Patrick Graham – November 12, 2019
Download PDF version
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham
(Can you talk a little bit about CB Nik Needham and what you’ve seen as far as his progression as a player and then what he did for you on Sunday?) – “Nik came in – undrafted free agent – and he did the stuff that we talk about. You try to explain it to those guys when you’re calling them on the phone to come here that you’ll have a chance to work hard and you’ll have your opportunity; and he did that. He came in here, worked hard, got cut – we knew the work ethic was there but got cut – told him what he needed to do in order to be (back) – (Defensive Pass Game Coordinator/Cornerbacks Coach) Josh (Boyer) did a great job of explaining exactly, ‘this is what you’re going to have to do. You’re going to have to transform your body. You’re going to have to – in terms of just how important it is to you, that’s a decision you’re going to have make,’ and he did that. Now he’s starting to see really the fruits of his labor in terms of the success on the field and he knows he still has a long way to go, and this week is going to be a huge challenge with the receivers we’re going to see when they play down here from Buffalo. He’s making steps in the right direction.”
(Did you want him to slim down at all in weight? How did you want him to transform his body?) – “Just in terms of being an NFL corner. It’s a different job. It’s a very different job. The caliber of athlete – you try to cover these guys from Buffalo (and) these guys are running. This is true speed. I always tell people, in college you were probably one of the fastest guys and you probably faced two or three fast guys, but these guys get paid to play football. These are the fastest in the – 1-32 (teams). That’s what I talk about with the running back; he’s probably one of – 3 times 32, what’s that, 96? Is my math right? (laughter) So he’s one of 96 in the world, these guys are. You’re dealing with true speed right there.”
(If I had told you that no CB Xavien Howard, no S Reshad Jones, CB Eric Rowe playing a lot of safety and your defensive backs did the job they did on Sunday – if I told you that two months ago, what would’ve been your reaction?) – “In this league? That’s what you anticipate – stuff like that. For my career – this is Year 11 I believe – you anticipate. If you’re not thinking ahead and trying to anticipate those situations, in a physical league like the guys play in and I coach in, you’re going to be behind because it’s going to happen. Of course I wish everybody was here and healthy and all that stuff, but we’ve got to prepare – whoever’s out there on the field – to win games. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
(S Steven Parker had the big play and was a big factor in the pass defense. That came one week after he didn’t play any defensive snaps against the Jets. Was this a matchup issue or is it something you saw in practice last week?) – “(laughter) Y’all are going to ask that question every week somehow, some way. That was a different route right there. (laughter) Sorry, I could see that one. You’ve got to find a way where I don’t see it, (laughter) but here goes my answer on it – I’m going to push play. (laughter) We are going to do what we think is best for the team and for the matchup to put guys in the best situation for that week. Stop. (laughter)”
(Had S Steven Parker been practicing well because he wasn’t really involved for the last month?) – “In order for him to get on the field the amount of snaps he played last week, (he is) definitely practicing well. That’s how you get rewarded – the play time is in terms of what you’re doing on the practice field. That’s how we look at it. Just like this week, it’s a whole new week. We’re playing Buffalo – different scheme, different quarterback, different coordinator we’re dealing with, different set of skill players we’re dealing with – and we’re going to determine who we think is best for those matchups. It’ll be determined based on practice and how guys practice and prepare, and we’ll go out there and try our best to beat those guys.”
(How do you have that conversation with guys at the end of the week maybe Friday or Saturday…?) – “It’s a private conversation. It’s the NFL, though. Everybody’s aware just in terms of – play time, that’s all private. That’s the stuff we discuss internally. I don’t want to get into the details of that, but the guys – we discuss it with them. They understand that what we’re trying to do is based on the matchup and what we think is best. (We’re) always doing what’s best for the team – that’s what we’re trying to do.”
(What do you need to do better on defense than the first time you played the Bills?) – “One, we’ve got to make sure that – we’ve got to tackle these running backs. We’ve got to do a good job of tackling these running backs. We’ve got to eliminate the leaky yards there. We’ve got to do a good job of setting the edge. We’ve got to play with some power on the inside and then in the pass game, we’ve got – it’s the normal fundamental stuff that we have to do a better job of, just in terms of playing our leverage, defend the deep part of the field and then applying some pressure on the quarterback by transitioning in the play-action pass rush, making sure we’re taking advantage of any one-on-one battles we get in the pass rush. There’s a lot of stuff we could do better obviously because we didn’t win the game, but that’s stuff we need to work on for this week regardless of who the opponent would be. We need to tackle better. We need to defend, set the edge better. That would be whether it was Buffalo – whoever we were playing, that’s how it would be right now.”
