Brian Flores on Facing The 49ers Offense: "It Doesn't Get More Challenging"

guess I'll start with some opening remarks um well I'll start with you know Harrison Smith Oh Harrison Phillips sorry um just I just heard he agreed to terms I think that's excited for him I think he's done a lot of great things um you know just in my time here his leadership his um playmaking ability um I'm excited for him um and um you know excited for him and his family and um it's definitely definitely earned and deserved so um but as far as the team very proud of the way we played on uh on Sunday just a great team Victory you know across the board I think it's hard to win on the road in a tough environment um and I thought our guys you know prepared the right way um I thought we had a great week of practice and really going all the way back to OTAs and mini camp and training camp and you know really entire preseason uh I think you know that really prepared our team um and US defensively um in the right way to go out there and perform that way and um you know my message to them yesterday was that you know let's continue to build on that preparation uh week to week day to day um and put ourselves in the best positions to have performances like that but I was very very proud of the group hey Brian what are some of the things that Harrison Phillips does that just don't get noticed by everybody uh I mean there's you I always talk about a hub of communication and that normally includes the safeties and the you know the green dots the linebackers uh the Nicholls Murphy's involved in that matelis is involved in that um and Harrison Phillips he he involves himself in those in those situations uh you know you guys know this it's an alert system it's a kind of a check system and sometimes it's you know yeah a formation and you know I got a D linean looking at formations out on the perimeter and I got to slow him down a little bit but um you know just from a communication standpoint across the D line you know there's things we do um I've mentioned him as our stem coordinator um in the past and um you know he he wants to be involved it's important to him um you know his leadership his his ability to uh you know kind of create relationships throughout the locker room um you know that's why he was part partly why he was named captain or part of the reason why he's he's a captain on this team um I think he does a lot of uh great things for us that really don't get noticed as you mentioned um from a team building and camaraderie standpoint um and he's also a very good player how do you Cheng I mean it really doesn't get more challenging you know if I'm speaking honestly um you know is you're reigning NFC champions um and they've been uh a very very you know elite team for a number of years now um starts with you know Kos shanan and I think he's done a great job uh you know of building that team you know offense defense special teams uh into a physical um a physical group um a group that plays smart that plays physical I keep mentioning that because that's what they are uh they've got skill players everywhere um I can go down the list uh maccaffrey Debo auk um KD Trent Williams I mean there's just you know player after player after player after player Jawan Jennings shows up um you know you know they've done an incredible job um of acquiring players developing players um and then those go they did they do a great job of getting those the ball in those guys hands um and giving them the ability to uh to to to use their talents gifts and abilities to run with it I mean I I would say this this is you know easily the best run after team in the league because of all those guys so um definitely a big big challenge um but really from the top all the way down you know they do a great job how last year's tape as you're preparing I think it's relevant I mean all of it's relevant you know to a degree um obviously last night's game is the one that's freshing our mind and take took a deep dive on that this morning um but um you know last year's relevant um I would say you know spefic specific to mcaffrey and you know his availability um or you know not being available last night you know you take a look at the you know Mason and I think thought he did a great job as well so um you know things are a little different but you know there's they've got a variety of ways to get you know certain guys the ball and as you watch it you know there's it's almost a position lless group where you know a guy like Debo can play running back then he's a receiver and then mcaffry is a receiver you know what I mean it's just you know it's pretty cool to watch um challenging you know challenges you uh from a um schematically how would we how do we defend um how do we handle the run the pass the screen game I mean there's a lot there they do a great job well you talked a lot um speaking of position with players about you know acquiring players with versatile skill sets that you can use in various different ways and this wondering like two years in where you think you're at in that process of kind of having a group of people people that you can deploy as needed on a weekly basis yeah I talked about our group I mean uh you know I like the I like I like our guys I I like the versatility of guys like you know matelis you know who we've mentioned and Harrison Smith and you know Harrison Phillips and you know we've added guys like you know GLE and Blake um JG uh Tillery um I think all those guys have um you know shown up positively and certainly showed up positively on Sunday and really the what we want to do is build on that um and as a staff um you know I think our staff's done a great job of um you know finding out the strength and we strengths and weaknesses of those players and then uh you know