Dolphins’ Flores discusses missing playoffs in third year as coach. And personnel notes
Dolphins coach Brian Flores said he was “disappointed” when he learned that the team was mathematically eliminated from playoff contention early Sunday evening.
“You’re in the wrong business if you’re not disappointed by that,” he said. “For the team, people in the building, players, coaches. They put a lot into this... I know they’re all disappointed. There’s a lot of emotions that come with being eliminated. It’s easy to lament all those feelings. The hard thing to do is pick yourself back up and move on to the next challenge. That was the message. [The players] took to that.”
Flores isn’t prepared to do an autopsy of the season with a game still remaining, at 4:25 p.m. Sunday against visiting New England.
But asked if the team simply needs to produce more points offensively, Flores acknowledged that remains an ongoing issue. The Dolphins are 24th in points per game at 19.3 and 25th in yards per game at 307.6. The Dolphins were held to just a field goal in Sunday’s 34-3 loss to Tennessee.
“You have to score points to win games,” he said. “That’s always something at the top of the priority list. And we’ve got to do a better job from that standpoint. That starts with me.”
Was there anything gnawing at him Sunday night or Monday morning about how the season played out?
“No,” he said. “Thinking about making the corrections to the game and speaking to the team.”
THIS AND THAT
Some playing time notes and Pro Football Focus grades from Sunday’s game:
▪ For the first time this season, Albert Wilson achieved the odd combination of being active for the game but not playing. At wide receiver, the Dolphins gave 58 of 62 offensive snaps to DeVante Parker, 57 to Jaylen Waddle, 17 to Isaiah Ford and 12 to Mack Hollins.
▪ The Dolphins allocated by far the most running back snaps to Duke Johnson (36), but he had just seven rushing attempts, despite producing 49 yards on those seven carries. Myles Gaskin played 15 snaps and Phillip Lindsay seven.
Asked if there were regrets about not rushing Johnson more in the second half, Flores said: “Duke ran the ball well. Probably could have stuck a few more runs in there.”
▪ Guard Solomon Kindley replaced Austin Jackson for three snaps.
▪ Linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel (61 snaps of Miami’s 63) and defensive tackle Zach Sieler (50 snaps) played a season-high percentage of defensive snaps.
Rookie linebacker Jaelan Phillips played just 23 snaps, less than he had been playing recently.
Safety Eric Rowe played only 15 snaps. Despite not practicing all week due to COVID, Brandon Jones logged 47 snaps, with Jevon Holland playing all 53.
▪ PFF rated Jesse Davis, Robert Hunt, Liam Eichenberg and Parker as the Dolphins’ best players on offense Sunday and Tua Tagovailoa and Austin Jackson as the two worst.
Davis and Michael Deiter allowed a sack apiece, and Eichenberg permitted four pressures, per PFF.
▪ PFF rated Rowe, Holland, Jerome Baker, Seiler and Byron Jones as the Dolphins’ best players on defense Sunday and Emmanuel Ogbah and Raekwon Davis as the worst.
Byron Jones wasn’t targeted, and Howard was targeted twice and allowed one completion for 25 yards.
THIS AND THAT
▪ Waddle, who was held to three catches for 47 yards, said Tennessee didn’t defend him differently than other teams do.
“There was some double coverage,” Flores said. We missed him on a couple throws. That was the reason for the little bit of a dip [in production]. He made the one nice catch in the fourth quarter to put us in position, but we couldn’t finish the drive off.”
At 99 receptions for the season, he needs two more to equal Anquan Boldin’s NFL record for a rookie.
▪ Christian Wilkins now leads all NFL defensive linemen in tackles with 83, just ahead of Pittsburgh’s Cameron Heyward (79). His 83 tackles are the most by a Dolphins defensive lineman since at least 2000.
▪ Hunt said he’s fine if the Dolphins keep him at guard or tackle. PFF has rated him among the best guards in the league since Week 10, per PFF’s Ryan Smith.
▪ Flores indicated there have been no discussions at this point about getting playing time on Sunday for younger players who haven’t played a lot.
Here’s my Monday piece with a primer for the Dolphins offseason, including updates on cap space, free agency and the 2022 schedule -- plus player reaction to being eliminated from postseason contention.
This story was originally published January 3, 2022 at 2:12 PM.
