Head Coach Brian Flores
(I wanted to ask you about the decision not to play DE Taco Charlton. What led to that?) – “A little bit more game plan than anything. We felt like we just needed to go with some other guys just from a game-plan standpoint. He was healthy and hopefully we’ll get him going this week.”
(Had there been things in practice that had concerned you in terms of effort or any red flags?) – “Nope. No, Taco’s been great. (It was) really more game plan than anything. He’s done a good job really across the board. He’s had some production from a sack standpoint. We just felt like – this past week, I would say, or yesterday – we were better off going with the other guys.”
(With the two receivers who left yesterday with head injuries, are both WR Albert Wilson and WR DeVante Parker in the concussion protocol or is only Albert in protocol?) – “Yeah, both guys are in (concussion) protocol.”
(Sorry we probably have to ask you this every week from this point forward; but is QB Ryan Fitzpatrick starting Sunday, do you think?) – “Yeah.”
(Now that you’ve had some time to think about it, what are your thoughts on the reversal on the call at the end?) – “There’s always calls that don’t go your way. I think as a team, we’ve got to deal with that adversity and be able to move past it; and I thought we did that in a lot of areas yesterday. Obviously we had two receivers go down. Other guys stepped up. It was kind of a back-and-forth game there at the end. You can say what you want about the call. We still had an opportunity to get them stopped; we didn’t get it done, and we didn’t play well enough. We didn’t make enough plays to win the game, and it wasn’t just that – that call. There were a lot of things we could’ve done better in the game in all three phases. We talked about that today already. We’ve just got to come back, go back to practice Wednesday and get ready to play the Giants.”
(In general, how do you think the new rule on reviewing pass interference is working?) – “I think every week, I think the officials do a really good job. It’s not an easy job for them. I think every week there’s good calls, calls that some people don’t think are very good; but in this game, it’s about overcoming adversity. It’s about dealing with those good plays, bad plays and then moving on and doing the things you need to do to help your team win. As far as how that’s gone this year, I think it’s been fine.”
(Leaving out whether that was a good call or a bad call, the randomness of them deciding to review those kind of plays – is there an answer to why that one was reviewed and maybe some others that were maybe equally as close weren’t reviewed?) – “We can go on and on about this. I think there’s really no benefit to us to kind of rehash it and go through it. There were other plays in the game that we could have made that (if we did) maybe it doesn’t come down to that. At the end of the day, at the end of games, the plays that are made there – those are the winning the plays in the game. There really aren’t enough snaps left to – in some instances – overcome whatever the situation is. I thought our guys fought hard. I’m always going to advocate for our team. That’s not going to change. Our guys work extremely hard. I think not everybody’s in the trenches with us, but this is a hard-working team. It’s important to them. We wanted the win, we weren’t able to get it and we’ve got to just work harder and really kind of put ourselves in the situation where it’s not up to anyone else and we make a few more plays or we punch one of the touchdowns or make one more kick or make one more block and bleed the clock a little bit more. There’s eight different things that could have happened that we could have done better to not get to that situation; but yeah, at the end, those are the winning plays and we weren’t able to make them.”
(Was the quality of play you got at left guard better yesterday with C/G Keaton Sutherland playing most of the snaps instead of G Michael Deiter?) – “I don’t like to look at it as one position. The o-line is a group of guys, and the offense is 11 guys playing together. I thought Sutherland had some good plays, some bad plays. I think that’s the case for everybody on offense, defense and special teams. I haven’t looked at it. You always want it to look where we’re going to strive for perfection, and obviously we all fell short of that; but there were some mistakes there, there were some good plays, there were some bad plays. We’ve just got to make the corrections and try to play better next week.”
(Any additional reasons of what the problems were in the red zone…?) – “They played well defensively. We had a lot going on offensively and a couple guys down. We just had to – I thought our guys did a really good job. I thought our tight ends stepped in and really played some different positions. We had guys directing traffic out there and getting guys lined up. I thought Isaiah Ford really did a great job. I thought Allen Hurns, he was dinged a little bit and fought through it. I thought ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) got people in the right position, and say what you want – I know we didn’t play well in the red zone, but the offense moved the ball efficiently. We got ourselves into scoring position, we kicked the field goals and we were in it at the end and if we had one more maybe – obviously that would have helped us – but I liked the way we – look, it could always be better. I want to score touchdowns, but at the end of the day we were – you want to give yourself a chance to win at the end. At the end of the day, some games you’ve got to score 40. Some games it’s – I’m a defensive guy – I like a field goal game. That’s kind of how I’m wired. To play a game where you kick seven field goals and you’ve got a chance to win – yeah, do you want to score and punch it in the red zone? Always. But not every game is that way. I think we, as a team, that was a great learning experience to see that you can find different ways to win. In this case we didn’t get it done, but I think everybody can see that we had a chance there and I like that.”