coming up with creative ways to deploy you know GLE in this spot matelis in this spot and you I know they're up there right now um you know in the you know creative laboratory right now trying to figure out or find a different uh you know way of uh you know coming up with a game plan that's you know we can execute but also has got some couple wrinkles that that that uh that that may help us and again you know a lot of credit goes to those guys you know I tell them hey the the coaches they know the players better than um than anyone when you sit in the room with guys you know four or five guys you know you get to know that their strengths their weaknesses what they can do what they can't do you know how much they can handle how much they can't handle uh so I lean on you know DJ and saravo and pet um and Hutch you know quite a bit and really everybody in the room to um you know collectively come up with you know the best plan um even ko ko ko came up with a couple blisses last last week that we put in there he probably wouldn't tell you that but he he he certainly did um oh they worked they worked I told I don't care what a good idea come from you know so he basically he you know he text me he's like well what do you think about you know doing this out of that this front and I you know the next day I had you know there's something in the uh Coach's Locker Room it's a drawn up in the coach's locker room it's pretty funny um and we ran it so it's good it's a k special when it comes to uh van GLE do do you remember your first impression of him in Miami and and just where he was at as a player then kind of what you saw in him yeah I mean um fast um he had a kind of sneaky slippery uh instinctive play style that um we just really liked you know we just felt like he was he was a Jo and then he goes to Wisconsin so he's a little bit UND underdeveloped um and but you know like a lot lot of guys you know he can play he's fast he's tough um he makes plays you know if we can develop him and he's got the traits and intangibles to develop kind of like some of those like the undrafted guys we talked about although he was drafted it's got those same traits he'll develop and you know potentially turn into you know what he what what he's become and a lot of that's really not a lot of it all of it's you know his doing he's earned it um um and it's been you know cool to kind of watch watch him grow the entire way um and then be away for a couple years and then get them back and see that there's even more growth um and you know we we' gotten close with his family his wife Sam they got two little kids I mean they're they're you know it's just watch good to watch him grow that way as well so uh proud of him and excited to continue working with him what you think Dallas Turner's debut I thought he played very well I thought a lot of a lot of guys played well um but you know for a rookie in their first game you know there's certainly some Jitters I I think for everybody there's some Jitters you myself included you know week one um but uh it it certainly wasn't too big for him um and I think he's getting better he's getting a better feel for uh running games you know the things how he can attack an offensive lineman you know what to do if they chip chip them or thump them um you know how to set a tackle up and at least draw him a little bit if he's dropping there's there's certain things that I think he's he's starting to get a better feel for and you know we'll just continue to uh hope he continues to grow and develop Brian with Ivan Pace I'm just curious what have you seen from him in year two and then what do you want to see from him moving forward yeah I mean I I think Ivan had a great training camp um you know you turn on the tape and here's a guy who's who shows up in a physical violent way um and that's what we're looking for um he's doing a lot of good things we we we'll just continue coaching him he's certainly um you know being talked about you know from a game plan standpoint this week um with a an aggressive violent you know a rushing attack that we're going to see um so you know we're definitely talking about him um U you know this week and how to how to deploy he along with a lot of a lot of our other guys guys um you know what what is going to be a big challenge um so um yeah he's doing a lot of good things excited about him all right how's he grown as a communicator just I remember him last year talking about wearing the green dot for the first time trial I think he's doing a great job from that standpoint um I think a lot you know I mentioned the Hub of communication not everyone can have a Green Dot um but I you know the expectation is that um backers safeties Nicholls outside backers um they're all you know part of that Hub of communication and um he's certainly part of that um I think it you know it turns into if you know if you don't have the Green Dot you're not communicating it's it's it's certainly not that because you know this thing doesn't go if Harrison Smith's not out there you know he makes the initial alert and then we all you know divvy out our communication after that so um he's done a great job he'll continue to grow and uh and develop and you know we'll keep coaching him do you have ever have to like calm um it's football we got to I gotta I got to get calm down sometimes you know um yes you know it's I gotta calm Ivan down I gotta calm Harrison Smith down I gotta calm matelis down I got to calm a lot of people down you know that's that's that's part of coaching um you know so yes to answer your question you know quick answer yes but uh you know you you'd rather say wo than sium you know that's a that's a phrase I learned from Tomlin you know you much rather say wo than sium who tell you wo my wife Brian has Harrison