(Did you have an idea with Colts WR T.Y. Hilton out that TE Eric Ebron would be their No. 1 target to go after 12 times?) – “He had a big year last year. He was a big part of their offense and you saw him throughout the season. I think he was limited a little bit in terms of how many times they were throwing the ball to him, but he’s a good player so we prepared for – he might be the main guy. Whether it was him, (Zach) Pascal – whoever it may be. Just like any week, you look at Buffalo right now; they’ve got a number of skill guys and we’ve got to figure out, ‘Okay, who do we anticipate will get the ball the most and what matchup are they going to try to exploit?’ Because that’s what it’s all about in the NFL. You’re trying to go after certain matchups and you’re trying to put your players in the best position, so you try to anticipate that as best you can.”
(CB Eric Rowe has spent the last month playing safety the majority of the time. What went into the decision to have the roles evolve? Was it the CB Nik Needham stepping up or was it just a need?) – “I think the main thing is the selflessness of Eric. He’s willing to do whatever we need (him) to do to help us win. It starts there. He’s willing to do it. He’s a guy who’s been a hard worker in this league – a diligent worker – and he’s smart. He can tackle. He’s tough and he provides us with an advantage in terms of size, his length, combination of speed; you put that on a tight end in terms of coverage, that helps out a lot. It’s a different skillset than dealing with a linebacker. Then he also provides us with some flexibility because he can do corner skills, safety skills, set the edge – he can do a bunch of things.”
(Going back to the play time equation – obviously let’s take the secondary for example. I’m sure you would agree that continuity is a good thing because guys know each other, but at the same time you’re talking about guys performing in practice; so how do you weigh the two whether you get chemistry going vs. a guy who may be underperforming or performing very well at practice? How do you weigh all that?) – “The continuity thing – of course you’re striving for that, but it comes down to the bottom line: we’re going to do what we think is best for that opponent (and) to help on that opponent. If it means a guy that just came off the street is going to help us cover so-and-so or help us in the run game in terms of secondary support, that’s what we’re going to do; but in terms of how do we weigh it? It’s always a constant evaluation. We try to bring them up to speed as quickly as possible and I think that’s partly our job and it’s also partly the job of the players because we’ve got a great group of guys, so whenever the new guys came in, they’d pull them right underneath them and they’re spending time with them – extra time with them. We do stuff to help facilitate that process if that makes sense.”
(When you say “extra time” can you kind of give me a picture of – how much time? When you brought guys in like you said, right off the street and they’re starting on Sunday…?) – “We’ve got our time slot – whatever it is for the NFL; but the players, just like – I’ve said it before – I’m a professional football coach. That’s what I do. I’ve got that and my family. During football season, that’s what I do. Professional football players – I’m assuming they’ve got their family and they play football. We only have 16 of these opportunities guaranteed to us during the year, so you find the extra time. You find the extra time whether it’s on your own, organized – whatever it may be. I get up in the morning not only just to get here for work but also to get my mind right for my job. That’s my extra time to get my job right, and when I’m driving home I’m thinking about football on my time because you only get 16 opportunities and they’re precious so you spend the extra time. You have to talk specifically to the players about how they do it, but I’m assuming professional football players (and) professional football coaches, that’s what we do and we only get to do it for six months; so I put in as much time as I need to.”
(When you went back and watched the tape of that first Bills game – that 98-yard drive – what kind of got to you?) – “Again, it goes back to fundamentals. We’ve got to do a better job whether it’s tackling, whether it’s understanding the situation – all the stuff that’s going to come up again this week, is all going to come up this week – we’ve got to be better at it this week. We’ve got to make sure we’re tackling, defending the deep part of the of field, set the edge – all the fundamentals – play with low pad level, know the situation, the situations within the situations and excel at that; that’ll help us play it better.”
(With S Reshad Jones, we’ve seen him practice now for the last two weeks. At what point do you feel like he’s getting ready to be back in this defense?) – “You’ve got to ask ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) about that stuff, with the guys that are injured and stuff like that. You’ve got to ask ‘Flo’ about that stuff.”
(Bills WR John Brown – he seems to have kind of, not come out of nowhere but have a pretty impactful rookie season – what does he do well?) – “Speed. (laughter) That’s one of the top things right there. (He’s) fast and presents some problems. Again, it goes back to our fundamentals. We’ve got to be able to tackle him. We’ve got to be able to defend the deep part of the field and anticipate some of the stuff they’ll do to get him the ball, so we’ve got to do a good job with that.”
