On the 11th Day of Christmas, the NFL gave to me: a Coach of the Year award for Miami Dolphins Head Coach Brian Flores.
This year, the Dolphins are in the thick of the playoff race, currently owning a 9-5 record while sporting one of the best defenses in the league, and a young offense with an exciting future. It's difficult to remember given how quick of a turnaround this team has had since winning 5 of their last 9 in 2019, but going into the 2019 season the Dolphins roster was considered by many to be the worst roster in modern NFL history. After trading away key players like FS Minkah Fitzpatrick, LB Kiko Alonso, OT Laremy Tunsil, WR Kenny Stills and RB Kenyan Drake (midseason), the team seemed to be having a massive identity crisis. Their QB room consisted of Josh Rosen—who was dumped by the Cardinals after a season—and Ryan Fitzpatrick, who had bounced around the league due to his often-rocky performances with unsustainable sugar-highs and soul-crushing, interception-laden lows in production. Their best weapon on an offense with a poor offensive line was former first-round receiver Devante Parker, who at the time was considered to be a bust after failing to clear 800 yards receiving in any of his first 4 years. On defense, their star corner Xavien Howard only played 5 games, and outside of him, the defense looked to have little-to-no talent. Oh, and they had Kalen Ballage at RB for much of the season, who put up possibly the worst rushing season of all-time in the NFL, with 75 carries for only 135 yards (1.8 YPC).
Remarkably, Flores managed to win 5 games with this team that was considered by many to be a favorite to join the 2008 Lions and the 2016 Browns as the only 0-16 teams in history. Flores did not stop there though. After gaining the trust of his players and the organization through his anti-tanking philosophy, it was clear that the team was only destined to get better as they added more pieces. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest miscalculations that teams who tank for the #1 pick make: even if they secure the blue-chip star player in the draft, for many teams losing that many games can be complete locker-room wrecker seasons that do more damage than can ever be repaired by one player.
With massive amounts of cap space and multiple early draft picks in the 2020 offseason, the Dolphins had the capacity to make some huge splashes for their roster, and they did not disappoint. CB Byron Jones is a freak athlete who is a technically sound, sticky corner that makes few big-mistakes. Though his career interception-totals are low, the Dolphins made him the highest-paid corner in the NFL knowing he would be playing across from CB Xavien Howard, who is undoubtedly the best ball-hawk in the league. They also dded both LB/DE Kyle Van Noy, DE Shaq Lawson and DE Emmanuel Ogbah as well. Van Noy is a versatile, hard-working chess piece that fits perfectly in Flores' Belichick-derivative defense scheme, while the Dolphins hoped that Ogbah would add explosiveness to the pass rush on the outside, and Lawson would be able to contribute both to the pass-rushing and run-stopping needs of the team. The Dolphins also had 3 first-round picks, selecting Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa, USC OT Austin Jackson and Auburn SLCB Noah Ighbinoghene.
Flores built a defense that perfectly fits his Cover-1 base scheme: trust CBs Xavien Howard, Byron Jones to stick to receivers in man coverage while former Patriots CB turned SS Eric Rowe covers tight ends while the front 7 creates pressure via numbers, with consistent zero blitzes mixed in to force QBs to get the ball out quickly. Flores trusts his DBs to lock down pass-catchers, and with the number of rushers he sends on most plays, opposing QBs are constantly under-pressure in this scheme. This scheme is why the Dolphins are second in the league in INTs and 11th in the league in sacks: which is a massive step forward after they came in last in sacks in the NFL in 2019. The Fins' defense has made a massive turnaround thanks to Flores' aggressive defensive playcalling, and it will only get better as players grow more comfortable with is, and as they continue to add pieces.
All of the success has come despite a lackluster offensive unit that has dealt with a lot of injuries this season. As anyone who has listened to our podcast would know, I am a huge fan of their rookie QB Tua Tagovailoa. My favorite thing about him is his field reading prowess—which is the reason why his INT totals are so low for a rookie—but I do not believe that he has a good enough supporting cast around him. His best receiver Devante Parker has missed the last two games due to a hamstring injury. Promising young WR Preston Williams went down early in the season with a foot injury while breakout RB Myles Gaskin has missed an all-but-one game since week eight. The only weapon Tagovailoa has consistently had on offense is TE Mike Gesicki, but nonetheless, Tua has still managed to put up a 92.5 passer rating this season. Flores could have decided to tank last season for star LSU QB Joe Burrow, but after seeing the Bengals continue to struggle despite Burrows's best efforts (pre-injury) while the Dolphins are sitting at a cool 9-5, it is safe to say he made the right decision.
Brian Flores has been able to turn this Dolphins team from the worst team in the league in early 2019, to a 9-5 team that will likely be in the playoffs with a rookie QB this season. That is a turnaround rate that is simply unheard of in the NFL, and as a result, I cannot see any scenario that justifies him not winning coach of the year. Sean McDermott's Bills' team was already a playoff team last year that added more pieces, Mike Tomlin's Steelers have lost their last 3 straight, Matt Lafleur has Aaron Rodgers and a lot of fantastic players on his Packers team, and Reid's Chiefs already won the Super Bowl last year. Kevin Stefanski is considered the favorite to win the award by many, but his roster was expected to win more than 6 games last year, Freddie Kitchens proved to be a bad coach before being fired, and Baker Mayfield had one of the worst sophomore slumps in recent memory. Ron Rivera would be my second pick for COTY, but the Washington Football Team is still just 6-8, which is a little low of a record to guarantee that high of an award given all of the other great options this season, despite some quality wins and fantastic defensive performance.
It would be a crime if Brian Flores did not win NFL Coach of the Year.