Head Coach Brian Flores Conference Call with N.Y. Jets Media
(I know the wins aren’t there, but the team seems to be playing hard and what do you see out of that? Do you feel like this is getting close?) – “I think every week, these guys – regardless of the outcome – they come in and work Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. These guys are motivated. They work hard in meetings, in practice and walkthrough, and I think they’re trying to improve, get better and really at the end of the day, that’s all I can really ask out of them. I think we’ve got a good process. We try to go about that process every week and see where the chips fall on Sundays (or) Monday in the last case actually.”
(When you look at this Jets team you’re running into, obviously a quarterback in Sam Darnold who is struggling. What do you see from this team the last couple of games and how much of a challenge is it to play another team that’s extremely desperate for a win?) – “I think just in the case of Sam Darnold, I think he’s gone up against two pretty good defenses the last couple weeks, and I think personally, this a good young quarterback. He’s got a quick release, can make all of the throws. He’s had some really good games, and that’s what I always expect from him. I expect his best. There’s some good skill players over there as well, so we’re going to have our hands full.”
(What has the process been like going from coordinator in obviously a well-respected and very successful franchise to the head guy and all that you have to deal with, especially during a season like this when you’re going in a direction that seems more based for the future? How tough is that for you?) – “I think it’s been – it’s hard for me to have any complaints. This is a dream come true for me. This job, it’s something I’ve worked towards for a long time. Any adversity, any tough times – I think that’s just part of the process for me and this organization. There’s no heartache or anger or anything. I just try to come to work every day and never make excuses and hopefully our team’s this way, too. We’re not going to make excuses, we’re not going to point fingers, we’re not going to place blame, we’re not going to do anything like that. We’re just going to come to work every day and try every week to get better … I want these guys to play hard and compete. We’re going to compete. I’m going to compete every day. I don’t care what the outcome is. I think if I do that and this team is a reflection of me, I think things will turn at some point.”
(I know it’s only been – you’re going into Week 9 here – but what’s the biggest thing that you’ve learned from being a head coach so far and how much is it different than what you might have expected?) – “There’s a lot. Every time I step on the field in the game or the practice, I learn something whether it’s maybe we needed a couple more plays in the red zone or every game just from a game-management situation, it is an experience and a good one for me – timeouts, challenge flags, conversations with officials. It’s all been a learning experience for me and I find myself constantly writing down things that I would do better and things that I would do differently in an effort to just improve what I’m doing, too. Look, I don’t have all the answers; but I’m certainly willing to kind of learn and try to improve daily.”
(How beneficial is it for you to have worked for a guy like Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick who has the thing down so well and you can look to and learn from him?) – “I think my – I was very fortunate to be around Bill, but I was very fortunate to be around a lot of coaches in that building from Bill to Dante Scarnecchia to Ivan Fears to Josh McDaniels to Billy O’Brien, Scott O’Brien – I don’t want to leave anybody out – Matt Patricia. I was very fortunate. Romeo Crennel. Charlie Weis. Scott Pioli in personnel. I was around a lot of talented individuals in scouting and coaching. Thomas Dimitroff. There’s a lot of guys who come through there. I tried to be a sponge when I was there and I took a little bit from everyone and built a lot of great relationships. I think each one of those in some or fashion has kind of helped me get to this point and obviously those are guys that I can call on if I’ve got a question or just want to bounce some things off of. That entire stretch was great, but I also kind of think back to my early coaches – my high school coach, my college coaches, even some Pop Warner coaches who I stay in touch with, and I’ve been lucky to have a lot of mentors and people who helped me along the way.”
WR Jakeem Grant
(I know it sticks out for the fans that the Dolphins are playing their former head coach this week. Is that something that maybe the players get a little motivation behind, maybe a little grudge match? Is that element in your head, for the guys that were here last year?) – “No, not really. Not to me. Me personally, I have a relationship with him outside of football. I’d say just for me, it will be great seeing him just because I have a relationship with him. It will be great to go against him, just knowing that he was the coach that drafted me and things of that nature. It will be great seeing him just in general.”
