Head Coach Brian Flores
(Is WR Will Fuller back today and will he play Sunday) – “Will will not practice today. He will not play on Sunday. He’s dealing with a personal issue. I’ve had multiple conversations with him the last couple of days. He’s definitely dealing with a personal issue. I respect his privacy and I ask that everyone respects his privacy. We support Will and we’ll take it one day at a time.”
(Do you have a sense that this could stretch on multiple weeks, without obviously…) – “We’ll take it one day at a time.”
(How does this impact the Dolphins offense?) – “I mean he didn’t play last week. The next guy will step in and get reps, which we got yesterday and we’ll get some more today.”
(Are you confident that he’ll return to the team this season?) – “One day at a time.”
(As much as you can reveal, did this come as surprise, whatever the situation is that he’s dealing with?) – “Look, things arise in our lives. That’s kind of what he’s dealing with right now. He has our support. He has my support. Is it a surprise? Things happen. When they happen, they’re not part of the normal – your normal every day – then yeah, it’s a surprise from that standpoint. But you deal with it and he’s dealing with it and we’ll support him. We’ll just make our adjustments as a team, play without him and move forward.”
(Will WR Will Fuller remain on the roster at this time?) – “Yes.”
(The game last year not only showed how far you guys have come but also how much further you could go. I guess from the offseason and in past weeks, how do you like where your team is at this point going into the game?) – “We’ve still got a long way to go. I think it’s early in the season. I think every team is trying to find different roles for the players on their team – things you do well, things you don’t do well, things you need to improve on; which there are many things we need to improve on. It’s early and I think every club is having these same conversations. I thought we did a lot of good things in training camp and we’re trying to build on those things. I think it’s important to our guys, so we’ll continue to work in all areas – offense, defense, special teams, situations, our overall awareness, and just try to get better every day.”
(Do you anticipate WR Preston Williams being able to make his regular-season debut on Sunday?) – “We’ve still got practice today. We’ll work through practice. He’s definitely improving, I would say, just from a health standpoint. We’ll see how today’s practice goes before we make any determination of who is up and who is down.”
(The need perhaps for another defensive lineman with DT Raekwon Davis out, do you think either DT Benito Jones or DE Jabaal Sheard could be elevated Sunday?) – “Both guys we feel good about. They’ve practiced well. We’ll see how today’s practice goes before we make any kind of final determinations of who is up, who is down, flexes and things of that nature.”
(When you look at the Buffalo Bills, QB Josh Allen and Offensive Coordinator Brian Daboll have made a really good pairing … and when you look to your side and you look at the growth of QB Tua Tagovailoa with Co-Offensive Coordinator/Tight Ends George Godsey and Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs Eric Studesville, what would you like to see from that relationship continuing to grow and what sticks out to you from maybe some past coordinator/quarterback pairings that have been really successful?) – “I know Brian well. We coached together. He’s a fantastic coach. He’s done a nice job all of the places he’s been. He’s a great teacher – fundamentals, techniques. Schematically, he’s hard to prepare for. He makes you defend every inch of the field horizontally, vertically. He’s done a great job with Josh Allen, who has really grown under Daboll. They’ve got a lot of good skill players too. This is going to be a tall task for us. We’re going to have to play well on really all three sides of the ball. The communication has to be good. We have to tackle well. We have to play well as a team. All 11 guys have to play well and communicate well and have good fundamentals and techniques. It’s a good team.”
(With Offensive Coordinator Brian Daboll, I know he was up for the Chargers job last year and he didn’t get it because the Bills were in the playoffs. Is there a part of you that felt sorry for your friend, that he couldn’t get an opportunity? And also, were you like ‘Damn, he’s still in our division. We’re going to have to see him again?) – “I don’t really think like that. ‘Dabes’ (Daboll) is a friend. I don’t really – I guess I don’t really understand the question. Is there a part of me that feels…?”
(You want to see your friend get a coaching job in the NFL?) – “Yeah, I want my friends to have success. I think that’s what we all want for our friends, for the people in our lives who we have good relationships with.”
(Given I guess your relationship with Bills Offensive Coordinator Brian Daboll, how do you go about game planning against him? Obviously you and Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer will have to know your…) – “The same way we do with every other – we go through our process. ‘Dabes’ (Daboll) goes through his process. It’s a collaborative effort for our staff to try to put our players in the best positions to have success. The same thing that they’re doing. But this isn’t like ‘we don’t play.’ I think we all know that. If we played, it wouldn’t be good. So it’s the players who go out there and either execute or don’t execute. We just do our best to try to put them in good situations. ‘Dabes’ is doing the same thing. Sean McDermott is another fantastic coach they have over there. He’s doing the same thing. Leslie Frazier, Heath Farwell. They’ve got a good staff. They’ve got good players and the players are the ones that are on the field executing. We just do our best to put them in good situations. That’s that conversation.”
(I noticed last week that the team was on the sideline during the national anthem. I was just curious if there’s a policy change or was that just a one-week thing?) – “We decided to go out for the national anthem and we’ll do that moving forward.”
(The other day LB Jerome Baker said that fast starts were a big emphasis of the offseason for you guys and over the course of your tenure here, fast starts has correlated to winning football games. I’m just curious if there’s a specific that thing starting faster – this particular team – what that does to help you guys win the game in the end?) – “I think starting fast is important. I think every team is saying that. You put a lot of work into the week. You want to see that preparation executed. If you can do it early it’ll help you. We just think it’s important to take every play, make every play count, take every play seriously. That’s obviously at the start of the game, but really all the way through.”
(The NFL is having a new activity for Hispanic Heritage Month with Ozuna and Victor Cruz. Are you participating in that and if you could talk related about your Garifuna culture because the NFL is trying to bring that more to the forefront this month.) – “No, this is the first I’m hearing of this. Obviously I’ve been bogged down with trying to get ready for getting our team ready and getting ready for the season. I think the Garifuna culture is something a lot of people don’t know much about. Basically it’s an African dialect that my parents speak. I don’t speak it. My parents speak Spanish, Garifuna and English. There’s a lot to the culture. I could stand here for hours talking about it. I’m not going to do that, but obviously it’s something that’s important to me and I have a lot of admiration for the culture, the history…”
(Sometimes like Victor Cruz used to dance Punta…) – “No Punta for me. (laughter) Not going to happen.”
(I guess you’ve seen Bills QB Josh Allen the last three years here. How would you describe his maybe development on the other side as you’ve defended him?) – “He’s got I think the big thing is confidence. I think he’s got more of a presence, more command of the offense which comes from spending time in the offense. He’s obviously gotten a lot of reps, he’s seen a lot of different looks and has a better understanding of defense, knows where he wants to go with the ball. He knows the skillset of the guys on his offense, really across the board – receivers, tight ends, backs, offensive line. Knows his own skillset. Knows that if things break down, he can make a positive play with his legs. So yeah, a lot of growth there.”