Chad O’Shea – November 12, 2019
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Offensive Coordinator Chad O’Shea
(I wanted to ask you about – obviously you come from New England where you have a pretty extensive history with the slot position – probably one of the best slot receivers in the game. Why has that position not emerged or been an impactful position here so far?) – “I think that position is an important position to a lot of offenses; but I think at the same time, you always have to utilize the skillset of the players that you have. Certainly we’ve utilized Mike Gesicki in some of those ways that you would utilize a slot receiver. I think that we have receivers on this roster that have great strengths and a skillset, and some of that is more of an outside receiver type of player. Again, I think it’s just playing to the skillset of the players on your roster as much as anything, but I think that you can make up for the production of that slot player in your offense with other ways to do it. Certainly that’s something I’ve been very pleased with; for example with DeVante Parker, is his ability to play outside the numbers to try to make up for some of the production that we might have had in another offense with a slot player.”
(QB Ryan Fitzpatrick threw passes to nine different receivers in that game. Is that one of the ways you replace someone like WR Preston Williams, by spreading the wealth?) – “Yeah, I think that’s really important. When we had a player in Preston that was as productive as he was and as important to our offense, we think it’s very important here moving forward, as it was last week, to try to distribute the football to multiple players that are very capable. That’s the good thing about this for us right now, is we have players that we’re confident in that can kind of combine to make up for some of the production that we were going to lose with Preston. I was pleased with those guys in their roles of being maybe in different roles than they’ve been and being able to be productive and to kind of combine to produce some of the production that we had at those spots.”
(How did you see the return of C Daniel Kilgore impacting the offensive line?) – “Yeah, it was great. He came in and the first thing, he added a presence and a leadership not only on the sideline; but in the huddle, and he really played well for us. It’s nice to have a veteran, especially as important as that position is. Certainly that doesn’t take away from what (Evan) Boehm did for us. I thought he really performed well as I said the last couple weeks and really did well, especially under some circumstances. For him, the first time out wasn’t easy, but ‘Danny’ (Daniel Kilgore) coming back really certainly was something that was positive for us, and I think he really added some leadership and it was good to have him back.”
(As a follow-up to that, how did C/G Evan Boehm transition back to right guard?) – “He transitioned like we thought and that is he’s a multiple-position player that has some versatility. That’s one of his strengths. We have confidence in him at both the center and the guard spots, so we went into the game feeling that that would be an easy transition for him, because he had played the spot before and it’s so close to obviously the center position and there’s so much of the communication that’s carryover between those two spots, that it was kind of a seamless transition for us. I thought he performed well.”
(How’d you assess how the offense played in general because ball security was key for you all but the 229 yards didn’t really jump off the page?) – “I think that sometimes statistically when you look at that at the end of the game, it doesn’t tell all the story. I thought there were definitely some times that we played situational football and played kind of complementary football and did what we had to do whether it was at the end of a drive to ensure a field goal and decent position to kick the field goal and some of those things. I think that there were obviously some things that we did that were very positive, and as always when you come out of the game, there were some things that we definitely need to improve on moving forward; but I think that’s true of every game – win (or) lose. That’s something that we talked to the team about yesterday, is just the areas of improvement and then building on some of the positives that we had in the game. I think in the end, we’re looking for overall consistency to be at the highest level and that’s the goal. I thought that throughout the game, there were times that we were consistent and then there were times where we needed to be better.”
(One of those situations I think was when your quarterback was pulled from the game by officials. The three runs there – was that just to ensure that you guys would get out of it with at least a field goal…) – “I think that we’re always going to do what’s best for the team, and certainly in that situation we’ve had a lot of confidence in our kicker and we should because he’s performed so well, especially in this last game; and when you have as much confidence in your kicker and you know where the ball is located, that plays into the decision to run the ball or pass the ball.”
(RB Kalen Ballage came out of this game with 2.2 average. What has to happen for that to get where you want it to be?) – “I think that Kalen had an opportunity to play more with Mark (Walton) not being in there, and I think that again, that position relies so heavily upon the other players. It’s (not) just him. It’s the success of the runs and the success of the plays he’s in on that are the passes that rely, again, on the other 10 guys out there. Certainly that’s something that we’re looking to improve is that we’re looking to improve our run game among other areas we need to improve. It’s all 11 guys doing their job a little bit better for Kalen to do his job better.”
(How much better does RB Kalen Ballage have to do his job?) – “I think that it’s – we’re asking all players to improve in specific areas. Certainly Kalen is a player that has prepared well. He’s practiced well. I think that he’ll continue to get opportunities for us and I know he’s going to try to make the best out of those opportunities, and I know that the other members of the offensive unit are also looking to do their job better, too, so he can do his job better.”