(It’s special for you for that reason?) – “Yes, because I’ve got a relationship with him outside of football. It has nothing to do with football. It will be great. He’s a great coach and I know he has a great game plan and so do we.”
(The thing you remember about Adam Gase just from your time with him – a particular anecdote or something that you recall about him in a smiling way?) – “I’d just say me personally, he truly cared about me. That’s what I love about him. It has nothing to do with football. Me and him have a relationship outside of football. Like I said, I talk to him outside of football. Whenever the season is not going, I just talk to him. He asks me how my family is doing and I ask him the same, and just things of that nature.”
(It’s hard for guys like you and WR Albert Wilson who have had injuries, with the type of skillset you have in terms of speed and explosiveness, to be what you were immediately after you were hurt. Do you feel like you’re all the way back or do you still feel like you’re not totally back to where you were before the hamstring?) – “Yeah. Every day I’m progressing and every day I’m going to continue to go out there and get better. I feel like I’ve just got to continue to push myself to get better and better each and every day so the coaches know that I’m 100 percent and they can get ready to roll.”
(Are you close?) – “Oh yeah, definitely close.”
LB Jerome Baker
(What would it mean to beat the former head coach and be able to have that up on them as a little motivation?) – “It’ll be big, but I don’t think it’d be big because we beat him. It’d be big because we finally got it down, we finally got a win. We’re not going to focus on beating him necessarily. We’re going to focus on beating the Jets. It’s definitely going to be a good one.”
(The second halves have been difficult, that’s the trend. Is there anything you can do to prepare differently to make sure that doesn’t happen again or is it just a thing that is happening?) – “It’s all a mentality thing. We’ve shown ourselves that we can play in the first half, we can play with anybody. The second half, we’ve got to have that mentality of we can’t let it slip away. We have to do the same things we’ve been doing, we have to up our game more and more and more. We can’t just ooze out and hope for the best. It’s all a mentality.”
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick
(Just thoughts on how you’ve played so far since being back as the starter. Are you pleased with what you’ve done? You’ve obviously had some good moments.) – “I think I just need to be more consistent and we’re all working on that right now, just becoming more consistent as a unit, and that definitely starts with the quarterback. That’s something I need to do and there’s a million different things in terms of communication, in terms of my recognition pre and post-snap and what I’m seeing in terms of accuracy, getting the ball out and all of those different things. I just need to continue to do a better job of that and continue to grow as a quarterback and as I go, this offense will go.”
(With the way that you guys played against Pittsburgh, would you describe yourself as a tough team considering they had sort of manhandled you guys on the line of scrimmage?) – “Can you repeat that? Sorry.”
(Based on the way that you guys played against Pittsburgh – a physical team – would you guys describe yourself as a tough team considering it seemed like you got manhandled on the offensive line?) – “It didn’t seem that way in the first quarter, just being able to put those two touchdown drives together. I think sometimes some of that stuff gets blown out of proportion a little bit when you’re behind and throwing every play and they’re pinning their ears back. That’s not a great situation to be in sometimes, but it’s amazing that it’s such a week-to-week league because two weeks ago, no sacks and singing the praises of how these guys are coming together and then this last week some questions marks and all that; but I just will continue to say we’re getting better. We’re improving. Those guys are working hard and I’m really pleased with the guys we have up there. I’m happy to be in the huddle with them.”
(What’s going on in the second half? We talk about consistency. One thing that’s consistent throughout this entire season is you’ve only scored 20 points in the second half. What’s going on and is there any parallel you can think of in your very long career where you’ve gone through something like this?) – “It’s been – it’s obvious we’ve had trouble scoring in general this year, but I really – as I look at the season, I almost just push the first two games out and then focus on the rest of it. Two of those touchdowns or scoring drives came in the Washington game in the fourth quarter; but yeah, we just have to continue to get better and more consistent because we’ve struggled both in the first and second half, so I don’t know that it’s all a second half problem. I think sometimes when you fall behind, you get out of the game plan and what you’re trying to do which makes it a little more difficult. I think just overall, continue to be more consistent as an offense.”
