Conditioning is the key to the Miami Dolphins future success under Flores

The Miami Dolphins used to be a team that never lost at home in the South Florida heat but that has changed over the years and it could change again soon.

Brian Flores is bringing a new mentality to the Miami Dolphins and it could be seen early with the way the team is prepared to deal with one component of the team’s history. The weather.

Fans booed and laughed when Nick Saban had the practice bubble installed at the team’s training facility in Davie. With that bubble came an air-conditioned environment that brought the team out of the heat that served as their biggest ally.

While the bubble was often used to get out of bad weather, there was a drop in the way the team was ready for the start of the season and the heat that the sub-tropics offered. While other teams used to wilt under the heat, the Dolphins began feeling it themselves.

Over the course of the last several years or more, the Dolphins had lost some of that concentration on conditioning as coaches took different routes to get the players ready for the season. Some of those options led to more injuries that Miami could not overcome.

Speaking with the media following the most recent OTA’s, new quarterback Josh Rosen said that the coaches are focused on conditioning.

"I’ve been here for two or three weeks now and coach loves conditioning, – MiamiDolphins.com"

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to those that follow the AFC East. In New England, the Patriots players were always practicing in the worst of weather regardless of the temperature of the sometimes near blizzard conditions late in the season. It was a Bill Belichick staple to have his team ready for any situation so naturally, Brian Flores and Chad O’Shea, as well as the other former Patriot connected coaches, would put an emphasis on conditioning.

The payoff could come in the form of fewer injuries which would be a welcome change to the Miami Dolphins roster that has regularly seen the roster hit hard on both sides of the ball with nagging and IR type situations.

Whether or not that part of the game changes, it is good that there is a focus on getting players well prepared for what is to come in late July when the pads are put on and the hitting starts as Miami opens training camp.

As for the practice bubble, the team has still not said whether they will have that available at the new training facility adjacent to Hard Rock Stadium when they move their facility to that location in 2021.