FOXBORO — Dont’a Hightower made headlines this week when he suggested Thursday that perhaps, just perhaps, the Patriots defense might get off to a better start this season because of the communication style of Brian Flores.<\/p>\n
Well, on Friday, the day before the defense gets to put on full pads for the first time against Tom Brady, Devin McCourty provided more context to the coaching – and communication – style of the man who will be taking over for Matt Patricia starting this season.<\/p>\n
“I guess I\u2019ve had him for so many years now, but he\u2019s always straight to the point,” McCourty said. “I\u2019d say he\u2019s an aggressive coaching style guy, but I think the thing I loved about him when he was our safety coach \u2013 same thing now as D coordinator \u2013 he\u2019s going to tell you exactly how it is and how he feels \u2013 what he thinks is best for you individually, for the team. So, I think we always get that from him. I will say that\u2019s more the kind of culture here anyway, starting with Bill [Belichick].<\/p>\n
If there are two people who can speak with authority on the new defensive coordinator, it’s Hightower and McCourty. For four seasons, from 2012-15, Flores was in charge of the safeties with the Patriots. In 2016, he moved over to coach the linebackers, a group he’s directed for the last two seasons.<\/p>\n
Hightower suggested the Patriots defense (which was in part to blame for the 2-2 start in 2017) would get off to a better start this year because it could play faster under Flores.<\/p>\n
“Not really. I mean, we\u2019re doing the same things,” McCourty countered.<\/p>\n
So, not much is different then?<\/p>\n
“No. I mean, it\u2019s always going to be different because somebody else is calling it, you know what I mean,” McCourty continued. “He\u2019s not going to be the same as Matty P, but our defense is kind of the same, you know what I mean \u2013 like we don\u2019t have a whole new defense because Flo\u2019s been in this system for years. It\u2019s a lot of crossover.”<\/p>\n
When I asked McCourty to reflect on the wide criticism, including internally, of the communication issues among the defensive players, he said there was some but not as much as portrayed outside the locker room.<\/p>\n
“I would say you guys spoke more about communication and asked me about it last year than me talking about it,” McCourty laughed at my suggestion. “But, communication is always a part of what we need to build each year. I don\u2019t care if you return the same guys across the board.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s just something when you play your last game \u2013 for us, last year it was in February \u2013 and you don\u2019t play a game for months, you just need to get comfortable with that, you need to get back in rhythm, you need to get used to seeing things happen fast and being able to communicate it to each other. So, that\u2019s always, to me, a work in progress of getting it to the level that you need to be out there to compete in games.”<\/p>\n
So, how is Flores different with communication?<\/p>\n
“He\u2019s the same,” McCourty insisted. “Communication is a big deal around here, and I think that just comes from Bill. It\u2019s just not acceptable for us defensively to cut guys loose, not cover \u2013 you know what I mean \u2013 10 guys on the field. All of that falls into communication. So, that will never change, and Flo will be on us more than anybody about that defensively.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FOXBORO — Dont’a Hightower made headlines this week when he suggested Thursday that perhaps, just perhaps, the Patriots defense might get off to a better start this season because of the communication style of Brian Flores. Well, on Friday, the day before the defense gets to put on full pads for the first time against<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":77793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[362],"tags":[1911,380,355,274,377],"class_list":["post-77788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-all-sports","tag-2018-training-camp","tag-brian-flores","tag-devin-mccourty","tag-donta-hightower","tag-new-england-patriots"],"yoast_head":"\n