Craig: Vikings’ Brian Flores says ‘it’s the players, not the plays’

The more accolades that Brian Flores receives, the more he tries to redirect the credit for what’s become the NFL’s No. 2-ranked scoring defense.

“Look, it’s not my defense,” the Vikings defensive coordinator said when the Vikings were 2-0. “It’s the players’ defense. It’s theirs. I tell them that all the time. They can come to life.”

It was the Tuesday before the Vikings whipped the Texans 34-7 to become one of the NFL’s five remaining undefeated teams. Flores was asked about the high volume of well-coordinated stunts and twists that his linemen and linebackers are executing in two-man tandems to the confounding detriment of opposing blockers.

Instead of taking a bow for himself, Flores explained how “there’s no way I can make those calls” from the sideline without seeing the protection schemes in real time.

“I try to give the players the autonomy and the freedom to make those calls when they happen or else there’s no way … I don’t have a crystal ball,” Flores said. “They have the freedom to check it, to not check it.”

How common is that?

“My experience, where I’ve been, it’s something if you have the right guys who can understand the situations, can understand when, why and how, you should let them do it,” Flores said. “When you don’t, sometimes you don’t and in those situations, you just tell them, ‘We’re just going to run this.’ Otherwise, it can get a little hairy when you don’t have the right guys.”

Flores has the right guys.

An example presented itself during Sunday’s win over the Texans.

The third quarter began with the offense on the field. Press box binoculars perusing the Vikings’ sideline spotted nose tackle Harrison Phillips standing alone watching film intently on one of the team’s sideline tablets.

“I was actually looking at a third-down play earlier where I wasn’t even on the field,” Phillips said after the game. “I saw the way Houston was blocking over to Jihad [Ward], so I drew up a stunt that I thought would work for us.”

Ward is one of Flores’ less-celebrated new hybrid toys this season. He’s listed as a third-string outside linebacker, but he is way, way more than that.

Ward played 37 defensive snaps Sunday. According to Pro Football Focus, he played these positions this many times: left defensive tackle (5), right defensive tackle (3), left end (4), left outside linebacker (4), nose tackle (1), right end (6), right outside linebacker (12) and left inside linebacker (2).

In other words, Ward can do a lot of things.

So Phillips, a team captain, took his tablet and the stunt he drew up to Flores on the sideline while the offense was on the field. They had a conversation and then walked over to where Ward and other players were sitting to continue the discussion.

“Flores said, ‘Let’s get to that later,’ and I think they might have got to it later in the game,” Phillips said.

Flores wouldn’t confirm that it was used later in the game, but liked the suggestion because A, it was a good idea, and B, it came from a player who had nothing personal to benefit from the suggestion.

“In that instance, a lot of players would say, ‘Hey, let’s do this so I can do this,’” Flores said. “But HP was saying, ‘Maybe Cash [linebacker Blake Cashman] gets in if he goes this way.’

“My door’s open and my mind’s open to hearing from anyone if they think it will help us. I want them to feel like they’re being heard. That was a great example of the unselfish, team experience we’re having and hope to continue.”

Phillips said Flores has been this way since he arrived last year.

“Coach Flores actually listens to us as players,” Phillips said. “You don’t get as much of that from other coaches on game day because by then they kind of like their plan. But Flores has trust in us that if we say it’s going to work, he’ll say, ‘Let’s do it.’”

Linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill is another new face this season. This is his sixth NFL team and his second stint under Flores after spending the 2020 season in Miami when Flores was head coach.

“First of all, no, stuff like this doesn’t happen everywhere,” Grugier-Hill said. “I think Flores is the best in the league when it comes to ‘it’s the players, not the plays.’”