Miami coach Brian Flores, who has the team off to a 1-5 start, spoke to the media via Zoom on Monday.
The Falcons (2-3) are set to play the Dolphins (1-5) at 1 p.m. Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.
The Dolphins are in the throes of a five-game losing streak after opening the season with a 17-16 win over New England.
Here’s what Flores had to say:
ON THE REACTION OF OWNER STEPHEN ROSS TO THE 1-5 START: “Obviously, he’s disappointed. I don’t want to speak for anybody, but I know that. He wants to see our team have success, but that’s really everybody. He’s no different that the players, coaches and the support staff, the fans. So, we’ve got to be better. I’ll be the first to say that. Our players are very disappointed as well. What I know about our guys is that we are going to pick ourselves up. Come to practice on Wednesday. Try to improve. Try to get better. We are going to make the corrections we need to make. Look, we all know this, it’s a very small margin for error in this league. Very small. So, the mistakes that we’ve made have cost us. We have to try to limit those mistakes as players and coaches. Yeah, there is a slim, slim margin for error. We’re on the wrong side of that right now. We just need to continue to work. I trust their preparation. I trust the things that they are doing, the players. We are always going to evaluate and re-evaluate and see if there is anything that we can do better. But yeah, collectively ... the entire organization, there is disappointment. They want better.”
ON BEING SO CLOSE TO ACTUALLY GETTING THE WIN: “It’s work. I mean, I think they are right. There are a hand full of things in every game where if the ball bounces this way, the ball bounces another way, we get a call, we don’t get a call, we make a call, we make play, we make a tackle, make a block, we sprint to somebody and it’s a different ball game. Again, that’s what I mean by … and they understand this, there is a very slim margin for error in this league. That’s for all teams. That’s the beauty of this league. We understand that. We’ve got to do a better job. I’ve got to do a better job of limiting the errors that are showing up that are ultimately costing us. So, penalties, pre-snap penalties, there are things (like) spacing in the pass game, some things defensively from a run-fit standpoint, there are just very little things that are the difference between a guy getting 3 yards and a guy getting 6 yards. We’ve got to be better in all of those situations.”
ON THE RASH OF INJURIES. GETTING ANY PLAYERS BACK? ANY HEADED TO IR?: “I don’t think anybody, I don’t want to speak out of turn, but (cornerback) Byron (Jones), (tight end Adam) Shaheen, (wide receiver) Preston (Williams), (wide receiver) DeVante (Parker), I don’t see any of those guys going on IR. But we are day to day with all of those guys. We’ll see how it goes in practice. We’ll see if we can get them to practice, even on a limited basis….Byron practiced last week. Preston practiced a little bit last week. X (Xavier Howard) did not. DeVante did not. Shaheed practiced. The guys who practiced are probably a little bit closer more than the guys who didn’t. But obviously we’ll know more later today and tomorrow and through treatment. … We’ll just take it one day at a time.”
ON IF THE FIVE-GAME LOSING STREAK CAUSING HIM TO FIGHT FRUSTRATIONS: “I think there is always frustrations when you’re dealing with adversity. That’s just, they kind of go hand in hand. But I think as a organization, as a building, I think we’re a very supportive group. Players support players. Coaches support players. Players support coaches. Support staff supports really everyone. So, while we are frustrated that we are not getting the results that we want, I think everyone kind of believes in what we are doing, believes in our process. We need to do things just a little bit better in all areas. If we do that, we are all confident that things will turn.”
ON HOW TO MINIMIZE MISTAKES AND IMPROVE DISCIPLINE: “Every year is different. It’s hard to day one year to the next, it’s always different players, different teams, dealing with different circumstances. We harp on all those little things and all of those things I mentioned earlier. Those are always points of emphasis. Every game is a little different. I think it’s dependent on some of the things we are seeing, the players are seeing, (what we) are seeing schematically. Then, at the end of the day, there are definitely instances where I know that we know what to do, but there is a mental error or someone…somebody goes down and we’ve got somebody in there who didn’t practice it. …I’m not going to sit here and make excuses. I’m not going to do that either. We’re making a lot of makes and we need to clean them up.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
ON THE BENEFITS OF THE JOINT PRACTICES WITH FALCONS: “The one benefit is for both teams. We’ll have familiarity with their players. But I’m sure (Falcons coach) Arthur (Smith) didn’t show all of his cards and we didn’t show ours. They’ve got a tough and competitive team. We know it will be a tough game. But as far as them coming down here and practicing, both teams got a lot of that. I think it will be an competitive game.”
ON MAKING A STATEMENT IN THE THROES OF A FIVE-GAME LOSING STREAK: “I think this is a team effort. Players, coaches, we’re all in this together. Obviously, I have my thoughts and my message that I give to the team. Then the leaders on our team, whether if it is Elandon Roberts, Jesse Davis, Mack Hollins, or whoever it maybe. I think they have their own message. I think the coaching message is one, but the player message that’s a different thing, but that’s all encompassing. We all kind of work together.”
ON HOW CORNERBACK NOAH IGBINOGHENE PLAYED: “I thought Noah did some good things. I thought he tackled more efficiently. Obviously, he had the two balls caught on him. I thought he was in position on both of them. We just talked about going up and being more kind of aggressive to get it out of them, but I think (Jacksonville wide receiver Marvin) Jones made a couple of good plays on him. But overall he did some good things and filled in competitively.”
ON FOURTH AND ONE, NOT GIVING IT TO TUA TAGOVAILOA: “We thought about that, we just felt like we had some success with (running back) Malcolm (Brown) in that instance. I felt good about the play. Again, you have to give (Jacksonville) credit. They made the play there. We didn’t get it done.”
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