Miami Dolphins Brian Flores best move was hiring Chad O’Shea
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins won five stinking games in 2019 but Brian Flores is being hailed as the future, we should be talking about Chad O’Shea as well.
Brian Flores has had a very good start to his NFL head coaching career. Years from now no one will remember how bad this team was on paper, just the record. How we view Flores in the future will be dependant on what he does from 2020 and beyond. One important member of his staff will have a lot to do with that. Chad O’Shea had a great season too.
UPDATE: this article did not age well according to Barry Jackson the Dolphins gave fired O’Shea
When Brian Flores was hired the biggest question was whether or not he would be able to land top-quality assistant coaches. Flores opted for familiarity instead. Leaning on coaches he worked with previously. Like Chad O’Shea who was elevated from receiver coach to offensive coordinator.
On Sunday, O’Shea called his best game of the year against the Patriots. He called very good games in all five of the team’s wins and in many of the team’s losses. The Miami Dolphins were not the best-ranked football team but they improved over 2018 under offensive genius Adam Gase. That is sarcasm for some of you readers who don’t know the difference.
In 2018 the Miami Dolphins finished with one more win with more talent. Offensively not much changed except on the offensive line where Miami ran a patchwork group from week one and at running back where the Dolphins platooned all season. Yet Adam Gase did not get the same production from a better group.
Miami finished 2018 ranked 31st in total offense. O’Shea finished his first season ranked 27th. Miami ranked 30th passing and 18th rushing in 2018. The rushing game in 2018 was far better but Miami also had a better offensive line and lacked the continuous rotation at running back.
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2019 saw Miami improve in the passing game finishing the season ranked 12th. That is a huge jump from the 30th ranked passing offense of a year ago. Miami did this with Ryan Fitzpatrick and an offensive line that could not pass protect consistently. Of course, the Dolphins failed running the ball and finished 32nd this year. Without a steady runner and offensive line, Miami wasn’t going to rank much higher.
Rankings are all well and fine but let us really look at where the improvements came from. DeVante Parker became a 1,000-yard receiver who showed Pro Bowl caliber play consistently. Mike Gesicki, a second-round “bust” who was lost under Adam Gase is starting to become a star. O’Shea’s receivers all grew in 2019 from Allen Hurns to Isaiah Ford and we can’t forget about how well Preston Williams played before his injury.
Brian Flores gets a lot of credit for this shift in culture and grit that the team is playing with but his assistants, including Patrick Graham on defense, deserve a lot of credit and O’Shea is going to get an influx of talent this off-season. It will be exciting to see what the offense does in year two of this regime.