Head Coach Brian Flores
(Has it been determined if T Austin Jackson will travel to New England with you?) – “We’re taking this one day at a time and going through the process, so we haven’t determined whether he is or he isn’t. The same thing with (Adam) Shaheen. Just one day at a time with that group – with those two guys.”
(I was going to ask you about WR Preston Williams. We’ve seen him on the first two injury reports of the year with a foot and limited. Is that you being cautious with him obviously coming off something significant last November as opposed to something new? I don’t know if you’re able to share that.) – “Yeah, obviously he’s coming off of a – I think he just recently came off of PUP. He just started practicing, played in the Cincinnati game a little bit and he’s still a little bit limited; so we listed it that way. Look, Preston (Williams) has done a very nice job of kind of working his way back and definitely moving in the right direction, but just transparency – there’s still some issues there and that’s why we listed him as limited.”
(You’re just a few days from the start of another regular season. Do you still have time to reflect on what this opportunity means to you having a chance to coach an NFL team again one more year?) – “I’m very fortunate. That’s for sure. And blessed and excited about the opportunity to coach this team this year. But I try to keep my focus in the moment in the present and hope our team does the same thing. I’m just really kind of worried about today’s practice and putting the kind of finishing touches on the game plan and getting ready to take a flight tomorrow and head up to New England.”
(Where’s your comfort level regarding T Liam Eichenberg, should he be pressed into the starting lineup because of T Austin Jackson?) – “Liam (Eichenberg) has done a nice job really since he’s been here. He’s tough, he’s smart, he works hard. It’s important to him. He’s in there all the time studying film and trying to just improve and get better. He’s had some good moments during training camp. He’s dealt with some injuries also, so I think he’s done a nice job with just fighting through that. It’s hard for rookies. It’s their first kind of time out and we take that into account, so we’ll see how it goes.”
(How has that competition been – filling the left tackle void with T Greg Little and T Liam Eichenberg and also does injury play a factor into that decision considering Liam is kind of nicked up?) – “I think there’s a lot of things that play a factor into that. Obviously we’re preparing with Austin (Jackson) being on COVID IR. We’ve gotten a few guys ready at that position and I would say it’s not just one position. It’s how that player affects the next player and the next player and the next player. So like I’ve said many times, we’ll play the best five guys. We have a pretty good idea of what that is right now and we’ll practice it that way today; but we’ll also practice some situations where such and such is down, who’s going in, and kind of the moves that would have to be made if that were to occur at a specific position. So that might be somebody going from right to left, left to right, guard to tackle, tackle to guard, center to – I think all our guys are flexible enough to do that.”
(I’ve always liked, appreciated, respected, understood your “best five” in terms of you’re going to play the best five. However in this situation, this is the only time you’ve had a rookie offensive lineman where you’ve actually worked him at multiple spots during training camp, OTAs. Even C/G Michael Deiter played left guard. G Solomon played right guard. G/T Robert Hunt played right tackle. T Austin Jackson played left tackle. And they were allowed to settle in. Why has it been different for Liam?) – “Because he’s got very good versatility and he’s smart and he’s tough and you try to find a way to get players like that on the field. So I think that’s not just – I think that happens at a lot of positions. I think if you’re a receiver and we try to get you in; you could play Z, you could play F, you could play X. We may put a four-wide package in where he’s playing Y and then we put him in the backfield where he’s playing the H. I think like I’ve said many times, I think players – their opportunity on the field is based on their performance and I think Liam has shown in some instances that he may be able to help us, so we’ve tried to move him around. Now I would say the injuries have affected that so obviously that goes into our decision for this week; but to answer your question, he’s bounced around because he’s done a good job and I think you do that really at a lot of positions. So safety – hey, let’s play him at linebacker to get him in, let’s play him in the kicking game, let’s play him at corner in this grouping. I think that’s kind of how we kind of handle things as a coaching staff.”
(How would you assess S Jevon Holland’s level of readiness in light of the time that he missed because of the injury he had?) – “Jevon worked hard to get back. He’s back out at practice. He’s moving well. Any time that you miss time, you miss some opportunities to improve, to grow, to get better; but he was certainly diligent about his film study, diligent about going through our practice film. ‘Hey, I would’ve played at this position or I would’ve been here.’ Just taking mental reps is probably the best way to say it when he was out. I would say all of our guys who have been out have done a good job with that. I think Jevon is another young guy, another rookie, playing in his first game. I think we take that into account when talking about playing time, how much, how many groupings, how much we want to put on young players. We’ll see how it goes.”
