DOLPHINS SPECIAL TEAMS BOSS DANNY CROSSMAN

Wilkins, Myles Gaskin and Matt Breida, most notably — have had to miss time.

The Dolphins have not had a game postponed this season and only a handful of practices have been affected by the virus.

The NFL and its member clubs won’t disclose who has actually tested positive for the virus and who has simply been in close contact with anyone who has, but the numbers suggest the intensive protocol, instituted weeks back, has had a positive impact. While cases surge nationally, the number of positives have remained flat in recent weeks.

Dolphins coach Brian Flores, who over the past five months has badgered his players to do the right thing so football can continue, refused this week to declare victory, and that’s smart.

It’s like mentioning a no-hitter to a pitcher in the eighth inning; jinxes probably don’t exist, by why test fate?

“I think it starts with the league, the players,” Flores said. “I think we’ve done a good job getting the games in thus far. I think everyone’s had to make some sacrifices. I think the protocols that were put in place, which are changing all the time, to try to put us in the best position to obviously not get covid but then try to contain it when guys do get it. Overall, it’s been good, as long as guys follow the protocols and make the sacrifice and make smart decisions.

“We’re still in it, though,” he added. “We’re not done, by any stretch of the imagination. We’ve all got to continue to be smart and make good decisions and not feel like, ‘Oh it’s been good so far, we’re OK.’ I don’t even like to talk about how good it’s been. We need to just continue to do the things we’ve been doing. We’ll talk about whatever it is at the end.”

But as 2020 comes to a close, it’s fair to look back at just how disruptive the worst public healthy crisis in our lifetimes has been on the Dolphins, both personally and professionally.

Over the past week, a number of prominent players and coaches have weighed in about their experiences. Here are their thoughts:

S ERIC ROWE

“Usually it’s a cycle every year. I go home for January, February to the end of March. Come back in April to whatever city I’m at. But this year, I stayed at home. I’m from Texas so I stayed at home all of the way until I think I got out here in June. I think it was around mid-June. That was weird because I have been doing this routine, cycle, for about six years. Ever since that moment, I knew this whole year was going to be different.”

LB JEROME BAKER

“I think this year was all about just being resilient. No matter what the season throws at you, whatever the world throws at you. You can’t just put your head down and mope around and just feel bad for yourself; you have to attack it, you have to get better at whatever you’re doing. You just have to attack it and go after it and I think our team as a whole, we’re built like that. No matter whatever challenge we have; if we’re down 20 or we’re down three, we approach it the same way. We can get it, we can get it done if we do it together. I think this year, that’s pretty much been — the fun ride for me is just seeing our team become a team and really have each other’s back. That’s pretty much been exciting for me, so happy just to keep getting it going and win as many games as we can and just do what we’re supposed to do.”

“I think the thing I’m proud of is the fact that we’re here. That we’ve played 14 games, we’re getting ready for our 15th game. It’s really been a difficult season, offseason, season for everybody. You play the hand you’re dealt, but this has not been a fun hand to play. A lot of the things that you truly enjoy and make this job so special in my opinion — the camaraderie with the staff and the players and a lot of those things — it’s hard [not] to miss those things.”

TE DURHAM SMYTHE

“One of the things that I love the most about playing football is the locker room experience, being around the guys on a dayto-day basis. Obviously that’s been different this season; but I think one thing I’ll take away is that I think this team adapted pretty well. Obviously we’re not right next to each other every day in the locker room; but there are things that we’ve done in a safe way that we can really keep the team camaraderie up and things like that.

One thing I guess I’ll take away is obviously in a unique situation, there are always way you can end up making the best of it or at least try to to the best of your ability.”

LINEBACKERS COACH ANTHONY CAMPANILE

“I think they’ve done a great job and really, it’s coach Flores’ message, to be honest with you, that I think has resonated with everybody. It’s just that you’ve got to be as careful as you can possibly be. We’re all in it together and like we say in here, I want to do the right thing for the guys in the room. I’m here and I’m home with my family, and they all kind of do the same thing. They’ve done a great job with that. We’ve just got a bunch of accountable guys, great people — like I said, great guys to coach — so I think they’ve done a great job with it and the credit really should go to them.”