(How did you think RB Patrick Laird and RB Myles Gaskin handled their first action on offense?) – “I think that they handled it well for being the first time. We had very specific roles for them in the game. We had kind of menus of plays that would be their plays, so it wasn’t in a situation for them that they were going to have to know the entire game plan, which I thought was important. Both of them prepare very well, so we were confident that they were going to know those plays that they had within their role. I thought that they both performed well. They were limited on the snaps, but certainly they had contributions in the game that helped us.”
(Why WR Allen Hurns as the starting – I don’t know if you call him a flanker or splitter?) – “Yeah. Allen (Hurns) is somebody that is really – I use the word ‘dependability’ with Allen. Since he’s come here, he’s been a detailed, dependable, accountable player for us, and I know that that’s one of the reason we have a lot of confidence in Allen, is that he’s always going to do the right thing and be in the right position. I know that (Ryan) Fitzpatrick has a lot of confidence in him just as the coaching staff does. Certainly I think he’s made the best out of his opportunities when he’s been out there. He’s made some tough catches. I think he brings toughness to the position. I think he plays extremely hard. I’m really glad he’s on our roster.”
(Vision for WR Gary Jennings now that you have him on the team and he’s…?) – “Gary spent the last week trying to get acclimated to not only our offensive system, but just the way the building is and getting to know faces and all of those things and learning names. We went through that last week and now we look forward to kind of building on that this week and continuing to see how he can progress. It’s always a great challenge when you have a new player that comes into a system and a new organization, for them to get caught up as fast as they can; but I would say the way he’s worked and the way he’s approached it here has been impressive and if he continues to do that, I think that he’ll be in a position where he’ll have an opportunity, if he continues to progress and work. This week we’re going to continue to work with him on the field, just like we do all the players that come new to the system. I think that as we tell all the players, your role is kind of dictated on what you do at practice, so we’ll continue to monitor that and see how it goes for him.”
(With WR Gary Jennings, do you just give him one spot to learn considering he’s coming in so late or…?) – “Yeah, I do think it’s important to not put a player in a position where he’s trying to learn multiple roles early. We’ll have him learn a certain type of position, but it’s not going to be necessarily, ‘hey, you’re always in the slot,’ ‘you’re always outside.’ The way we tag our positions – identification offensively – is we’ll tag them a certain, call it letter, and then we’ll be able to move him around accordingly. We’re not going to lock him into, ‘hey, you’re just a slot receiver,’ ‘you’re just an outside guy,’ but he’ll be in a position where he won’t have to learn the entire offense.”
(The 15 snaps for WR Jakeem Grant, is that about what you want from him or was that a surprise when you saw the box score?) – “I think that the way we’ve done the skill position – again with the loss of Preston (Williams) and Mark (Walton) last week – is we tried to do it by committee some. We definitely had a very specific plan on how we were utilizing those guys. I think that so much of that – when you go into the game, it can be slightly altered by the way the game goes. Some of the plays that we have on the call sheet that might’ve increased his role or his participation might be affected by the way the game goes. I think sometimes that changes so I don’t think it’s ever set in stone, but Jakeem is somebody that will continue to have opportunities, to have an opportunity to contribute to us in the way that he does. We’ll utilize his skillset and his strengths to the best we can and I think that there’s going to be guys that fall in his category, too, where we’re going to try to do the things that they do well and if that’s 10 plays, it’s 10 plays. If it’s 50 plays, it’s 50 plays.”
(You’re playing the Bills for the second time in a month. Invariably when that occurs, do you expect to see different things than you did the first time?) – “Yeah, we do. That’s what we’re going through right now. This morning we spent a lot of time studying our tape from last game and really looking very closely at what we did – what our strengths were in that game (and) what our weaknesses are and kind of knowing that the Bills will be doing the same thing. I think that’s kind of where the game-planning starts when you play a divisional opponent for the second time, is you evaluate the first game quite a bit and you move forward from there.”
(How would you assess TE Clive Walford’s development since he rejoined the team?) – “It was actually – he’s come in and he was in good condition when he came here, which I think is important when a player hasn’t been with a team for a while. That’s always a concern you have, is the overall physical conditioning. I thought his conditioning was good which allowed him to get reps and get in there. I was really impressed with the way he played in this last game. It was a limited number of snaps, but he had a big third down conversion for us and he did exactly the right thing the way he was coached. Clive has done a good job since he’s been here and he’s a big target that adds another dimension in the pass game. He’s competed in the run game as well, so I think he’s done a good job and it all started with him being ready to go when he got here.”
