Flores hopes to avoid problem that hurt Gase

As the old saying goes, when you marry someone, you’re also marrying their family.

The same goes with football coaches.

And more often than not, that hasn’t worked out for Miami-area teams this decade.

When Al Golden landed the Miami Hurricanes’ coaching job, that meant they were stuck with defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio. When Mark Richt got the UM coaching job, he brought along a strength and conditioning coach (Gus Felder) who was criticized by players and immediately replaced (by David Feeley) when Manny Diaz got the job.

When Adam Gase took the Dolphins job, they became home for his “guys” — past-their-prime Jay Cutler and Julius

Thomas, plus David Fales, A.J. Derby, Josh Sitton and others. There wasn’t a single “Gase guy” who made much of a difference here.

And now Brian Flores arrives with his group of key assistants with whom he has a history and some Patriots’ players, too (Eric Rowe, Jomal Wiltz,

Trent Harris), with

Dwayne Allen having been cut.

So will these examples of “history with the head coach” work out better here than Gase’s? It’s far too soon to judge after one game, but the first game wasn’t an auspicious start. Examining each:

Patrick Graham and

●

Chad O’Shea, both firsttime coordinators: In his Dolphins debut, Graham — who worked in various roles, including linebacker coach, with Flores in New England from 2009 to 2015 and was most recently linebackers coach in Green Bay — devised a game plan that yielded the most points and yards in a regular-season game in team history and he inexplicably played Reshad Jones and Raekwon McMillan well under half the snaps.

O’Shea spent the past 10 years as the Patriots receivers coach and Sunday marked the first time he has called plays in a regular-season game at any level.

Asked why he entrusted two first-time coordinators with those jobs, Flores said: “They’re two guys that I know very well, that I trust, that are bright, guys I felt have what it takes to be good coordinators.”

Players have taken a wait-and-see approach.

Internally, there was some criticism of the Graham/Flores defensive game plan against Baltimore. And Allen, before he was released, said “we’ll see with time” whether O’Shea — with whom he worked in New England last season — has the qualities needed to be an effective offensive coordinator, but added that “he was exceptional in his job when he was up there.”

O’Shea said he prepared for the job by consulting with Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

Rowe: Flores was convinced

● there’s a lot more to be extracted from a player who began last season as a Patriots starter but lost the job after the second week because he played with a groin injury against Jacksonville.

But his Dolphins debut couldn’t have gone any worse; he allowed all six passes thrown in his coverage area to be caught for 82 yards and a touchdown.

Flores has raved about Rowe, calling him “smart, tough. He’s tall, long, good speed, tackles. There are a lot of things we like about him.”

But he has allowed a 109 passer rating the past two years and the question is this: Why is Rowe playing more than Minkah Fitzpatrick (72 snaps to 49 on Sunday)?

If Antonio Brown makes his Patriots debut Sunday, Rowe and Xavien Howard will need to contend with Brown, an AllPro, and former Pro Bowler

Josh Gordon.

Wiltz: He spent the past ● two years on the Patriots practice squad as an undrafted free agent, after intercepting two passes in two years at Iowa State, but has earned the trust of the staff. Cornerbacks coach

Josh Boyer praised his “good coverage skills, good speed.”

He received 15 defensive snaps in the opener, 12 of them in the slot, and struggled badly, allowing both passes against him to be caught for 72 yards and a touchdown.

Fitzpatrick was the NFL’s best slot corner statistically last season. But curiously, this staff gave Wiltz and Fitzpatrick the same number of slot corner snaps Sunday.

This week, the slot corner will need to defend Julian Edelman, who has 80 catches for 833 yards and six touchdowns in his past 13 regular-season games.

Linebacker Trent Harris: ● He had 8 1⁄2 sacks as a senior at UM in 2017, spent last year on the Patriots’ practice squad and missed the opener with a foot injury.

When he was cut by the Patriots 10 days ago, “I thanked coach [Bill] Belichick for my first opportunity to get in the league. He told me I’ve been improving.”

Perhaps these Patriots additions will bring more to the Dolphins than Gase’s “guys” did; it’s way too soon to judge. But the first regular-season impressions weren’t good.

CANES CHATTER

The UM player whose

● playing time has plummeted the most? Linebacker Zach McCloud, who played just nine defensive snaps in the opener and three against North Carolina. UM is mostly playing with two linebackers.

Greg Rousseau (12

● snaps and a sack against UNC) and defensive tackle

Chigozie Nnoruka (21) will play more, Diaz said. UM loves what it got from freshman tight end Larry Hodges, who has supplanted

Realus George (a disappointment to coaches) as the H-back.

UM realized it probably ● isn’t wise yet — in Tate Martell’s development as a receiver — to play him more than its sophomore receivers, as it did in the opener. Martell’s snaps went from 15 to 0 against UNC, while

Brian Hightower’s jumped from four to 22 and Mark Pope’s two to 11.

Jeff Thomas has nine

● catches but for only 79 yards. His 8.8 years-percatch average is down from 22.0 and 16.1 the past two seasons, and that needs to change.