Grade Flores: So Far This Season... | Page 4 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Grade Flores: So Far This Season...

I think he and his staff have shown a good about to adjust and they have done a great job of making a team pulling people off the street and getting them ready to start.

The one think I heard about us that I agree with is this. We are a bad team due to lack of talent/lack of training camp with the whole team, but we are not poorly coached.
 
I think he is a worse coach than Cam Cameron. Could have the worst pd in nfl history. Somehow he made the defense a lot worse than last year. New England doesn’t miss him.

Agreed, a head coach IMO is in charge of getting different personalities to play as a unit/team. The Flores Grier combination can't do/ won't do/ did not even try.
 
Given the circumstances, I like what I've seen so far a lot. And that was the question.
Judging only that, I can't hesitate to give a solid A.
I like it so much that I'm gradually developing faith that Flo will have a great future in Miami.
 
F. Should have evaluated the QB position above all. There are almost no keepers on the current roster. Other than acquiring picks that we will waste on the next Charles Harris and Dion Jordan, nothing good has come out of this season.
 
Acquiring talent is on Grier so not fair to grade him for that so there is no grade. His inability so far to take some of the left over talent like Minka, Drake, McCain, Ballage and see them regress imo as well as others moves leaves me with concerns. Regarding the development of all the new players and winning a couple of games he deserves a high A overall a B at this point.
 
C, but will hopefully improve. The good: the players do not give up and keep playing even knowing this is a lost season, the players are more disciplined - least penalized team in the NFL (haven't seen that since the Shula days).

The bad: not sure if these are bad decisions to kind of ensure losses, but the all out blitz with time running out against the Steelers at the end of the first half which let Pittsburgh back in the game, going for 2 against the Redskins instead of trying to win the game in OT (this is the NFL, not a subpar college team trying to upset a top 10 team), and playing Fitz instead of Rosen - we all know the Dolphins are going to lose this year, why not play the guy who may have a future with the team? Play him and let's see if he can develop. You know what you have with Fitz, great character guy, but he's not the future.
 
In all I think Gm should have kept the team together. It would not have been ass painful..
 
I'd give Flores a solid B at this point. To be fair, my expectations for him were pretty low to begin the season with this roster and he has certainly exceeded those expectations. I don't know enough about the behind the scenes issues that occurred with the Minkah situation.....so I'm not going to hold that against him like so many others are.....but I do like what I view as steady improvement by this defense and the energy and aggressiveness this team displays in trying to win.

I also like think the real test for Coach Flores is when there is talent on this roster. I suspect he will continue to excel as a coach with more weapons, based on this years improvement in a couple of the few weapons he actually has, Parker and Gesicki.
 
Very hard to judge given the circumstances.

On the positive side he is clearly building a good team spirit in farcical circumstances; the team are playing hard, Fitzpatrick is having a blast and Christian Wilkins is running around all over the place to celebrate TDs. Whatever it is he's selling the team seem to be buying it. I've been impressed by some inventive playcalling around onside kicks, fake field goals and fourth downs, although I guess it's easier to play balls out when you aren't expected to win. The discipline based on the penalties and tackling stats is a great sign, and although that's gone to **** in the last couple of games I'd imagine a significant cause is the swift turnover of new guys in the secondary.

On the downside there are the odd personnel decisions (McCain, Stills) and the public flip-flopping over Rosen and Fitz. I certainly put the latter down to inexperience and naivety, and hope that in time he learns to manipulate the media rather than vice versa. It's disappointing Rosen isn't playing, to the point where it makes the trade a waste of time, but I understand why and he has obviously prioritised the motivation of the players and carrying that into next year ahead of further evaluation of Rosen.

He's done a good job this year, but it's hard to say how that will carry thorough given the different circumstances we'll be in next year and then again the year after. This franchise is going to go through a very fast transition and he's going to have to adapt his skills to manahge that change. Maybe he's in his element getting the most out of young street FAs but can't cut the mustard with high profile draft picks and free agents. Maybe he excels when the chips are down but can't translate that to success when it's expected.
 
Very hard to judge given the circumstances.

On the positive side he is clearly building a good team spirit in farcical circumstances; the team are playing hard, Fitzpatrick is having a blast and Christian Wilkins is running around all over the place to celebrate TDs. Whatever it is he's selling the team seem to be buying it. I've been impressed by some inventive playcalling around onside kicks, fake field goals and fourth downs, although I guess it's easier to play balls out when you aren't expected to win. The discipline based on the penalties and tackling stats is a great sign, and although that's gone to **** in the last couple of games I'd imagine a significant cause is the swift turnover of new guys in the secondary.

On the downside there are the odd personnel decisions (McCain, Stills) and the public flip-flopping over Rosen and Fitz. I certainly put the latter down to inexperience and naivety, and hope that in time he learns to manipulate the media rather than vice versa. It's disappointing Rosen isn't playing, to the point where it makes the trade a waste of time, but I understand why and he has obviously prioritised the motivation of the players and carrying that into next year ahead of further evaluation of Rosen.

He's done a good job this year, but it's hard to say how that will carry thorough given the different circumstances we'll be in next year and then again the year after. This franchise is going to go through a very fast transition and he's going to have to adapt his skills to manahge that change. Maybe he's in his element getting the most out of young street FAs but can't cut the mustard with high profile draft picks and free agents. Maybe he excels when the chips are down but can't translate that to success when it's expected.
"Farcical".... I like that.

I don't have a problem with the personnel decisions, overall, and I also don't think he was the only one involved. I do think, in hindsight, the situation with Minkah could have been handled differently, but even that, I can see Flores not wanting to let a second year whiner dictate his actions.
 
Here's the thing with Minkah, and I suspect it’s going to be a mantra with this team over and over: No individual is bigger than the team. Flores has said that repeatedly throughout the year.

Minkah Fitzpatrick is a tremendous talent; that’s pretty evident, and it’s a shame that he’s somewhere else. But from what I can tell, it came down to this: Miami wanted to use Fitz at multiple positions to hide the weaknesses in their secondary. Fitz did not want to be used that way, and wanted to be somewhere else.

Would Fitz have been used that way next year, too? I find that unlikely, and I have no idea if conversations to that effect took place, but that’s not really the point. Fitz was not buying in to the way Flores wanted to use him. He did not want to play in Miami under that scheme.

So it was either acquiesce to the way ONE player wanted to do things, or keep to the “team first” mantra.

At that point? Bye, Minkah. I hope your career goes well, and I also hope you regret not buying in to the philosophy.
 
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