Brian Flores stubbornly defends all out blitz vs. Pittsburgh before the half despite strategy’s failure
There’s no question Brian Flores is a man of conviction. You can understand that from the way he’s handling the starting quarterback roller coaster with Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Rosen, by playing the guy he believes is better rather than the one he might want to evaluate more.
But sometimes having strong conviction crosses the line into stubbornness territory.
And while one is really good for an NFL head coach, the other is probably just a flaw and a weakness. And Monday night after the Dolphins lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 27-14, Flores was being all sorts of stubborn.
This game, you see, turned on a coaching blunder. The Dolphins didn’t lose because of it -- not when Miami turned the ball over four times and allowed 158 rushing yards and most of Pittsburgh’s damage came in the second half when Miami wilted.
But the Dolphins were in charge of this one, up 14-3, for all but the final 26 seconds of the first half. And that’s when the coaching blunder came into play.
With the Steelers on Miami’s 45-yard line on a third-and-20 situation, the Dolphins called time out to figure a strategy for the fateful play.
And the strategy defensive coordinator Patrick Graham came up with and Flores obviously approved was to blitz the house.
The Dolphins sent eight defenders after Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Rudolph. And the three defenders left in the secondary were asked to play man coverage on Pittsburgh’s three receivers.
Well, the result was a 45-yard touchdown pass from Rudolph to Diontae Johnson.
And that score was unquestionably the turning point in the game. The Steelers got within four points just before half and outscored the Dolphins 17-0 in the second half.
So bad strategy right? Because it failed miserably so not the best, right?
“We felt like that was the right call in that situation,” Flores said. “We blitzed them a few times and had some success. They got us on that one. It’s one play in the game. We’re still up at halftime. We still had an opportunity to play well and win the game so, look, there’s bad plays in the game, there good plays. You have to be able to overcome the bad ones. We just need to play better in the second half.”
Wait. No.
The Dolphins had gotten pressure on Rudolph with a four-man rush earlier. They blitzed and had good pressure with five rushers. But this time they sent eight.
Eight.
Eight!
And they did this at a time playing it safer might have resulted in maybe a 10-yard pitch-and-catch and not anywhere close to a touchdown. And it’s not even about the result. Because the result says the call was obviously wrong.
It’s about understanding the situation. And the talent you’ve deployed on the field -- which Dolphins coaches should understand they’re not exactly playing with a stacked deck out there.
And yet Graham thought that was exactly the best scenario for throwing caution to the wind. It could be said the rookie defensive coordinator went with a bold move. It could also be said he went with a dumb move.
And, again, the results spoke for itself. It was a disaster.
But Flores, knowing what happened and reflecting on that, still thought it was a good call.
“You know, I think the guys did a good job defensively getting pressure on him,” the coach said. “We wanted to stay with it. I don’t have any regrets on the call. They made a play just like we had made a play prior to that defensively and we just move on.
“We wanted to be aggressive. You can sit and second guess a lot of calls. I’m not going to second-guess that one. We had success with the call. They made a play. But at the same time, it’s 14-10 at halftime. We got opportunities in the second half, we didn’t take advantage of them. I’m not going to sit here and say that was the play that [determined] the game. I mean, we turned the ball over four times. As a total team we didn’t enough to win the game. It’s easy to look at one play and say that’s the one but there’s 150 other plays in the game.”
Fine, so there was no convincing the coach the play helped cost his team the game. But clearly he understands the play changed the game’s momentum, right?
Because it absolutely shifted this game’s momentum.
But Flores wasn’t about to fully give in to that, either. Somewhat, but not fully, despite the evidence being obvious.
“Momentum shifts, there’s ebbs and flows in every game,” he said. “So you’ve got to deal with, that’s part of playing in the National Football League. Look, if you can’t deal with a momentum shift, then that’s, that’s part of the game.
“We have to be able to overcome that. We’re moving on. Play a good second half. We’re not going to make excuses on one play. It’s never one play. There’s a series of plays and we didn’t make them, especially in the second half.”
Look, Flores speaks with the media 10 to 15 minutes after a game, like all coaches. One supposes he’ll get a chance to rethink the strategy today and consider the call again. And hopefully he’ll understand it wasn’t a tactically wise move.
He can remain a man of conviction about being aggressive and still understand that situation was not the time for that aggression.
Or maybe not. Maybe he’ll stick to his guns. Which would make him stubborn.
This story was originally published October 29, 2019 at 1:41 AM.
