DeVante Parker – September 21, 2020
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Monday, September 21, 2020
WR DeVante Parker
(A prime time game coming up on Thursday night. It’s been a couple of years since you played in prime time. Are you excited about that?) – “Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. Like you said, it’s been a while. I’m ready to get back under the lights and be able to go out there and perform with my teammates.”
(What went into your decision to play yesterday? Obviously you got a little banged up the week before. At what point in the week did you know you were good to go?) – “The first day of practice. I’m not missing anymore games.”
(I can’t imagine what it must be like to play a game on a Sunday and then turn around and play right again on a Thursday, both mentally and physically but especially physically. What are some of the things you will do during today – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – to make sure you’re at peak physical condition with the game being so close?) – “Recovery, sleep, rest. Whatever you need to do to take care of your body to be ready for that.”
(How much have you helped give some guidance to WR Preston Williams during his young career? Obviously he had a catch that he’d like to have back yesterday. Coming back off of an injury, you’ve had that experience as well. What kind of advice have you given him?) – “I just tell him to do what you can. Try to fight through the pain if you can. You don’t want to do too much.”
(What would you say are some of the things that are on the line Thursday in terms of how important of a game this particular game is?) – “We just need to get a W. That’s it. That’s the biggest thing – get our first win of the season.”
Nik Needham – September 21, 2020
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Monday, September 21, 2020
CB Nik Needham
(Just in general, can you tell us about how you feel and how things went for you on Sunday?) – “I definitely didn’t play close to what I know my caliber of play is. I’ve just got to get back to the drawing board and learn from that and learn from the mistakes. We just got done watching film and made the corrections so I have to come into this Thursday’s game just a whole lot better. I know I can play way better than what I put on the field.”
(In terms of the nickel, that’s not something that we saw during training camp but then it’s also something that we’ve seen from you in the past going back to last season. How much work have you done there and when did you know you were going to get that opportunity this past week?) – “I’ve gotten quite a few reps at nickel. They told me after the Patriots game that I was going to be playing at the nickel this past week. I just had to get ready last week and watch more film at the nickel position.”
(I know you’re a guy who just wants to play and wants to get on the field, but do you feel like nickel is a position that fits your skillset; and if so, why?) – “Yeah, I feel like I’m versatile enough to play outside and inside. I trust in my feet. I feel like that’s one of my strengths. I’ve just got to come out there with better feet this next game and just trust my technique. That’s what it’s all about. And listen to the coaching and trusting the game plan.”
(I’m sure that film you saw today wasn’t pleasant. What did Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer and Defensive Backs Coach Gerald Alexander say to you about it and the defensive holding – it was either holding or illegal contact – what happened there?) – “That’s what I was saying, just bad technique. My hands were outside of my frame so I was grabbing on the outside of the shoulder pads. I just have to keep my hands tight and keep my feet tight so that doesn’t happen ever again. What was the second question again?”
(Just the feedback you got from coaches today.) – “Just what I told you. We have to trust in our technique and get back to the drawing board. They know and I know that I can play way better than that. That’s really what was talked about.”
(You mentioned the quick turnaround to Jacksonville on Thursday night, your first prime time game in your career. Are you excited for that, playing under the lights?) – “Yeah, I’m definitely excited. I’m definitely ready to just get right back out there this week and having a Thursday night game, it couldn’t be more better than that.”
(I’m wondering after the New England game, we saw how easily New England ran on your defense and then yesterday, how easily the Bills passed on your defense. I’m wondering where the confidence level is on the defense as a whole? Do you feel it’s shaken at any point or where is it?) – “No, it’s not shaken. We’re right there. It comes down to little plays – leverage, knowing the personnel and all of the little things like that. If we can just execute on that this week, we should come out with a positive result.”
(Obviously a short turnaround but an important game. How would you describe the sense of urgency, climate, mood there for the team heading into this game?) – “We’re not about to freak out or think about anything like that. ‘Coach Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) even said we’re right back to it. It’s a long season ahead of us and what not a perfect way to get right back out there on Thursday so we can get right back to it and get a W.”
