Miami Dolphins move to defensive minded coach is the right move

The Miami Dolphins will be going back to a defensive minded head coach if in fact they hire Brian Flores to replace Adam Gase.

Brian Flores will be only the 4th Miami Dolphins head coach in team history to have come from the defensive side of the ball following Jimmy Johnson, Dave Wannstedt, and Nick Saban. The Dolphins since Saban have tried to find the offensive genius’ with Cam Cameron and Adam Gase while also trying offensive line coaches in Tony Sparano and Joe Philbin.

Yet over the last 16 years the Dolphins offenses have been more than just bad. As we discussed earlier, the team flies through OC’s and have consistently ranked low. Of course the defenses have not been that great either.

Looking back over the defensive coordinators since Cam Cameron took over in 2007 the Dolphins have been a bit more stable at the position compared to the offensive coordinators they have gone through.

2007: Dom Capers 2008: Paul Pasqualoni 2009: Paul Pasqualoni 2010: Mike Nolan 2011: Mike Nolan 2012: Kevin Coyle 2013: Kevin Coyle 2014: Kevin Coyle 2015: Kevin Coyle 2016: Vance Joseph 2017: Matt Burke 2018: Matt Burke

Through those same 12 seasons the Dolphins went through seven offensive coordinators. Defensively the team changed DC’s six times. One of those was due to Vance Joseph being hired as the HC of the Broncos.

In the last 16 years dating back to Dave Wannstedt’s time with the Dolphins Miami’s defense has ranked as high as 3rd in points allowed. That came in 2003 under Wannstedt. That same year they ranked 6th in yards allowed.

Miami has finished in the top 10 of the league in points allowed six times since 2003 and placed in the top 10 in yardage four times. What is more glaring however is how the Dolphins have finished since they began hiring offensive minded head coaches.

Since Jimmy Johnson took over the Dolphins in 1996 the team has finished with a winning record 10 times in those 23 years. Two of those came under offensive minded head coaches under Tony Sparano and Adam Gase. Both in their first years as HC’s.

Under Johnson, Wannstedt, and Saban the Dolphins produced eight winning seasons with more tha a .500 record. This is not to say that Brian Flores or any other defensive leaning head coach would find the same success. Personnel is different as are those in charge of making the decisions.

Under heavier offensive philosophies the Dolphins have not found success so maybe the change to defense might bring change.

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While the Dolphins have had success defensively over the past 16 years that can not be said about the teams defensive unit over the last five years. Over the last five seasons the Dolphins have finished as high as 18 in points allowed and as low as 29th (2017). They finished 16th in yards allowed, their highest in five years came in 2017 but they finished 29th twice in 2016 and 2018.

It is hard to know if Brian Flores, should that be the actual hire, can turn the defense around and thus give the Dolphins offense more opportunity. He will not have the benefit of a Tom Brady led offense or Bill Belichick calling the defensive plays like he had in New England.

In addition Flores along with Grier is going to have to solve the personnel problems on defense. Decisions need to be made on several expensive players and one who is a free agent, Cameron Wake. Robert Quinn, William Hayes, and Andre Branch are all questionable to return to the team in 2019 which leaves a big hole at defensive end and Wake may or may not be back either.

The defense needs a lot of work and there is a lot to rebuild. Perhaps that is why the Dolphins are going witih a defensive oriented head coach. Maybe he can fix it.

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