To be fair to the detractors of the Miami Dolphins, the first month of the season wasn’t just bad. It was horrendous. Unsightly. The Dolphins were railroaded by the Baltimore Ravens and the New England Patriots alike in the first two weeks of the season — and the national media noticed. There were no shortage of pundits who threw their criticism onto the bonfire. Remember “morally reprehensible”? What about “someone needs to do something”? There were calls for NFL investigations, there were tongue lashings about player safety and there were accusations of blatant tanking on a part of the coaches.
Fast forward to today and the Dolphins finished their first season under Brian Flores at 5-11 and won 5 of their final 9 games on the season. With this roster? Brian Flores should be getting buzz as a top-5 finisher in the NFL’s annual coach of the year award voting.
He might. He might not. But either way, there are a lot of apologies owed to Flores and his Dolphins team after Miami strung together a winning record over their final 9 games. Some of those apologies have started to trickle in.
ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt stepped up to the plate last night to own his own blasting of the Miami Dolphins, conceding that he undersold the team based on the early portions of the season.
I absolutely buried the Dolphins earlier this year. Thought it was embarrassing how little effort they put forth. What they have done in the last ten weeks, most notably today, is outstanding. I was wrong about them. Very, very wrong. Also, Pats….yikes.
— Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) December 29, 2019
Fellow ESPN colleague Mike Greenberg didn’t necessarily apologize after suggesting someone needed to “do something” before the NFL’s tanking problem got out of control, but he did concede that Miami has earned respect across the league for how they’ve put together the end of their season.
The #Dolphins weren’t anywhere near the best team in football this year and Brian Flores won’t be the coach of the year. But there is no collection of players and coaches that earned more respect than the ones in Miami this year.
— Mike Greenberg (@Espngreeny) December 30, 2019
It’s a start. The list of critics certainly extends well beyond the likes of Van Pelt and Greenberg, although you’re not likely to hear a peep from them about their harsh criticisms of the Dolphins. That’s fine though, because Miami will now enter the 2020 offseason with all that they need: a promising young coach, a roster ready for reinforcements and no fake love.
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