Danny Crossman – September 21, 2020
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Monday, September 21, 2020
Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman
(One of the positives from yesterday was P Matt Haack. He was a monster in the first half. What can you say about what he did, especially there in the first half with the 200-plus punting yards and three inside the 20?) – “Obviously very important going into our plan of trying to control field position to put them in a long field and get the ball out of No. 18’s (Andre Roberts) hands, who is a really, really dynamic football player. I thought Matt and the operation did a really nice job there throughout the game.”
(I wanted to ask you about the kickoff returns. I know the NFL went through a great deal of length to minimize the dangers of kickoff returns and we’re seeing a lot of balls kicked out of bounds. Is that just the rule change or what’s going on in the NFL now? It seems like kick returns are down.) – “I think you’re always going to see that, especially early in the year. I think between weather with the ball traveling and how it travels, and I think especially this year with teams starting to – still trying to get a feel on who they are and what they are without preseason games and working in some new players. I think as you see this season progress, you’ll see more and more returns in the game.”
(How would you assess the onside kick? What was the plan there and how was it executed?) – “Well we had a couple of different plans there. Obviously anytime you don’t get that ball, you’re going to be disappointed; but that’s a ball we like, it’s a ball that we feel like Jason (Sanders) hits well. We’ve just got to execute it better. I’ve got to coach it better and we’ve got to execute it better.”
(I wanted to ask specifically about WR Mack Hollins and just your assessment of him in that gunner spot. Last week he forced that fumble by shoving that Patriots defender into the returner and then this week he downed a couple of good balls and got down the field pretty quickly from what we saw.) – “Mack’s done a nice job. (He’s) playing well as are some other guys. There are still some things that we’ve got to clean up. We can always get better; but I’m really happy with how he’s performing right now. We’re just looking to keep building off of that, but he’s off to a good start in how he’s played these first two games.”
(Going back to the scrimmage, you guys ran K Jason Sanders out there for a 60-plus yarder and he had the leg on that. Then yesterday at 52 yards. It just seems like his deep kicks, you have a lot of confidence in them. How far do you think his range is able to stretch?) – “It’s always hard to guess. We send him for some long ones every week in practice. He likes to go long in pregame. We feel very confident about the long kicks. Like always, that’s going to be a big part about how the game is being played and what the situation is of when you’re going to run him out there. But we feel very confident every time we run Jason out on the field that we’re going to come away with points.”
Josh Boyer – September 21, 2020
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Monday, September 21, 2020
Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer
(Just wanted to ask what went into the thought process of keeping CB Noah Igbinoghene on WR Stefon Diggs when CB Byron Jones went out of the game? We just want to know the reasoning why CB Xavien Howard stayed on his assignment on Bills WR John Brown.) – “There’s a lot of factors that go into matching guys up. One, the routes they run. Two, the type of receivers they are and really three, the amount of movement that they do within their scheme. We always put guys in spots that we feel will be best for them and that’s why we made the decisions that we made. Obviously we’ve got to coach it better and we’ve got to play it better, but that’s what went into those decisions.”
(I went back and looked back at the gamebook. I think there were three plays – pass plays – of 46 yards or more allowed. Those explosive plays obviously were the difference in the game. What happened? How much of that is player performance? How much of that is scheme?) – “Again, one of the things that we need to do as a defense is one, we need to eliminate the big plays, and we need to get off the field on third down when we have opportunities to do that, which limits the offense’s chances. So again, I think we could coach it better. I think we could play it better, and those are things that we need to work on and we need to do, and we need to eliminate those big plays for sure.”
(On that final touchdown drive there for Buffalo, they were trying to run some clock it seemed like, but then they started throwing the ball on that third-and-9 play that resulted in a touchdown pass. I was just curious, is that something that was a surprise to you guys? Were you looking for a run there? What went into that third-and-9 call?) – “On the series before – the first-and-10 – they actually ran the ball and then on the second down they threw it. Then they got a first down again, and it was another run. The second down we were actually expecting pass on that. Then the third-and-9, we were definitely expecting them to throw the ball.”
