, I talked to both guys.”
(After a game like Sunday, do you feel like you have to give your guys positivity, or do you work them a little harder after what you saw?) – “I think there’s always, in coaching – it’s positive. You’ve got a critical tone and you’ve got a motivational tone. I think that’s coaching. You’ve got to find the right timing to use both. I think as a coach individually and as a staff, both tones are warranted. It’s a case-by-case situation.”
(When you took the job, did you anticipate the roster turnover like you saw just a week before the game in this team, in their efforts to be a younger team?) – “That’s something you think about when you take a job like this. You think about culture. You think about building fundamentals and technique and playing a certain way. You think about making an impact on guys. Those are things you think about. You know in this league, there’s turnover. Every team turns over every year. Guys are going to be – I don’t want to say in and out, but you’re going to have a different team every year. That you know. As far as the amount we had last week, it’s not something that crossed my mind. My thought process is always, ‘I’m going to coach the guys we have,’ period. I don’t care if you’ve been here a day, a week, 10 years. I’m going to coach the guys we have. That will always be my approach, and I don’t think that’s going to change.”
(When Stephen Ross made the coaching change, he mentioned there would be some pain in this process. Did you anticipate pain – initial pain – when you came in?) – “There’s pain every season for every team. When you go through an NFL season – which, this is my 16th – every team deal with adversity. Every one. There are 15 other teams that dealt with adversity yesterday. That’s part of an NFL season. We have to be able to endure that and stand up to it and not make excuses and not point fingers and not feel sorry for ourselves and get back up, go back to work and fight another day, try to improve, get better and help this team win. That’s the goal for every team, specifically ours, and that’s the message that I sent to the team today.”
