Brian Flores must make his own path with Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins have decided to pilfer from the New England Patriots and Brian Flores is supposed to bring New England to Miami. He won’t. He shouldn’t.

For the Miami Dolphins, Brian Flores is the right man for the job. Then again so was Joe Philbin and Adam Gase. So was Tony Sparano and Cam Cameron. So was Nick Saban and Dave Wannstedt. So was Jimmy Johnson. Brian Flores is not Bill Belichick he is Brian Flores and he may not be the right guy but he may be the right guy for right now.

Many fans hope the Miami Dolphins have found the path to the Patriot-Way but in reality they haven’t. Brian Flores can’t try to imitate the Patriots way of doing things he needs to find his own way of doing things.

What Flores experienced in New England is not something that can be replicated and for 18 years every other NFL team has tried. Some of those teams have tried by taking coaches away from the Patriots and trying to bring that formula to their team.

It hasn’t worked. It didn’t work with Romeo Crennel or Al Groh or Eric Mangini or Jim Schwartz or Bill O’Brien and it didn’t work last with Matt Patricia. It also didn’t work with Josh McDaniels who not only tried to bring the Patriot Way with him but also the capabilities to videotape opponents. He was fined for that by the way.

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Bill O’Brien seems to be the exception so far. The reason is he is not bringing the Patriots to Houston but bringing Bill O’Brien. That is exactly what Brian Flores needs to do. Be Brian Flores.

Flores should absolutely use his experience with the Patriots as a foundation to build the Dolphins but he shouldn’t expect the same success or the same type of locker room. Maybe if he turns the roster around and the team become perennial AFC champions, he might be able to find that same level but for now, he won’t.

Flores has to become himself and everything that he has learned and how he has grown will define the coach he will become. It will take time and time is something he has. The Dolphins gave him five years guaranteed and Stephen Ross knows the first two years are a wash due to the probably re-build. Flores will get the time to learn to be a head coach.

That does not include building the Patriots but instead building the Miami Dolphins.