Next for Flores: The adjustment game
The one good thing about playing theNew England Patriots early in a season is that Bill Belichick and his team have away of showing you exactly what is wrong with your team.
All thewarts get a spotlight put on them.
The bad thing about playing the Patriots early is thatNewEngland exposes your underbelly to the rest of the NFL, providing a blueprint for everyone to follow.
That means the Dolphins better expect for the Buffalo Bills to press Miami’s receivers in
Sunday’s home opener atHard Rock Stadium, giving them little room towork their routes with the belief that Miami’s playmakers will struggle to get open and quarterback Ryan Fitz-patrick won’t beat them deep.
And expect the Bills — and every other team — to run often in their heavy packages because the Dolphins defense got pushed around as NewEngland attacked Miami’s linebackers and edge players on theway to producing 217 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns in its 21-11 win.
The Dolphins got out coached by Belichick and the Patriots in Week1. There’s no shame in that, Belichick has regularly done that to NFL coaches for years.
It’s more important to discover if Brian Flores, the man who spent more than a decade learning fromBelichick before becoming the Dolphins’ head coach, can plug Miami’s leaks.
Until this Dolphins defense figures out howto consistently clog running lanes expect every opponent to try to bully Miami’s defensive front, just like they did last year, beforeMiami rebuilt its defensive front in the offseason.
And until Fitzpatrick and the offense can produce big plays with the long ball or run-aftercatch production, expect the first 20-30 yards of the field to be crowded with aggressive press coverage.
Good coaches figure out away to adjust and mask their team’s shortcomings, helping their players and coaching staff evolve. So this season with a better rosterwe should finally get an opportunity to properly assess Flores’ skills regarding game planning, and in-game adjustments.
Floreswas celebrated by some for delivering a five-win season with a roster thatwas lacking a lot of talent in 2019. But did he really showus that he could coach last year?
The aggressive play-calling on fourth downswas admirable.
The special teams trickery was innovative.
But the Dolphins struggled in every aspect of the game last season except for penalties.
Itwas Fitzpatrick who led the Dolphins to five wins in 2019, and not Flores’ stellar coaching job.
Sure, the growth a roster full of journeymen, rookies and NFL wannabees showed last season was encouraging and proved therewas some player development.
But the only proofwe have that Flores can actually create a game plan to deliver winswas Miami’s season-ending triumph overNew England, and itwas Fitzpatrick who led Miami to the game-winning touchdown on the final possession of that 27-24 upset.
Flores does seem to be a leader of men. He’s a good communicator who’s helping to change a culture that got lost after the Jimmy Johnson era in Miami. But can this Belichick disciple actually create a gamewinning strategy eachweek and make in-game adjustments?
Nowthat the Dolphins have an improved roster this should the expectation.
Culture change doesn’t mean anything if you don’t win games.
Flores and his staff certainly said the right things after Miami’s season-opening struggles to NewEngland, taking ownership for a flawed game plan.
“We need better play from everybody, we need better coaching, and that starts with me,” Flores said onMonday. “Every position, every position coach, we all have to be better.”
That’s good to hear because losses aren’t always on the players,
and execution isn’t always the issue. Sometimes its bad game planning, and not making proper in-game adjustments.
We’ll learn plenty about Flores, and his new coaching staff this season because Year 2 is when the hope and optimism fades, and fans and management expect results.
Year 2 happened to be the season where Dolphins coaches that preceded Flores started to unravel, showing signs of their shortcomings.
Tony Sparano’s vanilla offense sputtered without Chad Pennington, proving that the Wildcatwas the extent of his innovation. Hewent from11-5 in his first season to 7-9 for the next two seasons.
Joe Philbin, whowent from 7-9 in Year 1 to 8-8 in Year 2, wasn’t the offensive guru hewas billed to be in his second season.
Year 2was also whenwe discovered that Adam Gase’s egowas bigger than all the upper-echelon players he eventually ran off. That helps explain why his Dolphinswent from 10-6 to 6-10 in one season, then followed that up with a 7-9 record the next year before Flores replaced him.
Year 2 iswhen the new car smell fades on coaches, expectations raise, andwe discover if they can do the job theywere hired to do.
You know, actually coach.