Phillips improved as a pass rusher in the time that you've seen him absolutely yeah I mean really from last year to this year there's certainly been Improvement I know it's something that um was a point of emphasis for him in the off season um something he worked on you know you know against bags against sleds hand blocks in the offseason um and then know you you saw the Improvement really kind of instantly in in training camp and one-on ones against our guys and then um you know the joint practices as well so uh I think he's certainly improved there um you know and he's a guy when he kind of puts his mind to hey I want to get better at this um that normally happens so um not surprised to see him uh you know put the work in and then you know see the fruits of that work Kev was talking yesterday about you got a warning because the whole defensive staff was in the The End Zone after the the touchdown do you remember what you were thinking in that moment and just kind of what was that moment like yeah you know I uh yeah he mentioned that to me that you guys we had it uh that was talked about look I tell our players when you you when you make a play you should celebrate that play it's it's not easy to make plays in this league we work hard um you know meetings walk through practice they got to deal with me on a daily basis so when you make a play go out there and celebrate and you should they should celebrate each other and I and you see that um on the on the field and I hope when people watch us they see a group that you know enjoys playing together um you know so I get excited too for them um you know as a coach there's nothing uh more enjoyable than watching your guys um you know have success that's why you're in it that's why we do this so yeah I was fired up and I don't and I'm not uh ashamed to say that and you know hopefully you know we don't get penalized and I I'll make sure that doesn't happen Brian looking looking into your past when you prepared for Aon Jones uh his his ability to the quickness which he can pick any number of holes depending on how hard was that Andi uh I'm glad he's on our team I'll start by saying that um yeah he's he's got a uh a unique skill set um a a unique run style that and a vision that's that's makes it very hard to defend um you know we talk often about setting edges and defeating blocks and um he does a good job of pressing the edge and getting guys to Peak and cutting off of that the one little Movement by a defensive player um he's been doing it a long time he's uh obviously you know very um very gifted and has had a lot of success and you know um that's a that's that's a testament to the way he works you think it's instincts or Vision that you know sometimes he may pick a hole that might not look like the right decision but he he makes it work yeah I mean I think uh you know some of us are gifted in some ways or have gifts talents and abilities in some ways that some of us don't um and he's certainly gifted as far as you know running the football and catching the football and you know a lot of other areas and uh but he works at it also I think that's there's one thing it's one thing to be gifted it's another thing to and you watch him work on a day-to-day basis um and he and I have you know conversations you know pretty much every couple days about you know running the football and you know I call him a defensive player because when he's running it out there we're sitting on the bench you know they're picking up first downs you know everybody's happy you know so um yeah EXC that he's here ran what's the key uh for fourman Rush is getting home or even just positively impacting Downs good players uh uh yeah good players and I think uh you know just this past week and when you got a scrambling guy this it's it's it's about being uh still attacking but but but but rushing and still rushing aggressively but rushing with uh I just call it a smart Rush um and just you know I think on each each week There's a different um place to attack um you know we get those matchups you want to win those matchups or you get a opportunity to run a game um you got to run the game correctly um but um just kind of winning those matchups run rushing smart being aggressive um but yeah Mo you know for it's it's good players what do you think of jg's Versatility being able to rush off the edge but then also line up a little bit closer inside attack that b Gap yeah he's certainly um we talked about it last week just got an array of pass rush uh moves and an Arsenal that allows us to be uh you know pretty versatile as far as you know deploying him whether it's inside or outside but um he had some good rushes inside he had some good rushes outside put a lot of pressure on the quarterback you know didn't come away with any you know sacks per se but he was definitely affecting the quarterback and um you know creating some Havoc um so again excited you know to have him and um you know we'll just continue you know getting him out there and um allowing him to be disruptive what's the uh bigger impact San Francisco system on dvo the player or dvo on San Francisco's system I think in you know there's a it's the right fit and the right system um you know I think uh I think oos Shanahan does a great job of of putting those guys in positions to make plays using their skill sets to um to be explosive to create explosive plays to run the ball this the the way they want to run it to be physic iCal to be violent um you know to get the KD you know the ball the auks the the Jennings um to get him the ball in space and I think he does a great job so yeah I think it's a combination of the two obviously Debo's very very talented um uh but it's it's it's like a you know a perfect Fusion of talent and schematics okay great thing thanks guys