(What is your vision for T Julién Davenport now that he’s on the road back?) – “Julién certainly was somebody we were really excited about when he was in the lineup and then we were sidetracked with he injury. I think the training staff has done a great job of getting back and the strength and conditioning group. They’ve gotten him to point where now we’re ready to have the opportunity to go play again. As I’ve said with the offensive line, there’s a lot of moving parts all year. There’s nothing set in stone and I think that’s going to continue to be the case this week. I think he’ll have a chance to continue to get in there and progress and see where he is physically.”
(So would you say T Julién Davenport in the mix to compete to regain his starting spot?) – “I think that definitely he’s going to be in a position to go on the field this week and practice and see how he does just like he’s done whether it’s with the strength and conditioning group along the side or he actually gets some team reps with us. I think we’re still kind of in a waiting period on that, but certainly if he is back and full strength and full participation, then I look forward to him being in there if that’s the case.”
Steven Parker – November 11, 2019
Download PDF version
Monday, November 11, 2019
S Steven Parker
(On his interception yesterday.) – “I’m not going to lie, I’ve watched it 1,000 times. A lot of people sent me the video. I’ve gotten a lot of good reviews on it.”
(Did anyone from any other teams in the league who you knew either from the Rams last year or college teammates who texted you about play? Is there anyone in particular?) – “Ex-Rams players and ex-OU (University of Oklahoma) players, ex-alumni.”
(What was going through your mind after you came down with the ball and the refs are talking and I guess they’re debating?) – “I already knew I had that ball. In my mind, it was already a pick. They had already ruled it a touchdown, but in my mind it was already an interception.”
(You went from not being used on defense against the Jets to actually starting and then making that big play. What was that swing like for you?) – “It was opportunity. When that opportunity presented itself, you’ve got to go out there and just have fun (and) play amongst yourselves but be a part of the scheme, make sure that you’re doing your job – that’s the most important thing. I felt like as a defense, that’s what we did. We flew around. We did our job.”
(I know a lot of decisions defensively week-to-week are made on matchups for that particular week; but was there anything that either Safeties Coach Tony Oden or Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham said to you they wanted you to work on between the time you were playing a lot to not playing very much to yesterday?) – “Really they wanted me to lock up 84 or 85. That was just the game plan just moving forward. We knew that they would love to be in 12 personnel, which gave us the opportunity to match up good, especially with me and ‘E. Rowe’ (Eric Rowe) being big safety-like bodies.”
(Did you wind up keeping the ball? First NFL interception?) – “Yes, sir. I did. Actually hopefully I should be getting it here pretty soon. I don’t (have) it right now; but yeah, it’s good. I’ve got to put that up in my trophy case.”
(How’d you get the ball back? What steps do you take to be able to get it?) – “To get it? Somebody actually ended up picking it up. I flicked it and just kind of ran off. Somebody ended up getting it for me. Thank God because I needed that one.”
Jerome Baker – November 11, 2019
Download PDF version
Monday, November 11, 2019
LB Jerome Baker
(On not recovering the loose ball on his strip-sack.) – “I think we should start this out by, welcome to Victory Monday. (laughter) But no, the sack, I honestly thought he got it off. That’s why I didn’t lower my shoulder or anything. It’s a play I missed. It’s all good.”
(DT Christian Wilkins gave you a little shot. Was that for the sack or was that because, “damn, pick up the ball?”) – “I don’t know. We’ve still got to talk about that. That was a hard shove. (laughter) But it’s all good. He’s always animated so it was all good.”
(How is Victory Monday after two in a row?) – “It feels amazing. I could definitely get used to it. It’s fun, but we’ll enjoy this one today and tomorrow get on to Buffalo.”
(The way you guys are playing defense – is this what you envisioned the process to be like? Everybody keeps talking about the process.) – “Yeah, if you just look at it, I just believe in ‘Coach Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) and ‘P.G.’ (Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham); these past few games have just been what they’ve been coaching us up to do and we’ve definitely been having fun playing this defense. (We’ve) just got to continue.”
(Head Coach Brian Flores was asked about this. Everybody knows the narrative around this, what people are saying and the whole thing is everybody wants – see if we can get a franchise quarterback in here. How satisfying is it to kind of put that aside and maybe ruin those plans for the people who wanted to see zero wins?) – “I love it. I love winning. I love winning now. I don’t worry about the future. I worry about winning now and it just feels good to win. The future is going to be the future. I’ll worry about that when it comes; but for now, like I said earlier in the year, it’s all about winning right now. I’m not really focused on next year or the year after that.”