(I appreciate the thoughtful answer on why the matchup as you had it yesterday with CB Xavien Howard and CB Noah Igbinoghene and early on with CB Byron Jones, but once you see it not working in-game, why not change at that point?) – “Again like I said, the factors that go into that and obviously like I said, we can coach it better for sure. We don’t always have to be in the same calls and we can help the players that way, too; but again, fundamentally there’s some things that we did that we can do better. From a coaching (standpoint), putting them in better position; and then we can do better from a player standpoint just executing. There were a lot of routes I would say that they hit us on that were similar routes that one, we can do a better job adjusting as coaches, and that’s on me. That’s not on anybody else. That’s on me. And I would say there’s some things fundamentally that we could do from an execution standpoint that will help us from a player aspect, too.”
(I’m sure you’re not pleased so far with your pass rush. What are you going to do to improve it? How far are you from getting where you need to be?) – “I think again, it’s just the same things that are working for the offense that you need to find ways to fix and stop that; the same thing goes for things that aren’t working for you on defense. You need to find different ways to do it and fix it that way. I know our guys are going to work hard to do that, and there’s always a fundamental element when you have a quarterback with the ability to scramble, that kind of hinders rush from time to time. But we need to find ways to improve it. We need to coach it better. We need to adjust better, and we need to execute better.”
(Obviously when CB Byron Jones goes out on the first series, that’s not ideal and I’m guessing that the plan would have been to use Byron, CB Xavien Howard and CB Noah Igbinoghene in sort of a rotation. So with Xavien having to play 60 snaps, that’s obviously probably an unexpected result. Is it fair to say that even though Xavien is healthy enough to be on the field, that he’s not yet fully back? That’s what I see. Is that a fair assessment?) – “I would say if we don’t feel like a guy is healthy enough to put him out there, we would not put him out there. So we feel like he’s healthy. We feel like he could go. We feel like he could play. That’s why we had him out there and we have confidence that he’ll be able to play and play well. So I would say from that aspect, we feel like he’s healthy. We feel like we could go and if we didn’t, then we would manage the rep count.”
(I wanted to ask you about your evaluation of your play that you’re getting from the nickel position. We saw a change made in CB Nik Needham playing over CB Jamal Perry last week. I don’t know if that was matchup-related, but how would you assess what you’re getting from that nickel position?) – “I think it’s like a lot of positions. I think we need more. And again, a lot of things go week-to-week for us based on matchups, based on calls, based on things that we feel like that are good for us. I would say that some of those things that we’ve done, again, we could coach it better and we could play it better. I would say we’re still looking for better not only from the nickel position but from a lot of positions.”
(Oftentimes after a game like yesterday, we’ll see lineup changes the following week. Is that something that’s under consideration?) – “I would say again, it’s under consideration every week. Obviously Week 1 things didn’t work out for us. They didn’t work out for us the last week; but we’re always going try to do what we think is best and again, I think it really fundamentally – I will tell you, it starts with me. We can coach it better. We can put guys in better position and then for the players, we need to execute and perform better. That’s really the bottom line. We need to get off the field on third down to limit the number of offensive plays and we surely can’t give up big plays like we did at a clip yesterday. We had a lead in the fourth quarter with a chance to win the game. We couldn’t close it out.”
Chan Gailey – September 21, 2020
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Monday, September 21, 2020
Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey
(I was wondering your thoughts on the performance of the offense in general and QB Ryan Fitzpatrick in particular on Sunday?) – “We didn’t play well enough. If you lose, you didn’t play well enough. That’s the bottom line. We made improvement from last week this week; but it’s going to take more improvement for us to get to where we want to get to. I thought we did some good things. Our two-minute offense, the first half, second half, last week has continued to be positive. I hope we can run the ball a little bit better in the future; but Ryan’s one of the greatest competitors I’ve ever been around. He’s a great leader and made some great throws yesterday. I hope that will continue and we’ll get rid of the bad stuff and keep the good stuff going.”
