Dolphins Excited to Welcome Brian Flores Back to Miami
Brian Flores is returning to the place where he was fired from. A year after Flores was fired by the Miami Dolphins, he makes his return as an assistant with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tua Tagovailoa, the quarterback who played under Flores, gets to welcome back his first NFL head coach.
With such little transition from last year to this year, the fact remains that the Dolphins players are incredibly familiar with what Flores will bring to the table. That means the players will get both sentimental and be knowledgeable about what Flores can bring to a defense.
“It’s exciting, just to be able to see him in person,” Dolphins safety Brandon Jones said. “I haven’t talked to him in a while, obviously, but I’m excited. I know that with the route that he’s taken and being able to – I know he’s been helping out their defense a lot from what I’ve seen. I like to watch film on a lot of other teams and stuff like that. But yeah, he’s been helping them out a lot, and it’ll be really cool to see him.”
Meanwhile, for Tagovailoa, this ends up being one of the weirder games for him as a professional football player. It is a Sunday night, primetime game, and Tagovailoa’s massive return from his severe concussion comes this week, too. The changes are all there from Mike McDaniel to Tagovailoa, but Tagovailoa is looking forward to going up against his former head coach.
“Yeah, I think it’ll be cool being able to go up against the guys that he’s coaching on that side,” Tagovailoa said. “I know he knows personnel really well from being here with us. But I think we’re all excited to go up against their defense. You hear a Pittsburgh Steelers defense and you just think of hard-nosed. You think of a really tough defense. They’re going to give us some good challenges in this game.”
The team remembers Flores as a kind, honest person who mentored them through the rough waters of an NFL season. That is what Dolphins linebacker Jerome Baker remembers about Flores, who coached him up through his young years and beyond as the main defensive coach on the team.
“One thing I’ll say about ‘Coach Flo’ was he always honest,” Baker said. “That was the one thing that never changed. He didn’t care if he hurt your feelings. He didn’t care if it got under your skin a little bit. You knew the guy just wanted to be honest and he was going to tell you the truth and he wanted the best out of you. I always respect that just as a man. He never lied. He never spared my feelings.”
Either way, both of these teams will be vying to get one up on each other. It is a tough matchup for the Steelers will all of the speed that Miami brings to the table, but if they re shut down Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, Flores’ expertise could push them over the edge.
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