(You have several young defensive players on this team getting better as the year goes on with CB Nik Needham and CB Jomal Wiltz and S Steven Parker and DT Christian Wilkins – you would attribute that to what? What’s happening that a number of these guys are improving as the year goes on?) – “They’re just believing in the process. They trust (Defensive Pass Game Coordinator/Cornerbacks Coach) Josh (Boyer) and ‘T.O.’ (Safeties Coach Tony Oden) and ‘P.G.’ (Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham) – all those guys. They trust them and they believe they’re getting taught. Sundays, we go out there and just do what you have been taught to do. They’re making plays and it’s definitely exciting just to see them make plays – the excitement they have after the play, during the play, talking it out. I’m definitely proud just watching them grow as players and we’re all growing as a defense, so it’s definitely good.”
(And to hold up at corner the way you have with CB Xavien Howard obviously injured and guys coming in off the street and off practice squads – is it pleasantly surprising to you? What’s your reaction just to watching how well you’ve held up on the back end despite all the turnover there?) – “It’s a combination of everything – the players believing what the coaches are telling us (and) the coaches just teaching us exactly what we have to do in situations, just knowing the little things that you don’t really know watching the outside-in. Just knowing your leverage, communication. All those guys, they came in, that’s the first thing they did is communicate, know their leverage. You can eliminate a lot of plays like that and I’m definitely proud of them, the way they’re playing, and we’ve just got to continue.”
(Do you take it upon yourself to make Head Coach Brian Flores laugh and stay loose?) – “Yes. Yes.”
(Why do you take that upon you? It’s such a big role.) – “I’m all about having fun and laughing and joking. I pretty much do that with anybody. Raekwon (McMillan) – he’s been getting it for years. ‘Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) is that way. Sometimes ‘P.G.’ (Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham) – he’ll be in a meeting or something like that, be so serious and I crack a joke. It’s just to lighten up the mood. It’s still football at the end of the day. We’ve been playing it since we’ve been 6 (years old) or however long you’ve been playing it. It’s still football. Just have fun with it.”
(Some guys would be afraid to do that to the head coach, especially a first-year head coach.) – “It is what it is. You go out there, you have fun, whatever it is. He’s all serious about business. You’ve just got to know when to do it and the only time I really do it is when I know I can and he’s not – it’s not too serious (of a) moment.”
(What does it say about the type of guy that Head Coach Brian Flores is that he has that with you guys?) – “Oh, yeah. He’s all about business. He’s all serious. He’s a little uptight in some instances; but at the end of the day, he’s a great man, he’s a great coach, he’s a great person. So he still likes to have fun and laugh. I know that. I don’t have to look at that hard shell of ‘he’s the head coach’ thing. I can still see he jokes, he laughs and we’re just having fun with him.”
(What was going through your mind when you were coming down the blitz and you see that big hole in the middle?) – “$21,000 fine. (laughter) That’s all I was thinking about. I got fined $21,000. I really didn’t see the ball. I saw his arm go like this. I didn’t see the ball so I just ran through him and tried not to lower my shoulder. Turns out he still had the ball. (It was) just a play I made and just attributed to our defense, so it’s all good.”
Brian Flores – November 11, 2019
Download PDF version
Monday, November 11, 2019
Head Coach Brian Flores
(I want to phrase this very carefully so it’s not misunderstood. Obviously you and the staff are doing a great job extracting everything you can from these players. Your goal is to win. No one questions if that has to be the goal. That said, do you ever think about – not that it should affect what you do – do you ever think about the fact that these wins are hurting the franchise’s chance to get a franchise quarterback in the draft? Do you ever speak lightheartedly with General Manager Chris Grier about it or do you ever think about it in a quiet moment?) – “Again, that’s like seven questions in a row. (laughter) No, it’s not something I really think about. I think about this team, how I’m going to – my message to the team this morning, what my message to the team is going to be at 4 p.m. when we intro Buffalo, and then I’m going to get started on Buffalo. Maybe there’s not enough time to get into all of that. My job is to put this team in the best position to try to go out there and be productive and try to win football games. I think every head coach, every general manager, every organization is thinking about things long-term, as well as short-term. We’re no different, but right now my goal is to get each one of those guys in that locker better (and) as good as they can be. That’s the goal for me and our coaching staff.”
(Nine games into the season – does this franchise now have a winning culture?) – “I think these guys are really working hard. I think they’re preparing the right way. The process is something we talk about on a weekly basis and I think they’re trying to stick to that process and I think they’re seeing the fruits of that labor, but culture isn’t – it’s something you build over time. It’s early. We need to continue to be consistent in the things we’ve been doing, but I do think we’re moving in the right direction. I think there’s a trust and a belief in the process. I think they believe that this coaching staff is going to do everything possible to put these guys in positions to be successful and if we do that, then hopefully we give ourselves an opportunity to win games. The culture piece is about the relationships that are built in that locker room and on the practice field. I think we’re building towards that.”
