The Miami Dolphins’ coaching staff is going to look drastically different than the one that walked off the field as winners for the Dolphins’ season ending win over the New England Patriots. That could be a bad thing, but it may well be a good thing when it is all said and done. Because the string of hires, while not the most inspiring considering the track record in prior settings, all have a common goal in mind.
Chemistry.
That’s the name of the game in Miami — everyone is expected to be in chorus in this organization. From the football operations to the coaching staff and all the way down to the players in the locker room, chemistry is the standard.
And while we haven’t heard anything to indicate that the Dolphins’ coaching staff had issues on this front, the willingness of Brian Flores to let some of his key assistants walk away seems to suggest that there was some room for improvement on this front. And with Flores’ subsequent hires on the offensive side of the ball, chemistry seems to be a root objective in the hires. The Dolphins have hired Chan Gailey, Steven Marshall and Robby Brown — all of the 2016 New York Jets’ offensive staff. This trio clearly shares a vision for how an offense is supposed to work — and that common goal seems to fit whatever Chris Grier and Brian Flores have in mind for the evolution of the Dolphins’ offense in 2020 and beyond.
No, the results weren’t very good when this group was last together. But neither were the key pieces of the Jets’ offensive personnel in 2016. The key skill players for the Jets that year were over the hill talents in Matt Forte, Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker. So criticism of the on the field product likely becomes unfair if all the blame is placed on the coaches. The offensive line? Also uninspired.
This isn’t to excuse the lack of production from the Jets offense. But Flores is clearly buying into his coaches just like he’s buying into players — if the mentality and the vision is correct, working in chorus will bring everyone closer to the goal. We’re a long way off from figuring out how well it works. But that seems to be the motivating force behind the successive hires from the same coaching tree.
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