Happy anniversary, Coach Flores! The Miami Dolphins head coach has officially surpassed the one-year anniversary of his hiring with the Dolphins. What have we learned throughout the course of year one of the Brian Flores era in Miami?
The man appreciates the little things — the things that take no talent. We’ve also learned that he coaches fearless, as evidenced by the barrage of onside kicks and trick plays he gave the green light to throughout the course of Miami’s 2019 season. We now know he’s got a way with the sideline officials — we feel for the next official to blow a call in Flores’ vicinity.
And most importantly, we know Flores hates to lose. It would have been very easy at 0-7 to stop digging for answers and stop churning the roster. But the Dolphins did both and came away with a 5-4 record over their final 9 games to show for it.
What grade would you give Brian Flores after his first year on the job? That’s an incredibly complicated proposition. You can’t possibly reward a 5-11 record with too good of a grade — but realistically Brian Flores was given so little to work with as a part of Miami’s rebuild. And then had even more taken away from him in August and September with the trades of Kenny Stills, Laremy Tunsil and Minkah Fitzpatrick.
From a motivational perspective, Brian Flores deserves an A+. Keeping this team engaged was no easy task, yet this team actually got better deeper into the season. From a scheme perspective, it’s difficult to assign a grade. We likely don’t know what Flores’ ideal schemes look like — given that we haven’t seen what it looks like with players capable of executing it.
In all, one year into the Brian Flores era, Dolphins fans should be thrilled with Stephen Ross and Chris Grier’s selection. Now we need to step back and watch to see how this team grows.
