Miami Dolphins don’t have all the talent. But they have all the fighting spirit they need | Opinion
While the team with more talent and a more complete roster was trying to explain how it could come to a game it desperately needed to win, take a 14-point third-quarter lead, and still go home losers, down the hall loud cheering inside the Miami Dolphins locker room could be heard through closed doors.
Inside that victorious Dolphins locker room, linebacker Raekwon McMillan and defensive back Walt Aikens and others were dancing Choppa Style inside a circle of teammates, coaches and others enjoying the moment.
“All year the way we’ve stayed at it and haven’t flinched and all those cliches you could throw at it, that’s what this team is,” quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said. “And that’s a pretty rewarding win to be down like we were and to not have anybody on the sideline thinking that we weren’t going to be able to come back.”
Welcome to the biggest surprise the Dolphins have authored in 2019. Welcome to the most inspiring game the Dolphins have played in 2019. Welcome to the best victory the Miami Dolphins have enjoyed so far in 2019.
Dolphins 37.
Philadelphia Eagles 31.
The cynics will complain the Dolphins hurt themselves on Sunday. They had an open door to improving their 2020 draft slot because the Cincinnati Bengals and Washington Redskins won and a loss could have helped the Dolphins ultimately find themselves in better position to draft a superior college prospect.
But that narrative was nowhere near these Dolphins on Sunday. That thinking about a draft pick so far in the future it’s impossible to predict what player will be most worthy of selecting, was deferential to how the guys on this team took some punches ...
And fought back...
And rallied...
And ultimately overcome a seemingly superior opponent.
“It’s a team of fighters,” coach Brian Flores said proudly afterward. “We compete. I think that’s something that we talk about day after day after day. It’s something we’ve talked about since April 1st when the first group of guys got here.
“We’re going to compete, we’re going to fight, we’re going to give great effort, we’re going to try to be a tough, smart, disciplined football team. That’s what you need if you’re going to come back – really, if you want to play in this league at a good level against good competition like we had out there today. That’s what you need.”
This is important stuff. Because this is a hint of what to expect from Dolphins teams under Flores in the future.
The team Flores and general manager Chris Grier have crafted this year is admittedly not as talented as it could be. No one denies that. But this team is showing there’s more to success in the NFL than sheer talent.
Yes, talent has its advantages. It’s absolutely necessary.
But the Dolphins’ brain trust also wants men with grit. They want guys who will not back down. Maybe they want guys who would never acknowledge they’re not supposed to succeed.
The Dolphins think guys with those traits in some respects are better than supremely talented guys without as much, shall we say, dog in them.
“We’ve got a bunch of fighters on our team,” Fitzpatrick said succinctly.
That’s not by accident. The Dolphins, you see, had more talent on the team when Minkah Fitzpatrick was here. But, remember, he didn’t want to be here because he didn’t like the situation. So, this administration did not bend or compromise but rather traded Fitzpatrick.
This coaching staff liked Kiko Alonso after the offseason program and camps. But when he balked at the idea of shuttling in and out of the lineup because he wanted to be on the field all the time, they didn’t appease him. They shipped him to New Orleans.
And then there’s this: When this group took over they inherited wide receiver DeVante Parker and tight end Mike Gesicki. And both those guys came with reputations for being, well, soft.
Parker has been a living, breathing injury report most of his career. And when that hasn’t been the case, he’s been a sympathetic figure who didn’t seem to have the makeup for a violent, angry game.
Gesicki, meanwhile, came to the Dolphins known for not being a good blocker. Or a tough player. And he’s been seen in the past heading straight for the sideline following modest catches, as if bailing out on contact.
Yet, somehow through what has happened the past three months since this season began, both these players are producing for the Dolphins. They’ve joined the fight.
Parker caught seven passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday. Several of those catches and one of the scores came on 50-50 balls in which he outfought defenders for the ball to make the play.
“I’m still here,” Parker said, as if the game hadn’t already announced that. “I know I still have the ability to make plays and do whatever I can to help the team.”
Parker is playing like the first-round pick the Dolphins invested in him in 2015 was wise. He’s caught 53 passes for a career-high 854 yards.
Gesicki, meanwhile, is now the team’s second-leading receiver and was that this game when he contributed five catches for 79 yards. He also had a touchdown.
And here’s the point: Both these guys are suddenly immersed in the culture of toughness the Dolphins are trying to establish. These two big men with seemingly slack games are playing hard. Tough. Impressive.
And where does this all come from? Well, Flores.
That’s got to be it.
Please recall this dude didn’t grow up easy. He didn’t have it all. He had to learn to fight to get by. He had to overcome odds to succeed. That’s obvious in his personality.
And it’s obvious in the personality his team is adopting.
“It starts with him and trickles down to everybody else,” Fitzpatrick said. “I think his work ethic and steadiness and consistency, those are all things that he’s done a great job with this year.”
The result is a team that didn’t bow when Fitzpatrick threw an interception on the game’s first play. The result is a team that didn’t quit when Philadelphia took a 28-14 lead in the third quarter.
“For as much turmoil and things that have gone on, our locker room has really stuck together,” Fitzpatrick said. “And these are the really satisfying wins right here where you have to do it on the field, you have stick together, you have overcome a bunch of obstacles and injuries and whatever and go out there and play together. [I] think it was a good lesson for everybody.”
This story was originally published December 1, 2019 at 7:35 PM.