(I wanted to ask you a little bit about the running game. What do you feel are the issues – 99 yards wasn’t that bad in terms of production standpoint, obviously you didn’t win; but, why do you feel you’re having these issues about your base run game?) – “A lot of times defenses dictates. The reason we were able to hit so many play-action passes yesterday is because they played the extra defender up in the box, and you’ve got run or pass called. When they play the extra defender in the box, you can hand it off but you’re going to gain 1 or 2 yards, or you can throw the play-action pass and have a chance for a bigger play. A lot of times defenses dictate your running game for you. Right now, we’re content to take the run game when we can get it, and then be efficient with it. That’s the biggest thing is to be efficient when you do run it. We’ve got more than I want zero and one-yard plays in the run game. We’re dictated a lot of times on the defense.”
(I wanted to get your thinking on the goal-line situation. You took four shots obviously at the goal line, then you threw on fourth down to WR Preston Williams. What was your thinking, what were you trying to accomplish obviously besides getting in the end zone on those four plays? And aside from the drop, was that fourth-down play executed as planned?) – “We have a goal-line package every time we walk into a game. We had plays we thought would work and we didn’t execute them to the best of our ability and we didn’t get into the end zone. That’s a product of maybe I’ve got to do a better job of planning those plays and getting better play management in that situation. Then we’ve got to execute better. If he catches the ball, we’re not having this discussion. Since he didn’t, we are. Everybody has decisions to make on the football field, and ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) made the decisions he made and most of the time it works when he makes them, but this time it didn’t.”
(I wanted to ask you about WR Preston Williams. Obviously we saw him in camp and he kind of showed out in terms of production. What do you think is contributing to his slow start? Is it the cornerbacks that’s defending him? Is that one of the reasons he’s had a slow start so far?) – “Well, they took their No. 1 corner and put him on (Williams) most of the game yesterday. That shows a lot of respect for who they think Preston is. So that’s part of it. We’ve got to continue to find out the things he’s doing well and make sure that we’re incorporating the things he does well. We want to make him the best player that he can be, but he’s drawing some of the tough guys right now.”
(Yesterday QB Ryan Fitzpatrick talked about some of the adjustments coming out of the locker room in the second half. I’m just curious to get your take on what you saw the Bills doing defensively and how you kind of made those adjustments at halftime?) – “We had a run or two that we wanted to try that we hadn’t had in the game plan going in. Then we added a couple of passes that we felt like we could take advantage of play fakes since they had everybody up near the ball. We thought we could play-action pass them and get guys in a position behind those linebackers to make some plays. We were able to get that done. We just adjusted a couple plays we already had. We just adjusted a couple of those and put people in a position to be successful.”
(Last week you mentioned wanting to incorporate RB Matt Breida more in the play calling. Do you feel like you accomplished that? Also kind of a two-part question. We asked about RB Myles Gaskin last week, but again he had another solid performance in the catching game as well. Is it tough to incorporate three backs when you have two talented guys in the offseason and a young guy like Myles?) – “Yeah. There is only one football. Nobody ever gets it enough. That’s just the way it happens in this game. When you have good receivers, you have a good tight end, you have good running backs, everybody cannot touch it as much as they would like to touch it or as much as anybody would like for them to touch it. You have to do what the defense allows you to do. Matt played well yesterday and did some really good things. Myles continues to do some good things. Jordan (Howard) runs hard for us on the goal line and in some other places. We’re just going to continue to try to do what they do best.”
(What did you think of TE Mike Gesicki’s one-handed catch and also his play overall?) – “The catch was highlight-reel stuff. It was really an amazing catch; but I’ve seen him do it before. Doing it in the game, I didn’t expect it, but I understood it when I saw it because I’ve seen him do it before. He understands the game. He gets the game. He gets what he needs to do and where he needs to be. He’s able to catch the ball with his hands away from his body and he has such a big body that people have a hard time going around him to get to the ball. Right now he’s a tough target for people to cover.”
