The reason Brian Flores could never be part of the Miami Dolphins tanking: Respect | Opinion
Brian Flores has worked hard behind the scenes to bond with his players and gain their respect.
When defensive lineman Kendrick Norton lost an arm in a traffic accident before the season, Flores was at the hospital to see him multiple times. He donated blood.
When running back Mark Walton joined the team, Flores tried to understand the player and spent time talking to him about his local high school days at Booker T. Washington in Miami. Flores tried to be around the player to support him, knowing at some point he would have to coach Walton hard and that would resonate only if Walton believed Flores was doing it from a starting point of caring for him.
Flores has talked about trying to get to know his players in the past. He has explained why he tries to understand his players. And respect his players.
It’s so when he asks things of his players, they’re more willing to meet his demands — because they respect him and believe he has their best interests at heart.
There’s another thing Flores has done in his first year as Miami Dolphins head coach that has earned the respect of the locker room:
He has not quit.
He has not tanked.
Some Dolphins fans today are actively rooting for their team to lose. And they have grown frustrated that Miami has so far played itself out of the first overall draft pick in the 2020 draft. But against that public sentiment, Flores has called for fake punts, and onside kicks, and fake field goals and tried nine fourth-down conversions.
Some fans (and media not named Mando) have called for second-year quarterback Josh Rosen to start for the Dolphins. Because they want to see if Rosen could play himself into the role as the future quarterback.
But that outcry has fallen on deaf ears with Flores because he has decided 36-year-old Ryan Fitzpatrick gives the Dolphins the best chance to win right now.
So Flores hasn’t focused so much on finding tomorrow’s best quarterback as he has starting today’s better quarterback.
All this in contrast to the Dolphins’ roster being constructed last offseason as if intended to lose. All this against the backdrop of trades that watered down the Miami talent base even more once the regular season arrived. All this while the organization’s strategic position has been to strengthen the future with draft picks and salary cap space at the expense of the present.
That colors a stark contrast to Flores. And that has been noticed by the men left behind — the players in Miami’s locker room.
So ask Fitzpatrick if players’ respect level for the coach is higher because Flo isn’t flowing with the tank tide?
“The answer to the very long, complicated question — because there’s a lot of things that go into that — is yes,” Fitzpatrick said Wednesday. “It does.
“I think — and I think one of the things you pointed to is me being out there — I just think that decision is made knowing that we’re trying to win football games. Not to say that the other guy isn’t as good or whatever it is.
“But if you look at a really old crusty guy, and a young guy that everyone wants to see; for me to be out there, that means we’re trying to win football games and that definitely resonates throughout the team.”
A quick canvassing of the Dolphins locker room Wednesday uncovered consensus with Fitzpatrick’s assessment.
“Coach Flo never was tanking, we never were tanking,” defensive lineman Davon Godchaux said. “Everything else is irrelevant to me. We just come in and work and adopt the mindset of coach Flo. And that mindset hasn’t changed, win, lose or draw.”
Another player put it this way:
“First off, I hate talking about this because I just want to win and I always expect to play for a coach who wants to win,” said the player who asked not to be named. “I’ve never known different. I don’t think I could respect a coach if he accepts losing. I mean, we’ve lost. But we’re not trying to lose.
“That’s because of coach Flo. I don’t know how other people upstairs feel, but I know how he feels.”
And an outsider might ask, what’s the value of this? Why is it important for players to be convinced their coach wants to win?
Simple: If Dolphins players were to see Flores advocate tanking, either explicitly or merely by implication, they could never trust him again. As long as they would be Dolphins, they would be wondering if the head coach wants what is best for them? Or if he’s joining some plot that basically uses them as pawns in order to achieve some duplicitous goal.
Those players, by the way, would talk to other players.
And those would talk to other players.
And the Miami head coach’s reputation would be sullied around the NFL.
That’s the reason Flores cannot abide the tank. That’s the reason he must start the best players possible and adopt the best strategies possible.
Yes, Flores accepted trades of fine players such as Laremy Tunsil because it meant adding picks for the future. But, yes, he has tried to minimize the loss to whatever degree possible so that the Dolphins might still have a chance to win.
And what has that gotten Flores?
The respect of his locker room.
This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 12:00 AM.
