Miami Dolphins’ Brian Flores wants a disciplined and tough team

Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores was speaking with a group of young people recently and laid out his idea of what fans should expect from the team.

Traditionally in the NFL, head coaches want their teams to emulate them. For the Miami Dolphins and this Brian Flores, fans should hope that is true. If history has shown us, the team has indeed mimicked their head coach.

Joe Schad of the Palm Beach Post tweeted what Flores expects his Miami Dolphins franchise to be.

Before we jump into the comments a quick history lesson can show exactly why the right head coach with the right mentality can bring to a team. Over the last several head coaches, the Dolphins have looked very much like the man calling the shots on the sidelines.

Cam Cameron – Cameron was aloof and rather carefree. His vision was never realized and some of that was because no one really knew what it was. In his first training camp with the team in 2007, some players saw that they were in trouble. Two prominent veterans at the time discussed the team’s future under Cameron at a training camp lunch, the common thought between them was the team was in trouble. Per a source with first hand knowledge of the conversation.

Cameron’s team looked as lost on the field as Cameron did on the sideline.

Tony Sparano – Sparano was a tough head coach who demanded a lot. On the field his team looked a lot like the coach. The problem then wasn’t so much Sparano as it was the men above him that made multiple personnel mistakes. On the field the team was disciplined but the lack of cohesiveness, especially the last two seasons Sparano was there was a clear indication that there were issues inside the building that Sparano couldn’t overcome.

Joe Philbin – It was a running joke that gum wrappers and shoe laces being untied were more important that producing a winning football team. The team was undisciplined on the field and they played without a clear direction. Often times the team was as lost as their head coach who simply couldn’t get anything right.

Adam Gase – Gase wanted “yes” men and while he preached team unity and wanted players who loved the game, Gase himself couldn’t get through to his players because Gase wasn’t able to see the ideas of others. His offense wasn’t set up for his philosophy so he didn’t seem to try to make it work. His defense was left to Matt Burke and Burke’s lack of direction showed through consistently with poor play and preparation.

Brian Flores  – Flores wants a football team that is disciplined, tough, violent, and aggressive. How well he can get those types of players on the field and then coach them will be his biggest challenge. Perhaps he learned enough about how to get through to players with his time under Bill Belichick.

What Flores is preaching is nothing new but Flores doesn’t seem to have the same ego that Gase had. He doesn’t have appear to have the lack of vision that Philbin didn’t have or the lack of understanding that plagued Cameron. Unlike Tony Sparano, Flores has a front office that supports him 100%.

The next step is for Flores to get the players to buy into what he is selling. Something the previous coaches have not been able to do. It could make a world of difference if he can instill that type of football vision in his team.

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How well Flores succeeds as a head coach will be determined by whether or not the players on the roster emulate what Flores says he wants to create. He has probably the best coaching staff assembled since Jimmy Johnson. Again, on paper. Can they all bring that same vision that they believe they all have to the team? That is the question that must be answered.

Flores however is laying out exactly what expectations he has. He isn’t wavering from that. There is no infighting between he and management, yet. There is no prima donna veterans that he has to appease and cater to. He and Chris Grier are assembling a young team that will and should mold into what Flores believes he is as a head coach. If he succeeds, so will the Dolphins.