Brian Flores – September 21, 2020
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Monday, September 21, 2020
Head Coach Brian Flores
(A short week – I know physically it’s tough, but is it a mental advantage after a loss to get right back to work and focused in on the next opponent? Number two, is there anything you tell a team when they’re off to a slow start and the results aren’t there at 0-2 but you want them to keep focused that it’s a long season?) – “I’ll answer the second question first. Yeah, I think every day we try to come in and improve and get better. If we continue to do those things, the results will take care of themselves. That’s always been my message. That’s the message to the team right now. As far as it being a short week, I think the message – that’s the case right now. Yeah, we want to turn the page after a tough loss and we have an opportunity to do that. At the same time, we want to make the corrections from the game yesterday and get focused on Jacksonville. They’re a tough competitive team, they are playing well and this will be a tough game for us. We’ve got to prepare for that in a short amount of time.”
(Where do the fixes need to begin on defense?) – “Communication, run defense, pass defense – we’ve got a lot of corrections to make. There were some bright spots, some improvements in a few areas; but too many big plays and getting off the field on third down. Look, there are critical moments in the game where there are plays to be made, communication that has to be made and we’ve got to make them, and we didn’t do that yesterday.”
(I was hoping I’d get an update on CB Byron Jones and given a short week, does that lesson the chances of him playing on Thursday?) – “He’s in this morning. We’ll take a look at this. Obviously it’s a quick turnaround. He’d have to heal pretty quickly. We’re not ruling him out or anything just yet. We’ll just take a look at how this goes the next couple of days. Again, we’re playing in three days. We’ll see where he is. No official update right now.”
(I wanted to ask about CB Noah Igbinoghene and the challenge he had yesterday and the struggles that he had. I’m sure everybody struggled but how do you hope that a young player responds to what he just faced and what he went throguh?) – “Noah is a mentally tough kid. I think playing against a receiver of that caliber the entire day after an injury, getting put in that position, he had some instances where he covered him well and then he had a lot of instances where (Stefon) Diggs was able to get open against him. I think it’s a good experience for him. I think he’ll learn from it. I think just watching it, there are some things he could easily do better to put himself in a little bit better position. I think hopefully in the long run this will be a good thing for him.”
(What are some of the preparation challenges and maybe the logistical challenges that non-football coaches might not think about having this short week? How do things get condensed?) – “There are a lot of challenges. At the end of the day, you don’t have as much time. You don’t have your normal schedule, you don’t have the normal amount of time that you would hit first, second, third, red zone, two-minute. Everything is condensed so you’ve just got to get it all in in a short period of time. As far as trying to put anything brand new in, it’s hard to do. You don’t get to practice. You never see it full speed. Those are just a few of the challenges. At the end of the day, most teams I imagine may throw one or two new wrinkles in; but it will be off of something that you already have in so there is not a lot of new learning. Those are just a couple of the challenges; but that’s also – especially after a tough loss, you want to get it turned around and get out on the field quickly. That’s going to be – in this building, we’re looking forward to it.”
(I wanted to ask you about WR Preston Williams and his body control. It seems like he has a tendency to maybe just while he’s catching passes or maybe falling over after he makes a catch. What can you say more about him keeping things under control, not jumping for every catch and maybe having better body control?) – “Preston’s a young player. He’s very talented. We talk to him about just his technique at the top of routes, catching the football with his hands. He works at it a lot. He works very hard at it. I’d say he has good body control. He’s made tough catches in traffic up over guys. From a body control standpoint, I know he had that nice catch on the sideline there and kept his feet in. Look, players have good plays and bad plays. We try to correct the bad ones. I don’t want to label him a bad body control guy. I think he has good body control in my opinion.”
(From an offensive line standpoint, how do you think they performed in Week 2?) – “It was a good front. They have good pass rushers. There were a couple of blitzes that got in there. They sacked us three times. But overall, I thought we had time to step up and throw the football. There was space for us to do that and we executed from a standpoint at an ok level. Again, we’ve just got to continue to improve and get better. There are definitely some instances where there was probably a little too much pressure. We probably needed a little bit more time, especially in the critical moments of the game. I thought we were making some strides and making some improvement; but at the same time, we could be better.”
