Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Head Coach Brian Flores
(What does DT Akeem Spence, TE Clive Walford and T Jordan Mills – what was it about those players that ultimately didn’t make the cut?) – “I would say all of those guys, they worked hard the entire time they’ve been here. Again, every team is going to have to make some decisions here over the next – let’s call it five days – and we’re not exempt from that. In the case of those three players, I think we did what we felt was best for the team, and we’re going to continue to do that moving forward.”
(From a personal standpoint, I imagine Saturday will be an excruciating day given how much you care about your players, especially when you are dealing with players who have given everything that they have and there just isn’t a spot for them on the roster. Can you talk about that experience and are you dreading it? It has to be excruciating.) – “Dreading it isn’t the word I would use. I would say – and I think I talked to you guys about this in the spring – in football, you learn a lot about life. You learn a lot about – it teaches you a lot of life lessons, I should say. One is that you can do everything right – you can work hard, you can put the team first, you can do everything right, you can work as hard as you possibly can, you can come to meetings early, you can stay late, you can do all of these things – and sometimes things don’t work out. That’s life. That’s not just football. When I have those conversations – when we have those conversations – yes, they’re hard conversations. That’s another thing about life is sometimes you have to have hard conversations. To me, as long as you’re dealing in truth and you’re being honest, then you can have those conversations. Excruciating, these aren’t words I would use. I would say these are hard conversations. I think that as long as we’re honest about our process – I tell each guy, ‘Look, when one door closes, another one is going to open up.’ A lot of times when you fail, you’re better for it. I think that’s something that when I’ve failed, I’ve been better for it. That’s the approach I take in those conversations.”
(Offensively, you’ve been missing a lot of personnel. Defensively, I think we’ve seen a glimpse of what you guys can do and what you want to do. Do you know what you can do offensively and are there one or two things that you could say right now this offense does well as far as run blocking, mid-range pass game or anything along those lines?) – “I think there’s a lot of things we could do better. I think there’s a lot of things we could do better offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. There’s some things I could coach better. We’re all in this together. We have not arrived. We have not made it. It’s still very early. We’ve got a preseason game on Thursday night and we’re going to try to improve and get better from that standpoint. We can improve really in all areas. That starts with me. I’m not going to take myself off the hook on that either.”
(Is there something that you think this offense does pretty well right now, or things and elements?) – “There’s a lot of things I think we do well. A lot. A lot goes into offensive football. For instance, I think when we’ve got the ball in our hands, we’ve got guys who can make people miss from (Kalen) Ballage to (Kenyan) Drake to Jakeem (Grant) to (DeVante) Parker. We do that well. Mark Walton. But again, that’s one thing. We can get into blocking and protection and route-running and audibling and seven-man protection and six-man protection and five-man protection, two-back sets, two-back run game, one-back run game, bunches, stacks. We can get into a lot of things that are little areas and that’s what they are – little pieces and little spots within an offense. Some things we do well, some things we don’t do well; but at the end of the day, you’ve got to put all of it together for the whole thing to work well. Again, in the different pockets from the o-line, receivers, tight ends, back, quarterback – all of it has to work together. We’ve got to improve in all areas. And really, we’ve got to improve as a unit.”
(Which quarterbacks are scheduled to play Thursday?) – “We’ll see a lot of Jake Rudock. ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick) is dealing with an illness right now so we may not see him today. He’s going to try to fight through this thing but just so you guys know, you may not see him out there. Josh (Rosen), there’s a good chance you’ll see Josh on Thursday.”
(Will QB Josh Rosen start because of QB Ryan Fitzpatrick’s illness?) – “That’s yet to be determined. We’re still kind of figuring that out.”
(Have you decided on a starting quarterback yet?) – “For the season?”
(Yeah, for the season.) – “No. We haven’t decided on that yet.”
(A couple of talented guys who we haven’t seen – DT Robert Nkemdiche since he’s been signed – have we not seen him merely because of the knee or are there conditioning issues? Also, will we see CB Cordrea Tankersley play at all for this team this year, do you think?) – “Both of those guys are on PUP (Phyiscally Unable to Perform), so they have to come off of it for us to put them on the field. But they’re both working. They’re both making a lot of progress, so I’m looking forward to seeing both of those guys when they get out there.”
