Culture under Flores is starting to show
Even the biggest critic, the biggest cynic, the most traumatized Miami Dolphins fan — or skeptical media member — has to start believing in this team at this point.
The Dolphins have a 5-3 record, and sit right up there with the NFL’s best teams after delivering the franchise’s fourth straight win.
After what we witnessed during Sunday’s 34-31 nail-bitter of a victory over the Arizona Cardinals, where Tua Tagovailoa put the team in position to kick a go-ahead 50-yard field goal in his second NFL start, and the defense kept the Cardinals from responding with a score in the games’ final two minutes, allowing Jason Sanders’ kick to seal the win.
And after watching what we’ve seen this past month, which has been dominant performances in wins over the San Francisco 49ers, New York Jets, Los Angeles Rams, and a hot and talented Cardinals team, it’s hard to deny it any longer.
Brian Flores has built a good football team.
Not a team on a hot streak, or a team that’s getting lucky each Sunday. Flores is in possession of a team that plays hard for four quarters, emptying their tank no matter what the distraction, obstacle, or adversity they face.
This week the Dolphins had to play the game without five of the assistant coaches after one tested positive for COVID-19, and the other four were prevented from traveling with the team likely because of their exposure to him.
Still, the offense was sharp for the first time under Tagovailoa, the special teams unit was clutch yet again (they’ve been the best special teams unit in the NFL all season), and the defense made enough plays to contain a dynamic Cardinals offense.
“We’re a defense that bends. We don’t break,” said cornerback Byron Jones. “We’re not a team that likes to have teams score 30 points, but we find a way to win.”
Indeed these Dolphins do, reminding me of the late Tony Sparano’s 2008 Dolphins, who rallied to a 11-5 record and the franchise’s last AFC East crown with the rally cry “Why not us?”
Why can’t these Dolphins win the AFC East?
At this point they believe they can. The players believe they have something special.
“It’s how guys respond to adversity during the season. How guys respond to success during the season,” Jones said, explaining when he felt there was something special about this 2020 Dolphins team. “The challenge for us we won a couple of games in a row, and it feels nice. But we got here through hard work and we need to continue that.”
At this point, who doesn’t believe they’ll empty the tank no matter who isn’t playing, or who isn’t coaching?
The Dolphins were down their top two tailbacks in Myles Gaskin and Matt Breida, who were sidelined by injuries, and have lost two defensive starters (defensive tackle Davon Godchaux and linebacker Vince Biegel) to season-ending injuries, but this team continues to deliver.
It isn’t always pretty, and there are plenty of issues to fix. But somehow these Dolphins find a way, which hasn’t been the Dolphins way for nearly two decades.
“We persevered as an offense. We knew we didn’t have a lot of the guys we call plays for, but we made it work,” Tagovailoa said, referring to the team’s top two tailbacks and receiver Preston Williams, who was carted off the field after seemingly suffering a serious foot injury on Sunday.
Still, the Dolphins keep the wins coming.
Flores’ team has spent the entire past month — really an entire season — playing good football.
Complimentary football, the stuff that’s usually the mythological goal, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for every coach.
“When offense is down the defense has to pick them up, when the defense is down the offense has to pick them up,” said defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah, who delivered a second sack-fumble the Dolphins scored on this week. “I’m happy to have teammates that trust one another, and play for each other.”