Brian Flores – September 9, 2020 (Conference Call)
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Wednesday, September 9, 2020
Head Coach Brian Flores Conference Call with New England Media
(I guess what does it mean for you guys – what did that mean last year for you Week 17? What did that mean for you guys just heading into the offseason? How relevant do you find that game as you prepare for this one this time?) – “I’ve been asked that a lot and honestly, there’s not much relevance. New England is different, we’re different, it’s a new year, it’s a different year, so it’ll be a different environment with no fans. Everything is just so, so different that we as an organization, as a team, we’re not really looking at last year’s game and taking much from it. We’re just kind of focused on having a good practice today, trying to string a few good practices together this week and play a competitive game against a very good team.”
(I have a two-part question and just to keep it moving, I’ll just throw it out there right now. The Patriots preparing for a quarterback who’s got some mobility skills, it’s probably something that hasn’t been too common over the last two decades. How does that look different for you leading into this game? And just thinking big picture, in 2014 you became the position coach a couple years prior. How big was that to win that first Super Bowl, and then what came after that to put you in the position you’re in now?) – “The first question with a mobile quarterback in New England, obviously that hasn’t been the case. Maybe a game here or there; but we just kind of refer to the mobile quarterback rules. You want to keep him in the pocket. Obviously Cam is very explosive. He’s a very accomplished and established player in the league. He’s made a lot of plays with his legs, with his arm. You want to keep him in the pocket. You want to limit those plays. At the same time, he’s going to create them one way or another. That’s been kind of his ‘M.O.’ over the course of his career. This will be a great challenge. It is something we’ve talked about across the board. It will be a total team effort defensively. Covering the receivers, rushing the right way without giving up step-up lanes and lanes for him to take off. Yeah, it’ll be a challenge. Again, like I said earlier, we’re just going to refer to our mobile quarterback rules. As far as your second question about 2014, those were all great memories, great times. I learned a lot in my time in New England. But really my focus is on what’s going on down here in Miami. I think we’ve got guys who are tough, competitive, who love to play (and are) team-first. We know this is going to be a very competitive game against a really well-coached team against some very good players. (There are) some players that I know, (Devin) McCourty, (Matt) Slater, Julian Edelman. I know a lot of people talk about Cam but there are a lot of good players on that team – David Andrews, Joe Thuney. They’ve got some established players with some experience. This isn’t going to be an easy game on the road up in Foxboro. It’s hard to win there. That’s kind of where our focus is.”
(I think every Week 1, there is a lot of unknowns. Even when teams have preseason games, teams don’t always show what they have in August. How do you go about the unknowns this year? It’s not only QB Cam Newton but there are rookies and new players on the Patriots you haven’t seen play in this system. How do you go about preparing for a game this weekend when there are so many unknowns up in the air?) – “Our message has been technique, fundamentals, reading your keys, following the rules. A lot of instances, it’s like college or high school. You don’t see those other teams; but you just have to lean on the things you’ve been working on throughout training camp. What are your rules in whatever the particular situation is? What are your keys at that position? You just have to lean on that and believe in those, and try not to play outside of that and what you’ve been doing throughout training camp. Yes, there is a lot of unknown. I think just from a personal standpoint, based on college and based on previous years, you kind of know the skillset and try to forecast what they are going to do with specific guys; but you really don’t know, so you end up just following your rules.”
(With QB Cam Newton and the Patriots basically not having a mobile quarterback for the better part of 20 years, when you’re doing your research where do you go? Do you go to Carolina? Do you go to Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels with QB Tim Tebow in Denver? How does that work?) – “In a lot of ways, you can drive yourself crazy going back to Tebow, going back to Carolina. Yeah, we’ve watched a lot of film on him; but at the end of the day, it comes back to when you haven’t seen a team play a game or preseason or – we continue to talk about the quarterback, but what are we going to see from an o-line standpoint? What are we going to see at the receiver positon? What are we going to see in the kicking game? What are we going to see defensively? There are a lot of unknowns. We’ve done our work on really every aspect; but at the end of the day, we have to follow our rules, we have to read our keys. We have to believe in our fundamentals and technique and our conditioning, and try to play a smart, disciplined football game against a good team that we know is going to be smart and disciplined. That’s kind of where I’m at there.”
