Skins Quotes 10/9/19: Bill Callahan, Brian Flores

October 9, 2019
Interim Head Coach Bill Callahan

On Opening Statement:
“First off, let me just talk about the injuries and the injury list that comes out. I'm not really big on talking about injuries. I have never been that way. I'll be more than happy to try to give you as much information as I have, but I'm not a doctor. So I'm really just going to hold back on the injury status of our players and just let you basically read off the report. And secondly, relative to the quarterback situation on going into this game, we're just really assessing and evaluating the health of our position where we're at, and we'll know a little more toward the end of the week. So, I'm going to wait towards the end of the week-- probably Friday-- to make the announcement of who will start the game. So, with that, let's open up for questions."

On the plan for quarterbacks going into the Dolphins game:
"All three of them, we're going to take a look at all three quarterbacks where they're at from a health perspective, how they're moving and basically go from there.”

On if there is a health concern with Quarterback Dwayne Haskins:
"No, I'm just looking at all three. [Haskins] won't be on the list at all, I don't think. We'll just see how he did after practice today. So, we'll just find out from [Head Athletic Trainer] Larry [Hess] he'll put up an injury list on the report, and we'll go from there."

On changes to practice:
"We're just switching up, basically tweaking the format of practice. We came out, we stretched a little bit differently, the dynamic stretches and the static stretches, and just really just try to focus on the team. Try to bring the captains to the forefront. The captains were upfront today, leading the stretch. I always think that's a positive when your leadership is up there on a daily basis, and players can emulate that they know who they are, we can potentially draw more from them. I think it was a good start in that respect."

On running sprints at the end of practice:
"Yeah, conditioning to me is important. We're talking about the second half football, improving that aspect of our play. So, what comes to mind for me--for us-- is our stamina and our energy late. Heading down to Miami, it'll be a little warm down there. I think conditioning is important. And as you get into the month of October-- later month of October, early November-- that kind of erodes a little bit. Teams get away from that; I just want to make sure that we stay on top of our conditioning and that players are cardiovascularly in good shape that can endure longer drives, and so hopefully, we're on the field longer on offense as well."

On splitting reps among quarterbacks:
"Yeah, we distributed the reps pretty well today. I think they all got exposure at different points in the practice with the first group. So, that was a real positive. Everybody got work, and when you get that, they all benefit. Not only with the first team-- the first 'O' but also with the scout team as well. So, I like the format we had, and the way distributed those reps and how we assigned them. So, I think they all got equal work in some respect."

On Dwayne Haskins development:
"I think he's improved in the sense that he's seeing more. When you go back to the Giant, that was a huge exposure for him, and anytime those guys are on the field, that invaluable. So, he learned quite a bit from that experience, and I had a good discussion with him yesterday. Just talking about how he can get better as a player and that experience would help him down the line. A lot of rookies in this league don't have that type of success early on in their careers, especially in their first start. It's always hectic in some sense. So, just kind of graduating him into the process and getting him his learning curve swinging up a little bit higher. I think that's really the focus that we're trying to get for him."

On changes to the team:
"So today, we just focused on drive-starters. What we call 'P-n-10', which is the first play of the series. I always felt that's critically important. There's potentially 24 start-drive plays for the offense and the defense-- 12 a piece potentially. So, those plays are huge. You're trying to generate big plays on offense, and you're trying to create disruption, and negative plays on defense. So, I explained that to the team today. I thought we had a pretty good exposure to that throughout practice. We had a couple of periods of that emphasis. So, we'll turn the film on here in a couple of minutes and take a look at see how we benefited. I thought it was a good start in that capacity, focus on situational football."

On the officials at practice:
"Yeah, we'll see them again. I think it's great to have them. We made a phone call to the league office and talked to [Senior Vice President of Officiating of the NFL] Al Riveron about assigning a pool of officials that are in the local area here in northern Virginia that have interest--that are being groomed for the NFL. There are college officials right now that want to get better and improve their craft. We also wanted to bring them in so they could really focus in on what we're doing right, wrong, or indifferent. We want them to really focus in on the alignments and the formations that we're in to make sure that we are properly aligned. We wanted to get them to lock in on our hands at the point of attack and on the edge, and also in the back end and also on the perimeter. So that we can get more fine line evaluation, assessment of where that's at. What I think that does is heightens the awareness of the players on the field. With that, our officials had the ability to communicate to that player as to what they did, what they did wrong. So, it's something that takes the burden of the coaches and makes the player more aware of what he should do and having the proper leverage and the proper hand placement to prevent a penalty. So, that's a huge focus for us as we work hard to try to eliminate penalties within the unit and on each side of the ball."

On the message trying to be sent to players:
"Yeah, it's really again the focus of fundamental football. Just really trying to get back to some really hard core fundamentals and really straddle the line, it's really kind of a fine line, of the health of your team and also pushing them physically to improve their fundamentals. I think we accomplished both today. We do have some players that are banged up, especially early on a Wednesday, but I thought we got through a lot of good physicality and a lot of good fundamental drilling. I think that's the key. I think that's the name of the game. If you're not good in your fundamentals, you're not going to have them later in the game. That mental toughness about fundamentals is important, and if you don't practice them every day-- it's just like a golfer when he's on the tour. If he's not on the driving range hitting balls, he's not going to get better. That swing and that timing is going to be different. So, really what this is about, is just to focus on their fundamental techniques so that we can continue to groom them, improve them, one percent a day where we can stack those improvements on day-by-day and week-by-week. Especially so for the young player, the young player needs to get better. So, we implemented an opportunity period, a development period late in the practice, so that they can all get with their coaches and focus in on one area of their play or two areas of their play so that they can get incrementally better."