(I wanted to ask you about your pass rush. What are you seeing out of your pass rushers thus far in these two games and what needs to happened for it to improve?) – “Not enough. That would be my answer to that. I think we’ve got to do a better job as a coaching staff of putting them in position to rush better. The players have to work their techniques, their fundamentals and just rush better. There are a lot of things that we have to work on. I would say that’s certainly at the top of the list and we’ll continue to improve and get better. We’re still trying to find who does what best and put guys in positons where they’re doing what they do best from a rush standpoint, from a coverage standpoint, from a zone standpoint, from a blocking standpoint, from a return standpoint. We as a coaching staff – and that starts with me – have to do a better job of putting guys in positions to make plays.”
(I know he missed early camp and he was on the physically unable to perform list. What is your confidence with CB Xavien Howard’s health and recovery? What would be the thinking for not having him cover Buffalo WR Stefon Diggs yesterday?) – “I would say he’s healthy. We wouldn’t put him out there if we didn’t think he was healthy. Obviously we had injuries yesterday, as you guys saw. He was on (John) Brown. I think he’s healthy. To me, we’ve just got to cover the guys that we’re on. I think we had issues with Stefon Diggs, we had issues with Brown, we had issues with (Cole) Beasley. My message to the guys is the guys we put you on, those are the guys we expect you to cover, whether that’s Noah (Igbinoghene) on Diggs or Byron Jones on Diggs or ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) on Brown or Nik Needham on Beasley. We all just have to do a better job of covering. We felt like that was the best matchup, so that’s why we did that.”
(Starting 0-2 is tough, but what are the things that happened in these first two weeks that you feel like you can build on?) – “0-2 is tough. There is a lot to improve on. That’s kind of where my focus is. A lot of the things, like I said last week, are correctable. We made some corrections yesterday. Not enough to win the game in all areas – offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. It was a more competitive game than the week before. We had a lead in the fourth quarter. We’ve got to finish. There are some things we have to build on and the thing that we have to do is we have to finish. That’s something we’ve talked about, something we’ve learned to do as a team, as a unit. We need to learn how to do that. That’s kind of where my focus is right now.”
(The Bills hit you guys with a lot of crossing routes. That’s something teams do – I’m sure you know – to teams that play press defense. Is the issue the fact that you’re not getting pressure on the quarterback or something that you need more zone?) – “It’s a combination of pressure, missing coverages, potentially keeping someone on the weak side. All of those things. We have answers to all of those things. As a press team, as a Cover 1 team, we’ve got to cover better. We can’t let people off the hook from that standpoint. We’ve got to coach it better, we’ve got to mix the coverages, we’ve got to cover better. We’re all a part of it. This is one team. We’ve got to coach it better and that starts with me. We’ve got to play better. I think the players understand that. We’re not pointing fingers or making excuses. We’re just going to come to work and work to get better. I think (you guys) asked what we could build on and it’s that these guys work. They come to work every day and they want to get better and it’s important to them. We’ll build on that. My experience says we’ll improve if we have the attitude that we’ve had.”
(I feel like you’re trying to keep a pretty positive mindset. I noticed at halftime when the team was coming off of the field, you were encouraging your players. You have a lot of young players and a lot of new coaches. How are you personally balancing wanting to maintain positivity and also the reality of a sense of urgency?) – “There’s always a sense of urgency in this league for sure. I try to be positive more than not positive for a lack of a better term. There’s a great since of urgency in this building. Guys want to be good, they want to win, they want to improve, they want to get better. There is definitely a sense of urgency. I don’t want to misconstrue positive encouragement with a lack of sense of urgency. I don’t think anyone really feels that here. Players, they work extremely hard and they want it. I understand that it’s not all positive. I try to be demanding and tell them how important each play is; but at the same time, when we kick a field goal to go down one score and we’re getting the ball after the half, that’s something to be excited about. I’m going to be excited and encourage them.”
