Details on Flores speech that preceded winning streak. And Flores updates injuries, more
The Dolphins’ ongoing three-game winning streak has been a byproduct of swarming defense, timely takeaways and in part, six quarters of good work from quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
But a Brian Flores speech to his team also was a catalyst for the turnaround, a Dolphins defensive back said Monday. That conversation happened after Miami lost a seventh game in a row to drop to 1-7; three wins in a row have followed.
“Coach, about halfway through the season, we hit the halfway mark and he said from here on out, ‘We’re going to have a better half of the season. We’re playing a whole different type of football,’” safety and special teams anchor Elijah Campbell said.
“I think when he said that, the whole team kind of bought into that and ever since we started our little streak. Practices have had a little more energy to them.”
Flores also made clear that he wasn’t looking to make wholesale personnel changes at that time.
“He did say, ‘We’re sticking with our guys and we trust in you guys,’” Campbell said. “He did believe in us and he still does. We have all of the pieces on this team from defense to offense to special teams. It’s just certain things and certain plays didn’t go our way in big games and now the ball is going our way.
“We had so many close games in the beginning of the year. I just felt like it was… time that the ball was going to start going our way. It was just that time of year that everybody knew there needed to be a shift. He wasn’t necessarily chewing anybody out or getting on anybody individually. It was just accountability like we’ve got to do better.”
Campbell spoke of “a mutual understanding amongst the whole team. We were 1-7 so I felt like we all knew that something had to change. We all knew that we just weren’t playing our best football. I think it was just something that needed to be said and once we all — you kind of just have to put it out there in the air and then it was the elephant in the room, so he kind of went into the team meeting and said it and everyone was kind of like, ‘All right, we need to turn this around.’ We kind of all bought in and things have been on the up trend from there.”
Flores didn’t offer much on that particular speech but said “my message is I try to be consistent.”
INJURY UPDATE
Flores said he’s waiting on tests to determine severity of the knee injuries sustained on Sunday by defensive back Jamal Perry and linebacker Brennan Scarlett.
▪ Receivers DeVante Parker and Will Fuller are eligible to come off the injured list, but Flores indicated he isn’t sure if they will be available for practice this week or Sunday’s home game against Carolina.
“Nothing definitive right now,” he said.
Fuller has missed seven games with a finger injury. Parker has missed three games with a hamstring injury.
Flores also was noncommittal on the availability of two other players eligible to come off the injured list: center Michael Deiter (foot) and running back Malcolm Brown (quadriceps).
“I’m hopeful we’ll get a couple guys back,” Flores said of those four.
▪ The Dolphins are home the next month, with games against Carolina and the Giants, and then a bye, followed by a home game against the Jets.
“It’s only a help if we prepare… practice the right way and go out there and execute,” he said, adding Carolina “will be a big challenge.”
▪ On rookie linebacker Jaelan Phillips, who had a sack Sunday but also a personal foul penalty on an out-of-bounds hit:
“Jaelan has made a lot of improvements. I’ll use this platform to make sure he understands that. There’s a lot of fire, a lot of intensity, which we have to channel the right way, which he has done most of the time but not on that particular play. I’ll use this as another platform to tell Jaelen to keep his poise.”
▪ The Dolphins’ 19 penalties during the past two weeks are their most in two consecutive games under Flores.
“We have to do a better job,” he said. “They’re calling offensive pass interference. We’ve got to make an adjustment. Defensive pass interference, holding, we’ve got to make adjustments. I’ve got to do a better job in game reminding these guys. We’ve got to limit the penalties. They’re hurting us. They’re playing aggressive. We’ve got to be smart also.”
▪ Asked if going to a walk-through Thursday instead of a full practice has helped, Flores said: “We’ve had a little success with that.”
▪ Running back Duke Johnson, elevated from the practice squad Sunday, played six snaps in his Dolphins debut and ran four times for 18 yards.
“Duke got his feet under him, [has] a little better understanding of what we’re trying to do offensively,” Flores said. “Been doing a good job in practice. He played well, got us some positive yardage. I was pleased with his performance.”
This story was originally published November 22, 2021 at 12:14 PM.
