The Miami Dolphins are a drastically different team than they were in Week 1 of the 2019 season.
Former New England Patriots de-facto defensive coordinator and current Dolphins head coach Brian Flores has taken tremendous strides forward — beginning with his Week 17 win over New England last season. Since then, the Dolphins collected Kyle Van Noy, Byron Jones, Elandon Roberts, Shaq Lawson, Ted Karras and more during free agency.
Miami began season with an 0-7 record last year, but finished with a respectable 5-11, considering the horrendous start. Belichick spoke to reporters on Wednesday ahead of the Week 1 matchup, giving all the credit to Flores and his ability to turn around the franchise.
“It very much has his stamp on it,” Belichick said. “It’s his program. He’s done things the way that he wants to do them, what he believes in. They certainly took their lumps on that on the first quarter of the season last year. But as the season went on, they developed more consistency and got things in a much better place, end up winning five games, beat several good teams, beat us at the end of the year.”
Flores spent 11 seasons under Belichick and learned a thing or two about building a roster and running a winning team.
“I think I can see what he’s trying to do and the players that he brought in. I can see how he would think that they would fit into the culture and the type of program that he’s trying to establish,” Belichick said. “It looks like they’re a lot better than they were last year based on the acquisitions that they’ve made. … just looking at what they’ve done in terms of roster building, it’s pretty clear that Brian has a plan, he knows where he’s going and he’s taking steps to get there, that’s pretty obvious.”
The Patriots will debut Cam Newton and an entirely new team against an up-and-coming Dolphins squad on Sunday. Belichick will have his hands full against the former Patriot.
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