(A non-football question: your wife must be gold taking care of seven kids.) – “She is.”
(Can you talk a little bit about that and just elaborate a little bit about your wife and what she’s doing this season?) – “I would say it might be a little easier this year with seven kids rather than me being home and having eight kids around. (laughter) Because I’m not very good at bedtime with getting the kids all riled up. Especially when she travels and does things, I’m almost in the way sometimes. She’s unbelievable and she does it with a smile on her face every day and just has a great love for life, and that’s something that trickles down to our kids. I got very lucky in finding her. It’s been awesome. It’s been a lot of fun and she makes my life a lot easier.”
(Do you FaceTime your family regularly during the week?) – “Yeah.”
(That’s how you visit with your kids each day, I would guess.) – “Yeah, a lot of FaceTime. Trying to go back and forth (to Tampa) on off days and things like that, and they’ll come for home games every now and again. Just seeing them as much as I can.”
(She wants you to play until you’re how old?) – “She’s fully supportive of whatever decision I want to make.”
(But she doesn’t want you at home, it sounds like.) – “(laughter) No, she’s okay with me continuing to play, but I’m sure she’d be okay with me being done as well.”
(I actually have a question about how they commute. How do you get seven kids to a football game?) – “Either flying – like she’ll bring them all on a flight – or we have a big ol’ Nissan Envy – a 12-passenger van that basically is just a people mover that she’ll drive back and forth. It just depends on what’s going on with activities and stuff with the kids, but she’ll do either. Seven kids on its own every day is amazing, but watching her walk through an airport with seven kids is pretty incredible as well. (laughter) I know she could write a book – and she never would – but she could a write a book about it and how to do it because it’s pretty incredible.”
S Bobby McCain
(How do you think it will be seeing Adam Gase on the other sideline?) – “It will be refreshing. I’m sure he’s going to have those guys fired up to come in and try to get a W and we’re going to be fired up trying to get a W. It’ll be a competition, for sure.”
(Do you think there will be some trash talk?) – “Yeah, for sure. It’s Dolphins vs. Jets. It’s a rivalry game. There for sure will be some trash talk but it’s just football.”
(Do you think there’s any advantage that you all can gain in terms of knowing how Adam Gase operates an offense and going up against it in practice?) – “Definitely but that’s really just around the league because it’s a copycat league. A lot of things you see that hurt you, they’re going to come up again. At the end of the day, offensive coordinators just want to see if you get it fixed. Like I said, we’ll know some of the things that are thrown at us and some we won’t. I’m sure he’ll have a couple of things in there that are new because he’s a good coach, he’s a good coordinator and he’s a good offensive mind.”
(The thing that you’ll most fondly remember about your time around Adam Gase is what?) – “I’d rather not speak on – I’m just trying to speak on the Dolphins. He was here, he was my coach. I had respect for him as a coach. I still have respect for him as a man but we’re going out to go win a football game so there’s not too much to say on that one.”
(With turnover in the secondary and obviously no CB Xavien Howard for the rest of the year, what have you seen from some of the young guys who have had to play a lot – CB Nik Needham and CB Chris Lammons?) – “They’re learning. They’re learning and getting better. It’s just a challenge each and every week. It’s a challenge each and every week to do that. In this league, you have to grow (and) you have to mature and understand that production – it’s a ‘what have you done for me lately’ business. So you have to produce and you have to put out good film and play good ball. Our record doesn’t show how hard we’re playing or how hard we’re preparing to get it done. I promise you that.”
(Any comments about CB Aqib Talib joining your group?) – “I’m excited to have him. He’s a great leader (and has been) a great player in this league for a long time. I don’t know all of the logistics about him being on IR. That’s not my business, but I know he’s a great player. We’re happy to have him and ready to get going.”