On keeping defensive staff:
"I think it was a fairness issue, number one. In terms of my evaluation assessment, it's kind of a fresh start for everybody. And so, in being fair, I think it's important to give guys an opportunity to demonstrate that they can get better and they can improve players and improve our system and our performance. So, I don't believe in knee-jerk reactions, and I'm not impulsive in that respect. I'm patient. I'm patient to a point, though, but I'm patient. I just want to be really fair on my assessment and my judgement of what our players are doing and what our coaches are doing as well."

On how players responded to changes to practice:
"It seemingly felt good, but you never know. You'd have to talk to the players, of course, to get their thoughts. But what I did this morning was explain everything to them, what we're going to do, how we're going to do it, what the expectations were, what the challenges are, and they seemed receptive to it. I think they just want to get back to playing good, solid, foundational, fundamental football, and that gives us a chance. Schemes are great, and we've got plenty of schemes. We got plenty of plays, but right now, it's about execution. We don't need another play. We just need better execution. If we can nail that down and refine our system, it gives us a chance. It doesn't give us a guarantee; it just gives us a better chance."

On things [Interim Head Coach] Bill Callahan learned as Raiders head coach:
"I pondered it several times. It's seamless for me because I've always mentally gone through the mental gymnastics of being in this role. I always take pause and think about what I would do if I were in this role. How I would react and how I would respond to different scenarios and issues. I think just having more experience and having been in the NFL for over 20 years; you see a lot, you see a lot of things. I'm kind of like at the tail end of my career. At 63, you see a lot of things that have transpired through the years. You got back and reflect, 'Hey, how could I have been better. How could I have done something different.' So, I've really taken inventory of myself and really tried to improve myself in that respect and try to be a better coach for the player. I think that was the most important takeaway."

On one thing, in particular, that was learned:
"I think I'm more patient, and I think that just comes with age. I'm just more patient, and I think coaching linemen create that patience. Their position is so intricate, and there's so many details. So, grooming a young player like Brandon Scherff when he was a rookie to where he's at now, it's night and day. You go through those changes, and you go through those situations with a player over the years. You just learn how to become a better coach, a better communicator, and you really take inventory of how you can do things better. Whether it's the relationship with your play. The things that you learn to help him get better, or maybe it's a different way of communicating something to a player, but I know they're all different. So you got to approach it differently. I think that's one of the things I've learned through the course of time. You can just improve a player if you just try to find what it is he's all about. And then try to find that avenue to connect with him and create that relationship so they can be successful.

On running the ball more:
"I think it's about rush attempts. One of the goals of our program or when we were in New York with Rex Ryan-- we were running the ball pretty well there, and we had very good success running the football. We had a really good offensive line, running backs, we had an outstanding unit of players and talent and scheming, and it was great. What I learned from Rex, was it wasn't really about what you average per carry, it was really about rush attempts and pass completions. So, that's one of the league statistics that we all look at is rush attempts and a lot of times, your rush attempts and completions if you have more than an opponent, really you're in good shape to win the football game. It's a very high percentage-- I think it's over 80 percent. So, it's about rush attempts, and it's about pass completions. It's not always perfect; it's not always right. It's just an identity that I believe in. So if we can combine those two and crate big plays off of it, I think we'll be successful."


Dolphins Head Coach Brian Flores

On preparing against a team after a coaching change:
“We prepare like we always do. [Interim Head] Coach [Bill] Callahan, he's been a head coach in this league before and as a head coach in college. He's got a really good group of players there offensively, defensively, in the kicking game. So we prepare like we normally do. Really, we focus on our fundamentals, our techniques, what we want to do, what we feel like we could do to try to execute offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. Just go through our normal preparation.”

On having to prepare against different quarterbacks:
“I think all three are good quarterbacks – accurate, all do a good job getting the guys in and out of the huddle, making good decisions. They can get the ball down field. Within the offense, there are some intricacies that pull your eyes in different directions. They've done a good job that way. All three quarterbacks are very capable. They do a good job pushing the ball down the field, checking it down when they need to. We've watched all three, all three have strengths. It'll be a tough matchup with whoever is in there.”

On balancing the reps between their quarterbacks:
“I'd say [QB] Josh [Rosen] gets the majority of the snaps as the starter, just like if Fitz [QB Ryan Fitzpatrick] was the starter, he'd still have the majority of the snaps. I'm not going to sit here and give you the percentages, but [QB] Josh [Rosen] gets most of the reps and Fitz gets in there and him being a veteran and a guy who has pretty much seen everything, done everything. He gets in there a little bit less, but we feel like both guys have a good handle of what we're trying to do offensively and we try to get them as many as they need to be able to execute within the game.”

On the mentality playing against a winless team:
“Every day to me, we just try to win the day. Win the meeting, win the walkthrough, and win the practice. I think to me, and I've expressed this to the team, we've just got to go through our process. From a meeting standpoint, from a walkthrough standpoint, from a practice standpoint, from a preparation standpoint to when they leave the building and they go home and watch film on their own. We have to take a professional approach and if we do those things consistently, the better the results improve that carry themselves and that's kind of what I've preached to our team really since I got here. There's no, ‘I'm thinking about the end of the game or two games from now or eight games from now.' We're just focused on today.”





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He may not be the permenent answer to our woes, but it is very refreshing to see a real HEAD Coach in the building. Gruden was a farce.

I can't believe Flores took the Miami job.

Belichick told him to hold out for a better organization.

Miami under Ross is a shit show just like the Redskins.