(Two players in particular I want to ask you about from the tape. You mentioned WR Isaiah Ford briefly. Could you elaborate a little bit on him and RB Patrick Laird also?) – “I thought Isaiah just – he stepped in, played every position from a receiver standpoint, got some guys lined up, made some big catches and made a nice run after catch there in the third quarter. I thought he really played solid overall. Patrick, he had some good runs there in the second half, caught a big pass on the slant-go late in the game. He made some good blocks for us. I thought he played a solid game. Young guys stepping in, getting an opportunity, stepping up, making plays and that’s always good and hopefully we can build on that.”
(We saw 35 defensive snaps for LB Andrew Van Ginkel – his most work and he had the sack late in the game. What led to more playing time and how do you think he played?) – “I think he’s improved really each week. This is his third game; so yeah, he’s improved every week. This is a guy who works extremely hard and really earned those snaps over the last few weeks. He’s doing the kicking game as well. He had two tackles there. He’s a guy who’s getting better week after week and taking advantage of his opportunities and hopefully we can see more improvement over the rest of the season.”
(Your impression of how G Michael Deiter handled not starting and then getting into the game the second half?) – “Deiter, he’s a team guy, so whatever we feel is best for the team, he’ll jump in there and do if – so if it’s field goal, if it’s right guard, left guard, left tackle. He’s played a lot of different positions this year. I’m sure – I know he was disappointed; but at the same time, he wanted to see us do well and he was ready to go, and he stepped in there late in the game as well.”
(Before that call at the end, the Jets aren’t in position if not for the big play that S Steven Parker kind of gambled on – the deflection and the receiver got loose. Is that a teaching moment? What’d you tell him in that situation?) – “A lot of plays come down to this much. That’s the National Football League. When we talk about details, when we talk about alignments and we talk about reading your keys and we talk about those things, we don’t say that for no reason. It’s a great example not only for Parker, but for really everyone – everyone on the team. That’s the margin of error in this league. Most times, that what it is between what’s a sack and a 40-yard play or in that case, that’s an interception or a breakup, catch, no catch – that’s your margin. When we talk about being detailed, when we talk about using the right technique, fundamentals and communication, that’s why we do that, because at the end of the day it’s that much.”
(You were pretty angry at the end of the game there. How did you process that? How long did it take for that to subside?) – “I get over things pretty quickly. I was – it’s an emotional game. It’s not really my anger. It is my anger, but it’s for the players. I’m upset for them because I watch them work on a day-to-day basis. I watch them meet and walkthrough, I see how important it is to them. I watch them lay it on the line for each other. That’s where that emotion comes from. It’s not for me. This is not about me. I’m all about serving those players. That’s what that is. This isn’t about me at all. It’s about those players, the coaches, the cafeteria people and the equipment staff and everybody in this organization. We all put a lot into this and winning is important to us.”
(Quick thing – you had a bunch of midweek additions this week – Tuesday, Wednesday guys. Some played on Sunday like WR Mack Hollins yesterday. What generally has been your message to them when they arrive? Is it just, “learn as much as you can quickly?” What do you tell those guys generally?) – “I try to talk to them about the culture we’re trying to establish, so let’s be on-time, let’s obviously get into the playbook, get with some of the younger guys and I would say the younger coaching assistants. Our quality control guys do a really good job of getting guys up to speed and meeting with them extra. Early on, we tell them, ‘look, it’s going to be a small role and your role will grow. The opportunities you get will be the ones you create for yourself.’ That’s my normal message or something in that realm. I think Mack went in and made a (play), was productive in the kicking game. Obviously he caused a DPI and that was a big play for us. We’ve had a lot of guys. (Zach) Zenner went in there and played okay in the kicking game. It’s not easy to get those guys ready, but I know the coaching staff does a good job of getting guys up to speed quickly and I would say, it’s never perfect, but guys have gone in there and we tried to give them as much as they can do.”
WR Isaiah Ford
(Just the fact you’re getting the opportunity to get some run and you’re playing so well, head Coach Brian Flores said he was very impressed with what you did.) – “Any time you get the opportunity, you want to make the most of it. I think that I’ve prided myself on preparing and studying and practicing as if I was the starter, so when that time came that I would be prepared. So, I think that was a reflection of that. Other than that, there’s no moral victories. We lost the game, got the corrections from it and now it’s time to move on.”