(What was your reaction about CB Xavien Howard?) – “That definitely sucks a little bit. You’ve just got to make sure – he’s a great player (so) we want to make sure he’s healthy and make sure he gets right because we’re going to need him.”
(It’s 12:30 on Sunday and you are standing two yards away from Adam Gase. What are you most likely to say to him?) – “I’ll definitely say what’s up. I’ll probably say a little more. (laughter)”
(What kind of trash?) – “No, it won’t be anything crazy. I have respect for him over there. I have respect for Coach Gase and everything he’s done so I’m not going to disrespect him. But there’s definitely going to be some chatter. It’s football. If it’s not then it isn’t fun.”
(Is Adam Gase going to try you deep?) – “Yeah, I hope so. (laughter) I hope so.”
(It looks like you guys are getting closer and closer and closer. What kind of progress have you seen from the team in terms of development?) – “We’re getting better. People don’t understand, we’ve got a lot of young guys. We’re just getting better each and every week. That’s all you can do. The wins will come. You just have to keep doing what you’re doing and prepare the right way and be a pro at the end of the day because this league, it’s about routine. So if you get in a routine and you find something that works for you – that’s what I’ve been trying to tell the young guys like Nik (Needham) and Ken (Webster) and (Chris) Lammons – guys that are playing good football, get in your routine and find it because that will keep you steady and that will keep you consistent.”
Head Coach Brian Flores
(What’s been your reaction as you’ve seen General Manager Chris Grier and Chairman of the Board/Managing General Partner Stephen Ross spend the money over the last few months basically to buy picks in the mid rounds? It’s an unusual thing, but you’ve seen this since you’ve been coach with three or four players. What does that say about the owner? What have you thought about it?) – “I think Chris, (Vice President of Football Administration) Brandon (Shore), Steve, (Vice Chairman, President and CEO) Tom (Garfinkel) I think as executives in the organization, what I’ve seen is that’s we look at every situation and every avenue to help this team grow and improve. That’s one of the things I really admire about being here. It’s important to find any way to help this team improve and get better. We all see that as the vision moving forward.”
(With CB Aqib Talib as long as we’re on the topic, there was a report from the NFL’s website today that he’s not going to report to the team and since you have a relationship with him, he’s being permitted to stay home and rehab. Is that accurate?) – “Again, he’s on IR. He’s in a rehab program in L.A. We talked about that and just felt like there was – He’s not eligible to come back for a period of time. That conversation is between he and I. That report is – I can’t really speak to what that report said. Is it accurate? Is it not accurate? I would say it’s probably somewhere in the middle. He’s going to rehab in L.A. for a little bit and then we’ll take it from there. That’s kind of the conversation I had with him.”
(That exchange with the official was eye opening. What was your point of contention on that replay? What got you so fired up?) – “I’ve moved on. I’ve turned the page from the Pittsburgh game. I think it was obviously a big call in the game. There’s emotions, they run high in the game like that and really every game. But we’ve turned the page. We’re onto the Jets. That’s where our focus is. We talked about that this morning as a team. That was the message. I know it’s still fresh in a lot of people’s minds because it was just a couple of days ago, but we’ve got to turn our attention to the Jets. That’s kind of where we’re at.”
(You’ve faced the New York Jets Head Coach Adam Gase when he was the play caller here. What challenges does he pose as an offensive play-caller?) – “Gase does a very, very good job putting his players in position to make plays. He tries to attack defenses, defensive schemes, personnel if he feels like there’s a matchup he likes. He does a really good job. He’s a tough guy to draw up defenses against. This will be a tough test for us. “
(Have you had any interesting or numerous interactions or conversations with New York Jets Head Coach Adam Gase ever like even at the NFL owner’s meetings or anything at all?) – “Yeah, he and I have had conversations dating back to when he was at other places and when I was at other places as young coaches in the league, and they’ve been good conversations. We talk about scheme, we talk about life as a coach in this league. Those conversations, we’re not going to talk about them here. Those are between he and I.”