(LB Kyle Van Noy, C Ted Karras and LB Elandon Roberts all got named captains. What does it say about those guys to garner respect from their teammates so early and so soon?) – “It says a lot about those three. You guys know those three, but we also have five other guys who were named captain. We had a handful of other guys who also had some votes for captain. I don’t want to put too much on those three guys. They were three of 10 or 11 guys who got votes. They’ve come in, they’ve worked hard, they’ve competed. Obviously there is some familiarity with the system defensively. But Ted came in and learned the new system offensively pretty quickly. I’ve been asked this a couple of times from our guys here in South Florida. We want leadership from everyone on the team – players, coaches, equipment, trainers, strength and conditioning, media. That’s really what you want. I think we’re building towards that. We’re not there yet, but those guys bring a lot of that – whether it’s Kyle, whether it’s Bobby McCain, whether it’s (Davon) Godchaux, whether it’s Jerome Baker. I think we have some guys who are building towards that and I think the guys we brought in just add to it.”
(It hasn’t been easy to be a coach in the AFC East these last 20 years for another team other than the Patriots. They’ve been so dominant. Do you feel there is more of an opportunity with all the changes going on in New England, does it open a door? Does it change anything? Do you feel a sense of opportunity, and I will bring up last year’s win at the end of the year just as an indication that there is an opportunity or door opening there?) – “To go back 20 years, it’s hard for me to think about the past, specifically when we have so much in front of us – including today’s practice and tomorrow’s practice and Friday’s practice. We’re just trying to go out and compete, and get better and improve and let the chips fall where they fall. To think about weeks and months down the road, I don’t think that helps anyone. I think it just takes the energy away from what we are trying to do today. So whether we’re talking about last year, whether we’re talk about what’s up for grabs or not up for grabs, we haven’t done much. We haven’t played a preseason game. We don’t even know what we have here. I’m just trying to get better today. I’m just trying to improve. I’m trying to improve, we’re trying to improve and just focus on this week and play a competitive, tough game against a competitive and tough team – a well-coached team. That’s where I’m at.”
(I’m just curious about your quarterbacks. What does the franchise seemingly love about QB Ryan Fitzpatrick and everything he’s brought to your franchise and then what has QB Tua Tagovailoa’s progress been like? What you seen from Tua so far?) – “I’ll start with Tua. I think we’re in practice 15 or 16 here, which would be practice three or four of training camp if we had OTAs and minicamp. He missed a lot of – not missed but because of circumstances, he didn’t get as many reps as quarterbacks in other years. In a lot of instances, Tua and this entire rookie class have gotten less practice, less reps, less live action than any rookie class in league history from what I understand. So that’s him, but all of our guys have worked extremely hard. I think they’ve improved a lot over the course of training camp. I think they’re the types of guys we’re looking for. They’re tough, they’re smart, they work hard, it’s important to them. Tua is right there, close to the top of our group. I’ve been very pleased with him. As far as ‘Fitz,’ ‘Fitz’ embodies everything we’re looking for in a Dolphin. He loves to play. He’s competitive. You can feel his energy on the field in practice and games. He’s got leadership. Guys gravitate to him and follow him. I think that’s kind of why he’s had success throughout his entire career. We’re happy with ‘Fitz,’ we’re happy with Tua and we’re happy with the rookie class; but again, they’ve got a long way to go, really just like every rookie in this league. This is unprecedented but I don’t hear our guys making excuses. I don’t hear anybody around the league making excuses or saying this is why this will or won’t happen. We’ll just let the chips fall where they fall and just try to go out and play a tough, physical game on Sunday.”