(When trading away – or hypothetically when trading away veterans, is a sixth- or seventh-round pick – a later-round pick – adequate compensation for a player that has proven that he can contribute, or are you trying to hang to those players because the value of that pick may not be as valuable?) – “There’s a lot that goes into answering that question. Do you want the CliffsNotes? (laughter) There’s a lot that goes into. My mind’s starting to think about the sixth- and seventh-round picks who have been fairly good players. There’s one that comes to mind, actually. (laughter) I’m just trying to – that’s kind of where I’m at. I guess it’s what everyone’s definition of value is. Again, we’re all a little bit different, so your definition may be different than mine, and everyone in this room’s definition could be a little bit different. But again, it’s case-by-case. It really is. There are some things – and again, conversations that we have internally about the makeup of the team, salary cap as we talked about yesterday, development of younger guys that you may or may not know about – all of that kind of plays in, as well as the compensation, if that happens to be the case in a particular transaction. So there’s a lot that goes into it. I guess that is the CliffsNotes version, but there’s just a lot more – that’s a much longer conversation. We can have it if you’d like. (laughter)”
(I have some questions that are not specific to this game or this week if you’ll indulge me. One is, how would you describe the approach you want players to take into their meetings?) – “I want them to have their pen and notepads ready to go. I want them to be attentive in meetings. I want them to ask questions. I want them to – the questions are the big thing for me. I think in order to really excel, you have to gain understanding. In order to gain understanding, you have to ask questions. I think that’s the one thing for young players a lot times – and it’s the same for young kids. Last week was the first week of school. I’m pretty sure I have one son who’s afraid to ask questions and one son who’s not. That’s just in my home. I remember being a kid and asking questions or not asking questions, and I think in order to gain some understanding of whatever the topic is, you need to ask questions. So I want them to be attentive…”
(One of your players said that sometimes you and the members of your staff will kind of put them on the spot with a question, maybe about the opponent that’s very specific. What goes into that?) – “Well, I think if you knew you were going to get asked questions, you might prepare a little bit harder to make sure you have the answers. I think that’s part of what goes into that. I don’t want to call it – it’s not fear-based, but I think if there’s a chance you could get put on the spot to answer that question, you’re going to prepare a little bit harder. Hopefully we get to a point where that’s not the case and guys are just – they have the answers because they want the answers or because having those answers will help them in a game.”
(In terms of doing things the right way, a couple guys mentioned that early on, you made it clear, “do not park in those handicap spots.” Can you tell me what went into that? I know sometimes when I’m running late…) – “You park in the handicap spots?”
(I will not do it.) – “Don’t do that.”
(I have not done it here.) – “Well, I’ve got an aunt that’s handicapped and if she can’t park because you’re parked in there, I’m going to be very upset – very upset – and your car is out of there. I think that’s fair. I do. So I’ll leave it right there.”
(With the quarterback competition, a couple players kind of are – he doesn’t park in handicap spots, just so you know…) – “Yeah – when people bring it up, I think it’s silly. I really do. We have to do the right thing, and it’s just – we have to do the right thing. If we allow people to not do the right thing, then we’re doing a disservice to the world. Period. I don’t even like to joke about it because it’s not a joking matter.”
(How does QB Ryan Fitzpatrick’s illness – not being able to make it to practice today, not being able to play on Thursday, maybe – how does that affect your evaluation of the quarterback competition?) – “It’s an illness. There’s nothing we can do about it. His evaluation will be what it’s been over the last (few months) – the spring and training camp. I think he’s done a lot. We know what it is. This training camp, along with his history in this league – I think we’ve got a good evaluation of ‘Fitz’ (Ryan Fitzpatrick), and that won’t affect it much.”
(Some of the players say that they see both sides of starting QB Ryan Fitzpatrick or starting QB Josh Rosen – are you kind of tussling with it the same way where you see both sides and are making a decision…?) – “I think that’s the case for all positions. ‘Player A’ has these strengths and weaknesses. ‘Player B’ has these strengths and weaknesses, and as an organization, we have to do what we think is best for the team. You go with one; here’s the good, here’s the bad. You go with the other; here’s the good, here’s the bad. Well, what’s best for the entire unit? And that’s at every position, not just quarterback.”
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
QB Jake Rudock
(What have you learned about this offense since you’ve cracked the playbook and what do you like about it?) – “I like the fact that the coaches and the offense allows us to kind of us every guy in a different way. With that said, it’s obviously a tried and proven system, so it’s just nice that it’s – get everybody on the same page. Everybody’s going towards that same goal.”
(You’ve been in the league now several years now. How do you approach this week? We all know what happens at the end of the week. So many players get cut. How’s your mindset?) – “My mindset is just to go out there and play football. Honestly, it’s not – you can’t be worrying about what’s going to happen in a couple days. It’s just, ‘how can I do a good job today?’ and then tomorrow and then when the game comes, do the best that you possibly can.”
(As you go into that fourth preseason game, how do you approach that knowing you will be getting a lot of repetitions and you still have to put a lot of skillset on tape?) – “I think it’s just preparing for the game. Watching the film like you need to watch, get the reps at practice, working with our coaching staff to have a good plan for what we want to do and just going out there and executing.”
(Are you expecting to start Thursday?) – “I don’t know yet. We’ll see. I’m sure Coach (Flores) knows all that. (laughter)”