(Closing Statement) – “I just want to send condolences from myself and the Dolphins to James White and his family. He lost his father Tyrone in a car accident here in South Florida yesterday. His mom is in critical condition. His father is an incredible person who has done a lot for, or did a lot, for a lot of young people here in South Florida. James, Gio Bernard along with a lot of other guys – that’s a big loss. You guys can write about all you want from a Dolphins standpoint, but I would just take a look at what his father Tyrone did for a lot of young kids in South Florida. I want to send my condolences to James White and his family. I know he’s on the Patriots and we compete against those guys; but we’re a football family in the National Football League. I just want him to know he has our support. We’re praying for his mom right now. His dad was a truly great, great, great man who did a lot for a lot of people. I think people need to know about that.”
Brian Flores – September 21, 2020 (Conference Call)
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Monday, September 21, 2020
Head Coach Brian Flores Conference Call with Jacksonville Media
(What have you seen on tape from Jaguars RB James Robinson? I know he was kind of an unknown coming into this year. What have you seen from him so far?) – “This is a good back. Good vision, tough, tough runner, breaks tackles. He ripped off a long run on a draw play yesterday. This is a good back. We’re going to have to play good team defense up front, linebackers – the secondary has to tackle. This is a good back. He’s a little bit unknown but obviously (General Manager) David (Caldwell) has a good eye for young players and I think he’s got a good one in this back. We’re going to have to play well to keep them contained.”
(What kind of concerns do you have from what you’ve seen so far in the Jaguars pass offense? They have a lot of explosive weapons and you had some problems with the passing attack yesterday. What concerns do you have about them generally?) – “Well, let’s start with the offensive line. I think the guys are doing a good job in protection, giving (Gardner) Minshew time. Then Minshew obviously has a really good feel in the pocket. Obviously he’s got scrambling ability. He can get the ball out quickly. He stands in the pocket. He delivers the ball; he throws a good ball. He’s accurate. Then he’s got good receivers. I think the rookie (Laviska) Shenault has come in there and whether he’s playing Wildcat or playing running back or just out – he poses his own issues. Then (D.J.) Chark on the deep balls and Keelan Cole, these guys, they have some weapons. It’s a good, young team. They play tough, they play hard, so it will be a tough battle. They’re competitive and I think that starts with (Head Coach) Doug (Marrone), (Offensive Coordinator) Jay (Gruden) and those guys do a really good job. They’re playing well, for sure.”
(I think these are the two youngest teams in the league – 1 and 1A. Both of them struggled to get off to fast starts. I think you guys have been in double-digit deficits I think in the second quarter and then early in the third. How important is it to maybe stay a little closer, especially for a young team that has a tendency to just not have the experience to rally from this kind of stuff?) – “I mean it’s always important to start fast. I think Doug (Marrone) would say the same thing. We’re probably going to be saying the same thing in both of our meetings this week. Starting fast is important. I think in both cases, the good thing is if you get down, you have the capability of coming back and making it a ballgame at the end, and in their case, winning one in the end. Again, two young teams; but at the end of the day, it’s about playing well. It’s about playing well consistently and play to play. That’s been my message to our team really this entire year. That’s not going to change. I’m sure it’s the same thing for Doug.”
(Last year, a lot of people thought they had – they look at your team losing so much early and thought that you guys were maybe tanking and then you showed plenty of resiliency down the stretch. This year, both you and the Jaguars have played games where results could have gone either way. What do you think is the biggest challenge getting the team to go from being competitive and fighting to winning? What is the thing that you think is the biggest challenge getting to that next step?) – “I would say it’s hard to win in this league. You need to play your best. We need to play our best in those critical moments of the game. The other thing I’d say – and this has been my message – is I’m not sure which play is going to be the winning play. It could be something in the first quarter. There’s always – as you know, games come down to a handful of plays. It could be a play in the first quarter, it could be a play in the third quarter, it could be a penalty in the second quarter in the red zone that knocks you out of range. I’m not sure exactly what play it is. My message is always that every play is important. We need to have good fundamentals, good technique, good communication, good everything on every play or as much as we can, and the results will take care of themselves at the end of the game. But in those critical moments, we need to play our best as players, we need to coach at our best. It’s hard to win. It’s hard to win and you have to earn it in this league. That’s kind of my message.”
