Brian Flores, a student from the Bill Belichick school of defense, has called some of the best defensive units of the past 10 years. Flores cut his teeth with Belichick and added to his arsenal when he spent the 2022 season as an assistant to Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.
The proof is in the pudding as Flores’ Vikings defense ranks among the best in the NFL. Thursday night’s matchup presents a chess match for Sean McVay and Flores. Like two generals on opposite sides of an ever-evolving battlefield, every play, every personnel grouping, and every result will be analyzed and questioned.
Entering this duel, McVay was asked for his thoughts on Flores and his defense.
“He’s a great coach and this goes back to going against him for a handful of years,” McVay said. “There’s a clear-cut identity. There’s an understanding of what offenses are trying to do, his ability to be able to create a bunch of conflict with moving parts with guys that can play in a variety of spots, having 11 guys but dispersing them differently and being able to put pressure on you offensively. He does as good a job as there is. I’ve been really impressed. We’re still in the early parts of the preparation, but you see why all the accolades have been thrown his way and this defense’s way through the first six weeks. They’re outstanding.”
Flores is different from other defensive coordinators as he’s aggressive, wanting to impose his will over offenses instead of being reactionary. That’s done with blitz packages, which put the offense in a bind.
“I think it’s fair. I think there’s a lot of stuff that you’re looking at,” he said. “He understands the tendencies or the different things that offenses might be looking for. He does a great job from a self-scout perspective of being able to change those things up so you have to be really sound with your rules. You have to understand how you want to distribute the field and how you want to target certain things as it relates to protection or in the run game. He’s excellent. He’s got some movable pieces that have some versatile skill sets that can create that conflict that they’re looking to do and it’s been incredibly successful, really for him wherever he’s been as a defensive coach. It’s especially on display this year.”
McVay finished his commentary on Flores by sharing what it takes to play well against his type of defense.
“I think it forces you to be sound, play rules ball like what you’re talking about, be really disciplined and make sure that you’re on the screws because they’re attacking,” McVay added. “They’re taking it to you. They’re doing a great job with that. So you have to have counters and answers for all the things that you’re talking about and it definitely creates a lot of challenges. You’ve to be ready to see the game live as it kind of unfolds and your players have to be able to do the same thing.”
As McVay mentioned, he and Flores have faced off a number of times, most notably in Super Bowl LIII, when Flores served as the Patriots’ de facto defensive coordinator. The Patriots held the Rams to three points and 260 yards of total offense in their win over Los Angeles.