(Can you talk a little bit about CB Nik Needham and the game he had and the progress that you’ve observed through the year in his play?) – “Nik played well yesterday. He’s a young guy who, we saw some – we talked about this – (Defensive Pass Game Coordinator/Cornerbacks Coach) Josh Boyer, it’s March and he goes, ‘I think I’ve got a kid from UTEP who’s pretty decent.’ When he says ‘pretty decent’ that means he’s probably pretty good. We brought him in as a free agent and he did some good things in OTAs and had some struggles like most rookies do in the preseason and wasn’t quite ready, so we put him on the practice squad. This is the National Football League – that’s the journey of a lot of guys in the National Football League. It’s part of their journey, I should say. He spent a few weeks on the practice squad. I think getting released and going through that process took him through a little bit of the reality of what the National Football League could be. It could be over in a heartbeat. He embraced that challenge and turned things around quickly and I would say took everything a little bit more seriously – meetings, practice, walkthrough, weightlifting, nutrition. He’s turned some things around and he’s still got a long way to go, but all of those things play a role in kind of how we performed yesterday and hopefully he continues to do that.”
(You’re 2-0 now in November. You have seven games left here. Do you think you guys can get on a roll here towards the end of the season?) – “I hope so. That’s going to take a lot of work. Things don’t just happen in this league. You’ve got to make them happy, quite honestly. That’s meetings. That’s walkthroughs. That’s practice. Hopefully – Tuesday’s the day for ‘the day off,’ but the good players, the good teams I’ve been around, that’s an active day where they’re getting to know their opponent. Even though we’ve played Buffalo and it’s easy to sit there and say, ‘oh, I know this guy and that guy and this guy,’ but things change very quickly in this league. We’re different than we were when we played Buffalo last time and so are they. I expect our guys to go about this preparation as if we haven’t seen these guys. That’s what I’m going to do. It’s not going to just happen. Anyone who thinks that is out of their mind, quite honestly. (laughter)”
(The point of where QB Ryan Fitzpatrick came out and QB Josh Rosen was in – was there ever any point in the game where you maybe thought in the fourth quarter, field goals might not be enough to pull this thing out?) – “I think at the end of a game, you get a feel for how the game is going. They’ve got a good offense and they could’ve gotten it going at any point. We were playing pretty well defensively. (I’ve) got a lot of confidence in Jason (Sanders). If we could put it in the end zone, we want to. It’s a good defense. We got stopped on a fourth down down there one time. Is there ever a thought that field goals may not be enough? I think that’s always a thought that goes through your mind. You always want to score seven, not three. But we’ve got a lot of confidence in Jason. Being up four is better than being up one. We’ve just got to take all that into consideration.”
(With LB Jerome Baker, is he going to get the knee kind of evaluated or looked at a little bit?) – “We’re evaluating a lot of guys that got dinged in the game. He’s one of them along with a few other guys. I think he’ll be out there Wednesday.”
(At this point, would you say QB Ryan Fitzpatrick will be the quarterback for the rest of the season or do you want to leave yourself to go week-to-week on that?) – “Yeah, I’d say he’s going to be the quarterback moving forward. I’ve said that before and things change. Things change in this league. I see him as the quarterback for the foreseeable future. He’s done a really good job. The guys, they feed off his energy. He’s been able to move the football. He’s made me really tough plays for us – scrambling, getting out of the pocket, making throws, tucking it and taking it to the end zone. He’s been productive. He’ll be in there.”
(With the turnover battle, there’s the practical impact of winning that and then also the psychological impact. How would you describe the emotional effect of winning that battle has had the last two week?) – “Anytime you – we stress it a lot. The players know when basically you – basically if you get a turnover, you’re closer to winning the game and if you turn the ball over you’re closer to losing the game. That’s just basically, at the end of the day, that’s what it is; so yeah, psychologically, emotionally, it does something to you. You’ve got to be able to overcome that when you turn it over or I should say you’ve got to be able to deal with failure, overcome the failure and deal with the success of turning the ball over. There’s a lot that goes into it. Turning it over defensively or in the kicking game, offensively you’ve got to go out there and try to put points on the board and try to capitalize on those turnovers. Conversely, when you turn the ball over you want to try to limit those. That’s the game. It’s an emotional game and that plays into the ebbs and flows of the game – turnovers, specifically is what I’m talking about. Hopefully we get more of them.”
