Head Coach Brian Flores
(The two starters who have missed practice all week, RB Myles Gaskin and WR Jevon Holland, is there knowledge of the Jets and their conditioning good enough where if they should clear protocol by 4 p.m. tomorrow you would be comfortable playing those two on Sunday without any practice?) – “Myles (Gaskin) will be back at practice today as well as Salvon (Ahmed). Jevon, we’ll take that day to day.”
(Right, so RB Myles Gaskin and RB Salvon Ahmed are out of protocol and available to play on Sunday?) – “Available to practice today.”
(Okay and also I was going to ask about G/T Austin Jackson was ill and is he going to be able to play on Sunday do you think?) – “We’ll see how practice goes today. Obviously, he was dealing with something non-COVID related. We’re just taking that one day at a time but he will be out at practice as well today.”
(The team acquired CB Damon Arnette on Wednesday. Were there any concerns over why he was released by the Raiders and what were conversations like with him to assure you that he is in a good place?) – “We signed Damon (Arnette) to the practice squad. We’ve been taking a look at him. I think Chris (Grier) and his staff did a lot of background work on him and felt good about bringing him in and taking a look.”
(Just wanted to ask you amidst all the crazy stuff around the league this week and of course with you guys as well just how the team and your coaching staff has responded to all the change throughout the course of the week?) – “I think we’ve done that. I think our support staff does a great job of adjusting and being flexible. I think everyone needs to do that right now. This setting is supposed to normally be in-person but we got to go Zoom because that’s what the times call for. Whether it’s our equipment staff, our medical staff, our cafeteria staff; each department has kind of made some adjustments to fit the new league protocols and our players are making that adjustment as well. All the while keeping our focus – I should say our support staff has done a great job of making those changes pretty seamless so that the players can focus on the Jets, our opponent this week, which is going to be a big challenge.”
(On that same line, do you think you have been successful on maintaining all the COVID talk out of the way in terms of your preparation? Do you feel comfortable with the way things have been going this week even though we’ve been talking all week long about COVID?) – “I think this is kind of league-wide, what’s gone on from a COVID standpoint. There was a game that was played last night, games that are coming and I think we’ve got to compartmentalize and we know that’s going on just as a lot of things are going on. Really individually, there’s always something going on and when you get into the building, you really focus on what the task at hand is; that meeting, that practice, that walkthrough, the Jets and their team which they gave us a lot of problems the last time we saw them offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. We expect that type of game again. That’s what we’re preparing for, a 60-minute dog fight against a division opponent and that’s what we’re preparing for.”
(Did RB Malcolm Brown look good enough this week, healthy enough where you think he’s going to be able to play Sunday and do you feel good with what you have at running back now with RB Salvon Ahmed and RB Myles Gaskin at least practicing today? You’ll see how they look potentially Malcolm, RB Duke Johnson obviously as well.) – “Malcolm (Brown), we had a walkthrough yesterday so Malcolm did some good things on Wednesday. We’ll see how today goes. Same with the rest of the group. When you’re out for as long as Myles and Salvon were, we’ll see them come back and see what that looks like today. At least we’ve got more guys available, we’ll make a decision and a lot will ride on what that looks like today.”
(I want to know about the preparation for the guys who are out with COVID. Do they have an opportunity to keep up with the Zoom in terms of the gameplan or are they coming in today cold and sort of in the dark and have to play catchup?) – “They don’t have days where they’re totally off. We’ve been zooming. What we do is guys who are in protocol, they zoom into all the meetings and obviously everything has gone virtual so all players are in all meetings. We’ve kept them up to speed on the gameplan, what we’re doing in all three phases and we’ll try to make those as interactive as possible having guys answering questions, unmuting and those guys are a part of those meetings. It’s one thing to just meet, it’s another thing to get out there and actually do a walkthrough or a practice. It will be good to get some of those guys back into a practice setting.”