(Speaking of losing the game, just the fashion you guys lost. Without getting yourself in trouble, just that PI call and how that all went down and to lose the way you guys lost.) – “I think it’s part of the game. The call was made and after that, they got in field goal range to kick the field goal and they won the game. So, you’ve got to tip your hats to them. There were things done in between the game prior to that, that we probably could’ve done a little better that would’ve prevented us from being in that situation.”
(Head Coach Brian Flores mentioned he got real emotional. I’m not sure if you saw it but I’ve never seen him that jacked up, really pissed off per se. He said he was pissed off for you guys – not only the players, but the people that work in the cafeteria and whatnot – and that’s where the passion came from. When you hear a head coach say that what does that mean when you hear a head coach say he’s pissed off for the organization?) – “It means a lot to us for our head guy to put it all on the line and go out there and to vouch for us when he feels like something was right or wrong or however he portrayed it to be. It just means a lot for us and that’s how we reflect on Sundays is we go out there and we put it all on the line for him as well.”
LB Raekwon McMillan
(I’ve never seen Head Coach Brian Flores that fired up in my life, but he mentioned that he was pissed off for you guys – the players, the organization, the guys in the kitchen. When a head coach says that, what does that mean when you hear a head coach say that he’s pissed off for the organization not just the call itself?) – “You like to see that in your coach. That’s the head of our organization coaching-wise. He’s passionate about everything he does. He’s passionate about his team, he’s passionate about his players, he’s passionate about everybody in this building. So when you see that in your head coach, it just pours out into the rest of the organization. We feel how he feels the same way, and we’re passionate about winning. We just want to keep it rolling for him.”
(How important is it that one loss, that one call, doesn’t reflect the rest of the season? Like you said, kind of move on and start thinking about the Giants now.) – “It’s just one call. It didn’t go our way. If it went the other way, we’d be happy about it; but it is what it is. It’s gone. If we let it dwell for the rest of the season, it could be a long stretch for these next three weeks. We’ve got to do what we got to do to get on the right path.”
(Very rarely do you play two games on the road in the same stadium.) – “Yeah. I’ve never done anything like it; but I guess they’ll have Giants stuff in the stadium now, so it should be a little different.”
S Steven Parker
(Does Head Coach Brian Flores or Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham or Safeties Coach Tony Oden say anything to you right after that play or do they wait until today and Wednesday before talking through what you could have done on that play where you tried to go for an interception?) – “That’s something that you have to go back and review the film on. You actually have to see what’s the situation within the situation. Right there, I should have made the tackle or I should have went for the tackle rather than going for the pick. I probably did a little bit too much as far as trying to be the hero; but there are plays like that that happen throughout this game that you learn from.”
(Did the coaches say anything at the time or the heat of the action on the late drive? Or is it not discussed at that time?) – “No, it’s not discussed at that time because there’s still ball left to play in the game. You can’t just go off for one scenario; you can’t just go out for one play. You have to see how it’s all going to stretch out. There were some other plays that I know I left out there – that we left out there as a team – that could have changed that outcome.”
(Did you ever play receiver at any level growing up because the two picks this year have been terrific catches. Even in Pop Warner, did you play any receiver at all?) – “I actually started at running back back in the day, so I feel like that’s probably where I get some of the moves. As far as receiver, I played that in high school my senior year and got the opportunity to do that and bring home a state championship, so that was cool.”
(How close did you feel you got on that ball where you went for the pick?) – “I actually tipped that ball. I was super mad that I actually missed that pick because that was a play that earlier, we had run and they actually threw it to the same side and everything. I actually thought I was going to have a pick on that one. It was the same one that Nik Needham actually batted down and that was another one that we said that should have been another pick as well. There were plays out there that we had, but at the end of the day we’ll live with the outcome and we just have to go on to the next game.”
(Head Coach Brian Flores was visibly upset with the officials at the end of the game. He told us that he was more angry for you guys, for the players.) – “I would definitely say the coaches were more angry just for us because they know that feeling. Of course they’re right there next to us and we live with them right here in this facility, so it’s one of those things where it hurt deep as a group. There’s nothing that you can do as far as what (the officials) call or control what they call. It’s just one of those things where you just have to make more plays than what you actually had in that situation.”
(What does it mean to see coaches that are fighting for you guys?) – “It means a lot because they care. We know that they care. They put in a countless number of hours; but to actually feel what we felt and really be right there by our sides, that was a blessing. That was cool.”