(You’re winning some games with your quarterback, QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, who is 36 years old. You’ve got a second-year QB who’s developing but he may not give you the best chance to win. General Manager Chris Grier has talked about the importance of drafting a quarterback and the future and what are some things that you maybe envision for that QB position to make the most out of your time?) – “Um. I’m…”
(What’s your vision for the QB position in the future to make the most out of your…?) – “Ryan Fitzpatrick is going to start. Josh Rosen is our backup. Jake Rudock, he’s a guy we like to work with. He’s on the practice squad.”
(So nothing after that?) – “There’s nobody else on the roster.”
(And what are your thoughts on the position after that?) – “What’s that?”
(And your vision for the position in the future is what I was asking.) – “Like who’s going to be the quarterback in the future?”
(What do you hope to accomplish in trying – the quarterback in the future?) – “You mean for Sunday? It’s (Ryan) Fitzpatrick.”
(You had obviously flash plays from S Steven Parker, S Bobby McCain, we saw CB Nik Needham’s interception. Who went under the radar and sort of had a sneaky good game from watching tape? What names come to mind on either side of the ball?) – “Vince Biegel. He’s a guy who played tough in the run game. (Vince Biegel) had some good rushes, had some hits on the quarterback. (Steven) Parker is a guy who showed up in critical situations for sure. Offensively. Jomal Wiltz showed up in the kicking game and defensively. We’ve got a lot of guys who make plays without – we call it ‘making a play without making the play.’ Setting the edge defensively or making a big block in kickoff return or punt return or – we had a few guys from that standpoint. I thought Chandler Cox went in there and made a few good blocks, too.”
(What did you see from C Daniel Kilgore in his first game back?) – “I thought he played well. I thought he had really good communication. He had a lot of juice, played fast, tried to play physical. He was a good presence inside.”
Christian Wilkins – November 10, 2019 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, November 10, 2019
Postgame – Indianapolis
(Coach Flores said he was waiting for one of these games that you could win in the fourth quarter. Did you notice how pumped he was?) – “Yeah, he was really excited. Rightfully so, we’ve worked so hard for this. The outside world, the media, maybe thought this wasn’t possible. We got two more wins than the rest of the world thought we were going to have this year, so that’s pretty cool. We are all excited. Just happy to be a part of this.”
(To see things come to fruition, how long do you think it took for guys to buy in and does it help to win?) – “Well I think it was more so guys coming together and learning each other. You know, building that relationship and that camaraderie and just everything that goes into being a team. And we are still building that. We are not perfect, we’re not 100 percent on everything. But we are not satisfied with these two wins. We are going to keep going and get more so that’s our goal, that’s our mindset.”
(Could you get a feel (Nik Needham) was balling today?) – “Oh yeah, Nik was playing his game. I am real proud of him because I know how much work he has put into it. He has the underdog mindset. I knew since coming in with him, in OTAs and things like that and rookie mini camp, that he was a worker. He was going to get after it and try to be the best he can be. From day one, I have just seen him get better so it’s not really a surprise to us that he makes those type of plays and does so well.”
Steven Parker – November 10, 2019 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, November 10, 2019
Postgame – Indianapolis
(Can you take us through your pick?) – “Well, man coverage really should have been in better position, but fortunate to have been able to finish the play. That was the biggest thing right there.”
(Did you guys have any idea you’d have a night like this?) – “I mean it was a magical night. This is one of those games you live for, you dream about this. It’s exactly what you want to play for. Of course, we didn’t know exactly how it was going to go, but we knew it was going to be a battle.”
(What has this season been like for a young player like yourself?) – “It’s been very good. A lot of ups and downs but this team is really growing. I love that. Like I said, this is just one of those games you dream of. This is the exact moment you want to be in, especially as a defensive player. For us to go ahead and get off the field right there, that was tremendous.”
Nik Needham – November 10, 2019 (Postgame)
Download PDF version
Sunday, November 10, 2019
Postgame – Indianapolis
(How does it feel to get the second win?) – “It just felt good to contribute to the old guys and help get a win. That is all I am really worried about – I just want to win. It felt great. My first interception and I threw the ball on the ground. The older guys were telling me I got to keep it but I was just so excited I made a play in a big-time situation like that.”
(Did you feel like you could make any play out there today?) – “No sir. I was just trying to do my job every play. Just listen to the play call and execute. That’s all I was doing.”
(What is the difference with this team now compared to three or four weeks ago?) – “I think we are just – we have a real young team and new guys. I think over the weeks we are just building chemistry and really play for each other and don’t want to let each other down. Game changing plays happen out there and we don’t back down or give up we just go back out there and fight. That’s the main goal every week.”
