One area that Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores has impressed this season? His aggressiveness. This team has attacked the opposition with surprise onside kicks, fake field goals, fake punts and consistently going for it on 4th down and bypassing the opportunity to settle for 3 points instead. And while many of those plays, such as the early 4th-down attempt in the Giants red zone last week, don’t work due to talent issues, Flores continues to plug away.
Seeing the numbers quantified paints an impressive picture. According to Ben Baldwin of The Athletic, the Miami Dolphins are currently own the 6th most aggressive 4th down aggression rate in the NFL. Among the teams head of them? The Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills and the Houston Texans.
4th down decision-making in 2019.
The Seahawks have been promoted from 2nd-worst to 3rd-worst!
The Redskins just want the season to end… pic.twitter.com/hZyRydiGUG
— new-age analytical (@benbbaldwin) December 19, 2019
The stipulations for Baldwin are simple. Any plays in the final minute of each half is excluded from the data set — as are plays in which the team’s win probability is below 20%. Under these circumstances, Miami can rest easy knowing that they have a head coach that isn’t going to call a game scared.
The Dolphins have seen some pretty soft game management in years past. Who remembers the Adam Gase debacle against the Colts in 2018? What about Joe Philbin’s “queasy” moment against the Green Bay Packers? There’s no nauseating conservatism here from Flores — and that should be celebrated as his first season as the Dolphins’ head coach comes to a close.
The Dolphins’ coaching staff has made a lot of impressive progress from the start of the season until now. But the aggressive approach exudes confidence in the players and is one of the more critical developments to Miami’s future as a team.
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