Brian Flores is making the Miami Dolphins attractive again

The Miami Dolphins are a joke but not as much as they were back in July, August, and September. In fact, is anyone really laughing now? Thank Brian Flores.

Admittedly, the hiring of Brian Flores was not one that long ago I believed should have been made by the Miami Dolphins and maybe that initial thought eventually proves correct but for now, it sure does seem like I was wrong, our commenters will be quick to point out I often am.

This time around it might be a really good thing. See Brian Flores is making the Miami Dolphins atatractive. He seems to be turning around a franchise and suddenly, the same fans and media that have been dogging this team all year are asking where the Dolphins would have been had they not gutted the roster?

It’s a valid question but one that doesn’t need to be answered. Why? Because we simply don’t know what that roster would actually look like or perform. Here is that phrase again, “culture change”.

Joe Philbin wanted to change the culture but made it worse. Adam Gase talked a lot about culture change over his three seasons with Miami. Under Gase the culture did change. The Dolphins didn’t win, the players got thrown under the bus, veterans didn’t want to be here, and negativity was everywhere.

Now there is Brian Flores.

Flores hasn’t talked about changing the “culture” he has talked about winning football games. He has talked about discipline and character. He talks about putting the team first and the individual last. He has told his team to do what the coaches tell them to do and that if they do, it will work out. They will learn.

They are learning.

The Dolphins have one of the youngest teams in the NFL if not the youngest. They are made up of players that would be lucky to be on other teams practice squads or maybe even on an XFL roster. Each week a new name pops up on the stat sheet and a new name is announced over the loud speaker having made a play.

This is a team that moved on from Kiko Alonso, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Laremy Tunsil, Kenyan Drake, Robert Quinn, William Hayes, and more. A team that replaced them with….? Vince Biegel? Mark Walford?

In eight games this Miami Dolphins team went from being blown out by the Ravens to holding the Patriots to 13 points in the first half. They went from a doormat to a no-quit group of fighters. As they held their own in the first half they held their own through the third quarter before the youth and inexperience took over in the fourth throughout the season.

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Hall of Fame QB Steve Young called the team out for “tanking” and said that they were putting the players at risk of injury. Miami has not suffered as many major injuries as other teams around the league even with the loss of Preston Williams and Xavien Howard for the season.

These players are buying into what Brian Flores is selling and already there are rumbles around league circles that Miami may indeed be a hot destination for free agents this March. Something many believed would not happen only a month ago.

Flores has the team “trending” in the right direction but they are a long way from winning a playoff game let alone the division. Whatever it is that coach “Flo” is doing, he seems to be doing it right.

Miami is 1-7 on the season and could have won two other games at least. Had they, Miami may actually be in the AFC playoff picture. Imagine that with this roster. At 3-5 the Dolphins would be two games out of the post-season discussion.

There are still eight games left on the Dolphins schedule and Miami will face the Jets again as well as the Bengals so more wins should be found along the way. Not enough to get the team in playoff talks but enough to show future free agents that this team is not tanking, they are not quitting, and that this coaching staff may actually be able to deliver something that no other coach has since Don Shula.

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