(Kind of piggybacking off that, how important is it for a young team to have a short memory? In college you kind of go through lumps and waves and then in the NFL, you might have adversity early. How important is it to kind of get over that?) – “I think a short memory is important in some respects. I think you need to learn from your mistakes and get it corrected, especially in-game and in practice. It can’t be so short that you forget what just beat you, though. I guess that’s what I’m getting at. So if they hit a play on you, yeah I want you to forget about it but let’s not totally forget about it so we get beat on it again. But yes, to your point, we want to have a short memory. We want to move on from things. We’ve got to move on to the next play. We’ve got to have a next play mentality. But along with that, we’ve got to make improvements on the fly as well. I think that’s something that we harp on as a young team but just any team. I think teams with veterans, guys make mistakes on those teams also. You’ve got to have a short memory. You’ve got to have a next play mentality.”
(Where do you feel like you’re at with your passing attack right now?) – “Not where it needs to be. I think that’s where I’m at with everything right now. We’re not where we need to be offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. We’ve got a lot of improvement that we’ve got to make. We want to make it as quickly as we can. We’re two weeks into the season – two games in – and still finding out about this team and who does what well. I think every team is the same way. Who does what well? How do we put these guys in the best positions to make plays and to play well as a unit and as a team for 60 minutes? Some things are better than other but nothing is where it needs to be. That’s where I’m at on the passing game.”
(The Jaguars haven’t gotten much of a pass rush. Do you think they’ve played a couple of guys like QB Philip Rivers and QB Ryan Tannehill who get the ball out quick and they’re not trying a whole lot yet? Or are they getting blocked? What have you seen?) – “I mean they’ve played against two good quarterbacks. They’ve gotten the ball out. Those guys do a good job of avoiding pressure. I think they’ve got some – between the young rookie, (K’Lavon) Chaisson, (Josh) Allen, they’ve got some pass rushers. We’ve got to block them. That’s kind of where I’m at. They’ve got some young, talented guys. We’ve got to block them. I expect a good rush from these guys. That’s coming in time and that’s something I’m sure they’re working on, just like we are. Whether it’s perimeter pressure or pressure up the middle or just a better edge rush, I’m sure they’re working on it. I’m expecting a good pass rush. Every week is a little bit different in this league.”
Xavien Howard – September 20, 2020 (Postgame)
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Sunday, September 20, 2020
Postgame – Buffalo
CB Xavien Howard
(Obviously you guys lost and QB Josh Allen had a big day. Were you surprised that they didn’t have you covering WR Stefon Diggs more? Seemed like CB Noah Igbinoghene had a lot of that responsibility.) – “I wasn’t surprised. It was the game plan. I knew the game plan what was going on. Coaches did what was best for us and at first Byron was covering and something happened with Byron, so Noah ended up coming in. It was the game plan that we had.”
(What happened on that last touchdown to WR John Brown? I saw both you and — were chasing, what happened there?) “He ran to open space. That was my guy. I take fault of that, he scored a touchdown. I just got to be on top of it.”
(How did CB Byron Jones going out in the first series impact the game?) – “We have a next-man-up mentality. You know, during this time, COVID, there’s a lot of stuff going on. You never know who will be playing, who won’t be playing. We go with the next-man-up mentality and we just got to keep going.”
(How do you grade the improvement QB Josh Allen has made in the time you’ve been facing him in the NFL?) – “He improved a lot. We knew he had a strong arm and can throw the ball deep. I feel like he’s getting better making smart decisions with the ball.”
(Last week we saw QB Cam Newton running for an awful lot of yards against and you today Buffalo had 526 yards total offense. What’s wrong with the defense and how are you going to get it fixed?) – “We got a quick turnaround, so we expecting the same thing the team did today. Just got to do our job. I feel like the coaches put us in position to do our job. It’s not all on the coaches. They have a plan. It mostly on the players. We have to do our job and we should be good.”
(What are some things you guys in the secondary can do better, including yourself CB Noah Igbinoghene, CB Nik Needham as well. What are some things you guys can do better?) – “We have to put ourselves in a better position to make a play and make a play on the ball. We just got to – Teams know what we doing, what we’re going to do, so we just got to put ourselves in a better position to make a play.”
