Recent history vs. Dolphins makes Belichick wary

DAVIE — As the Miami Dolphins pursue their first victory under coach Brian Flores — and first since their “Miami Miracle” win over the New England Patriots last season — the Patriots are also trying to find their groove in South Florida heading into Sunday’s Week 2 matchup.

“Certainly give the Dolphins credit — when we look at it on our end, we have to coach and play better than we have,” legendary Patriots coach Bill Belichick said during a conference call with the South Florida media Tuesday.

“The matchups we’ve had against the Dolphins haven’t gone in our favor.”

The Patriots have lost five of their past six games against the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium, including last season’s heartbreaking 34-33 defeat in which Miami’s Kenyan Drake scored a 69-yard touchdown on a busted play as time expired.

That Week 14 win was the last time the Dolphins won a regular-season game. The Dolphins have been 0-4 since, including their 59-10 blowout loss to the Baltimore Ravens in last Sunday’s season opener.

But Belichick is confident that Flores, his defensive play-caller last season, will be able to turn it around before this weekend’s game.

“The Dolphins have a lot of good players [and] they have a lot of good coaches,” Belichick said. “I know the head coach, coordinators, many of the position coaches. I know they’ll make a lot of corrections.

“First game with a new program is always a big learning experience for everybody. We’ve got to be ready to go.”

Belichick did not want to discuss any advice he gave Flores, with whom Belichick has been associated for the past 15 years, before Flores took the Miami job.

“Brian was with us a long time, played a lot of different roles, did a great job for us,” said Belichick. “Whatever we accomplished was a team effort. When we moved him from scouting to coaching a long time ago, I realized his potential.”

Instead, Belichick squared his focus solely on the Week 2 matchup. He was coy when asked if he expects recently acquired receiver Antonio Brown, a Miami native, to make his Patriots debut against the Dolphins on Sunday.

“I don’t know,” Belichick said. “We acquired him [Monday].”

Overall, he praised the Dolphins players and new coaching staff.

“They are young, aggressive and talented and we’ll have to contend with all of them, along with the scheme they’ll come up with,” Belichick said.

STEVEN SENNE/AP Patriots coach Bill Belichick will match up for the first time against former assistant Brian Flores on Sunday in Miami.