(In terms of gameplan and the work that you’re going to do today – you do have two days – how much do you feel you can get an evaluation on those guys coming back in two days?) – “I think the guys you are talking about Salvon (Ahmed), Myles (Gaskin); these are guys who do have some banked reps from the season. I think that some of the plays that are just kind of core concepts, core plays, core schemes or concepts; I think it’s more just kind of getting into the huddle and hearing it, and going through it as more of a refresher. Anything that’s brand new obviously we’ve got to see what they looks like as well. But if we feel good about the way it looks and how it was repped today, then we might go with one of those guys. Otherwise we’ll go with someone who has repped it a little bit more during the week.”
(You had the news yesterday that WR Jaylen Waddle landed on the COVID list, just on handling that loss, how that’s unique from any other time you played without other receivers this year?) – “It’s the next man up. We need winning contributions from everyone on the team. It’s not a one-man team, it’s not any one person. There are 11 guys on the field at a time. The message is what the message always is. Other guys got to step up and we need contributions from everyone. That’s how you have success in this league and we understand that. Again this is a tough opponent. They’ve got good players. They played us tough, and that game was 7-7, 14-14. It went back and forth really the entire game. We know that, we understand that. They know us well. They’ve got good coaches, they’ve got good players, we’ve got to play well this week.”
(With WR Jaylen Waddle primarily playing the slot even though he’s played everything. Is that next man up WR Isaiah Ford in the slot or where do you guys go in terms of finding guys who can contribute to the offense?) – “I feel we’ve got guys who can play a few different positions. Ford, ‘Mike G’ (Mike Gesicki), Albert (Wilson). I think we’ve got some options there. I think we kind of went through that when we got that information yesterday basically right in the middle of meetings. We’ll make some adjustments on the fly and we’ll kind of work through some of that today, but we’ve got a few different options there.”
(How challenging is that when players have to adjust on the fly quickly? I know TE Mike Gesicki plays a lot of slot, and WR Isaiah Ford is viewed as one of the smarter guys on the team, he can play everything. How much of an intellectual challenge will it be for them?) – “I kind of liken it to a game. If a guy goes down in a game, we’ve got to adjust on the fly. So we always have a backup plan. That backup plan went into action yesterday. But now obviously we have a little bit more time to say ‘maybe there’s some other things we can do.’ Normally in a game you don’t necessarily have that time unless you feel like you can get it run and executed or installed and executed on the sideline, at halftime. Now we have a little bit more time. We were able to kind of go back in last night, and say ‘This is where it’s going. We can do this, that, or stay the same.’ I know the question was how hard is that. I think it’s something that happens really weekly across the league and that’s kind of what we’re dealing with.”
(If you don’t get S Jevon Holland back tomorrow out of protocol, obviously you got S Brandon Jones assuming he’s healthy, and S Will Parks, and S Clayton Fejedelem, and you cross train. Could CB Justin Coleman, and CB Nik Needham play safety if need be on Sunday? Have they’ve gotten enough work there going back May, June, August where you’d feel comfortable with that?) – “I think as a staff we go through every potential player that can play a different position. Obviously there is more conversation when you have a player who is down. So yeah, we talk about all of those situations. If we move this guy here, who is going to play his spot and round and round and round. Can we get this checked if so and so is here… I think there is a lot of conversation that goes on there. But yeah, those conversations I’ve had, I think we like the depth in the safety room. Whether it’s (Eric) Rowe, whether it’s ‘Fej’ (Clayton Fejedelem), whether it’s safety Brandon Jones. I think those guys do a good job from a communication standpoint of getting guys lined up. I think we’re dealing with a quarterback who is skilled, who is very talented, who has really played well, and who has gotten hot I would say. We’ve got to do a good job collectively as a team, as a defense communicating. Obviously taht starts at the safety position and the linebacker position. Those are really the signal callers on defense. That part of it we’ve got to have right. I think we’re always keeping that in mind as we’re trying to put those guys out there.”
