Flores losing his mind was a beautiful moment

MIAMI GARDENS — By now, 40 minutes after the game, Brian Flores was second-guessing himself. He was back in full coach mode. He was saying things like, “My emotions got the best of me,” and “I can’t do anything to hurt the team.”

His adrenaline now down, his voice now calm, he professed disappointment at how his charging toward the Cincinnati Bengals sideline in the fourth quarter, yelling and pointing, was such a focus of discussion rather than the players who moved the Miami Dolphins to an 8-4 record.

He professed regret for that moment.

I’ll give credit instead — this once.

He doesn’t want it to define him.

I’ll say it defined something more, something bigger about his program — again this once.

If you want to know what the next several Miami Dolphins years could look like — and as importantly what they’ll feel like — it was on display in a sloppy, if dramatic, 19-7 win over Cincinnati.

Rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa turned the ignition keys to start the second half after a bad first half. There, was the look you need to see. And the emotive feel you’ve probably sensed lacking as the Dolphins wandered through the wilderness for much of two decades?

Flores provided that for all to see. There, in the fourth quarter, waiting for a punt to come down, Dolphins return man Jakeem Grant took an early and dangerous hit from Cincinnati’s Mike Thomas. It was the second dangerous hit from Thomas against Grant on Sunday.

Grant was down on the ground. Flores came out to check on him. And while he was out there something on the Cincinnati sideline caught his attention enough that he began pointing and yelling (mask on for safety, kids) and

storming to the Bengals bench.

Dolphins players then sprinted across the field to join him.

Flores, by now, was being held back by offensive lineman Jesse Davis and team security head Drew Brooks. But punches were exchanged in the scrum, three players were ejected (including Dolphins DeVante Parker and Mack Hollins) and you can be sure the league will be passing out fines soon.

And you know what? That’s fine — this once. It’s beautiful — this once. There’s no defending this if it happens again. But this once, with all its genuine emotion, was something to appreciate considering it was all about defending a teammate who took two cheap and dangerous hits.

You know what this was? It was Dolphins linebacker Bryan Cox wading into the Cincinnati sideline for laughing Bengals players after kicker Pete Stoyanovich was cheap-shotted. Remember? No maybe not. That was 1990.

That told a different mindset had arrived to the Dolphins. This Sunday did, too. The best coaches don’t have players set the culture, as former Dolphins coaches

Adam Gase and Joe Philbin tried in their goofy ways.

The best ones show players what the culture is with their action.

Do you want to talk Don

Shula charging after a ref who dismissed a flag as only five yards, saying, “Five yards is my life!”? Or Jimmy Johnson cutting a player for sleeping in a meeting? Or a 60-year-old Pat Riley challenging Shaquille O’Neal to a fight when he wasn’t working hard?

Flores isn’t in that pantheon — not even close. But if he gets there, you saw a glimpse of why on Sunday. You’ve seen his smart and disciplined coaching for much of two years. Sunday you felt the heat of his fire.

That’s all you need to see of it, too. Once is genuine. If it happens again, well, he already was calling himself out. How could he not? He got in Xavien Howard’s face Sunday after the Dolphins cornerback was ejected earlier Sunday for punching (or slapping) Cincinnati receiver Tyler Boyd’s helmet.

Still, there’s something noble in defending a player who took two cheap shots. Something necessary, too. Even if Flores wasn’t exactly feeling that way afterward.

“We’ve got to do a better job of keeping our poise, and that starts with me,” he said “I’ve got to do a better job of keeping my poise. Look, I’m going to stick up for my players. They’re going to stick up for each other without getting penalties, without hurting the team.

“But we’ve got to do a better job of keeping our poise. These are like my kids. So the first time [Thomas hit Grant for a personal foul], yeah. The second time I got a little bit upset about it. But still I’ve got to do a better job. I have to. I can’t do anything to hurt the team.

“My emotions got the better of me. But you see someone you care about hit like that twice — I’ve got to do a better job keeping my poise. We have to do a better job.”

What happened after his outburst? The Dolphins defense sacked Cincinnati quarterback Brandon Allen three times on the next possession and knocked him out of the game. That’s how you use that emotion. Flores has put his stamp on this team since he arrived. Sunday he defined it for all to see. A second outburst like this won’t be something to applaud. But this once, in this context, it told of the fire inside, the kind this franchise lacked for so long.

Dave Hyde