(At the end of a long offseason program, training camp, all of that fun stuff and heading into the regular season now, what’s your final message to the guys heading into Game 1?) – “Really, all of the things we talked about through training camp – alignment, assignment, good communication, good fundamentals, good technique, follow your rules, read your keys and play ball. I try not to steer too far from that. I think if they do those things, the results will take care of themselves.”
(You have two veteran NFL starters on your practiced squad obviously with DE Jabaal Sheard and T Bobby Hart. Is it difficult with practice squad guys to evaluate where they are? Just impressions of those two and is there enough work at practice to get a sense of what they could be if active for you at this stage of their careers?) – “There is a lot to unpack in that question. I have experience with Jabaal, so I know him. His intelligence, his toughness, his physical ability. So that one is a little bit different on being able to gauge or having a history on what it looked like versus what it looks like now. I probably have a better feel on that. With Bobby, I don’t have as much history, so we’re learning. We’re evaluating. That’s what we try to do with all of the practice squad players. We’re evaluating them in individuals, team periods, group periods and it’s still early with both guys, so no decisions there. I’m happy to have them both. I think they are both good players and they’ve done a nice job since they’ve been here.”
(Did you get a chance to catch any of the game last night and are you amazed at what QB Tom Brady is able to still do considering he was old when you were with him in New England and he’s even older now?) – “He’s a great player. There are no ifs, ands or buts about that. I only watched the first half. It was an exciting first half both ways. I thought Dak (Prescott) played well too from what I saw. I just saw the final score this morning. It’s exciting to watch football again. I’m sure you all were up watching it. I’m excited to get going this week. It was some good ball last night from what I saw.”
(One of your most consistent players last year was K Jason Sanders. How excited are you to see what he can do this year? How would you evaluate his offseason?) – “I think he’s been great. He’s been consistent and that’s probably the one thing about him that is probably his best quality is his consistency. The way he works, the way he trains, the way he goes about his craft, how important it is to him. The minute details that go into kicking, he’s on top of them. I’m happy that he is our kicker. His consistency – not just as a kicker but the way he trains and goes about his business, I have a lot of respect for it.”
(It’s been a while since you played in a full stadium. I know you always talk about the tough atmosphere, but do you feel like you ever have to bring the younger players back to earth? It’s been so long since they’ve played in front of a sold-out crowd.) – “It’s something we’ve talked about. It’s been a while since we’ve played in front of a full stadium – college, professional. Crowd noise is something we talked about, something we’ve practiced in. that element is something we’re going to have to deal with, especially on the road in a tough environment. We’ve talked about that and that’s just one more part of the road we have to deal with. It’s part of the adversity and it’s not going to be easy. We’ve talked about that. We know and understand that and we’ll have to perform with that stress as part of the entire game. We’ve talked about it with rookies, veterans, players coaches. It’s been a while since any of us have been in a full stadium. I would say it will be similar to getting used to playing with no fans. We’ll just get used to playing with fans.”
(You’ve addressed WR Preston Williams, but with WR DeVante Parker and WR Albert Wilson coming back to practice, what have you seen with them during the sessions and are you comfortable with them playing a role with an offense considering most of them missed all of the preseason?) – “Both guys worked hard to get back. We got them back out there. They practiced well. Yeah, we’re very comfortable playing both guys; but that’s kind of too far out. We’ve got practice today. Let’s see how that goes and put the finishing touches on – for those two specifically, ‘this route, this block, this motion.’ Just put the last bit of the game plan together and assuming all of that is good, I’m comfortable with both guys.”
(Can you talk about QB Tua Tagovailoa’s chemistry with RB Myles Gaskin and how that will help the team this season?) – “Tua’s chemistry with Myles is good. The two of them have spent a lot of time together. Whether it’s ball handling on run plays, in the pass game. Myles moves around a lot so he ends up in some receiver situations, and obviously catching the ball out of the back field. I think they’ve got a good rapport. They are constantly talking about a variety of things. When you have a player like that who runs the ball, catches the ball and protects, there are a lot of conversations. I think Tua has a good relationship with him and really all of the backs. I’m sure that will continue.”