(You’ve played your final game of October already, moving on to November. Did you ever consider whenever you took this job that you’d be two months into the job and you’d still be winless?) – “Every situation is different. You go into any job, any situation and you never really know what’s going to happen. Good, bad, middle of the road, you never know. I think – you’ve just got to deal with every situation the way you feel best. In this situation right now, the goal for me is to help this team improve on a week-to-week basis. I think that is happening, and we’ll just keep going out there practicing. I think this team is getting closer to getting to the point to where we can pull out a ballgame. I think we’ve had opportunities. Unfortunately we haven’t taken advantage of them. I think if we just continue on the process we’re on and continue to improve in practice and start fast like we did last week, and string some things together, I think we’ll get to where we want to get.”
(What is missing?) – “Again, every game is different. If something is missing – Any time you lose, there is something that is missing in that particular game. Last week we turned the ball over, the week before it was the same thing – we turned it over in a critical situation. I’d say in this league, not just for us but for every team, turnovers are the difference between winning and losing a lot of games. We need to get that fixed. At the same time, I want this team to be aggressive, and be aggressive to go and win games as well. That’s what was missing last week and previous weeks. I think at the end of the day, we need two or three more plays that have to be made. I don’t know where they will come from. Maybe it’s – we missed a block on a punt return in Buffalo that we may spring one. Nobody knows that, but that’s a big play in the game. There are little small plays like that, I guess the masses don’t know or they don’t see those plays. If you make one of those, the outcome is different. I think the big ones is the turnovers; but there are other plays in the game (where) we could actually overcome some of the turnovers (and) we’re not making (them).”
(You mentioned when you came here that you want to be a tough, smart and disciplined team. Obviously the discipline is there from the low penalties. But, do you feel like you have a tough team?) – “Oh, yeah. This is a tough team. For sure.”
(You guys have been – Yardage-wise, you’ve given up 1,100 more yards than you’ve gained. Isn’t that some indicator that the toughness isn’t there? When teams want to stop you from running, they stop you from running.) – “I think this is a mentally and physically tough team. I think watching these guys practice on a daily basis, watching how they go about their business on a daily basis, I see it in games. This is a tough team. I think this has been an adverse season and I see the way they fight and come back. From that standpoint, no one isn’t going to tell me that this isn’t a tough team. That’s where I’m at on that. If there is a difference in opinion, that’s fine too. We can agree to disagree, but I do think this is a tough team – mentally and physically.”
(How important is league-wide respect to you? And do you think you’ve gained more of that the last few weeks?) – “What anyone else thinks doesn’t really matter to me. All I care about is what’s going on in this building. I care about us having the right process, I care about us trying to improve every day from the meetings, to walkthrough, to practice. That’s what I want to see on the field come Sunday, or Monday, or whatever day we’re playing. I think I’ve seen that and we’re going to try to continue to get better on a daily basis. The opinion of others have really never mattered to me. I have a lot of peace and freedom – I have a lot of peace. I do. I’m confident in my ability to coach, I’m confident in my coaching staff’s ability to coach, I’m confident in our players. That gives me peace of mind. I don’t really care what anyone else thinks, quite honestly.”
(QB Ryan Fitzpatrick start Sunday?) – “Yeah.”
(You’ve seen RB Le’Veon Bell quite a bit in your coaching career. What makes him so special?) – “He’s explosive, has very good vision, (is a) tough runner, breaks a lot of tackles, good in the passing game. He pretty much does everything well. He can lull you to sleep a little bit, sitting in the hole waiting for the blocks to develop and the next thing you know, it’s a 28-yard gain. He’s a good back and he’s done a good job for a long time. This will be a tough test.”
(Can you go into your thoughts about sticking with QB Ryan Fitzpatrick? Obviously neither quarterback has won a game as a starter this year. Why stick with Ryan?) – “I think he gives us the best chance to win.”
