Brian Flores

Coaching separating Miami Dolphins from worst of the worst

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The Miami Dolphins did everything they could to deprive the roster of talent for 2019. They traded almost every player with any possible value for draft picks, gearing up for 2020 and beyond. So far, things have gone according to plan. Miami is 0-6 (possibly 0-7 after Monday Night Football) and racing towards the first overall pick.

However, the Dolphins have competition to be the worst of the worst.

On paper, there’s no question which of these teams are the least talented. Miami is filled with scrappy young players, but very few are proven. Now, with the recent trade of Kenyan Drake to the Arizona Cardinals, there’s even less talent on the roster. How can the Miami Dolphins possibly have any competition to the rights for the first player off the board next offseason?

Simple answer. Coaching trumps talent.

Average players can be coached beyond their alleged limitations. However, talented players who are badly coached end up looking a lot worse than they really are. This is what is happening around the league now.

The Cincinnati Bengals have plenty of talent, but head coach Zac Taylor is not living up to expectations. It doesn’t help that veteran Andy Dalton is hindering his team at quarterback more than helping.

The Washington Redskins fired their head coach Jay Gruden, putting Bill Callahan as the interim. Gruden did not want to play rookie QB Dwayne Haskins, opting to put in veterans Case Keenum or Colt McCoy over the owner’s wishes.

And of course, the New York Jets, coached by former Dolphins coach Adam Gase.

Enough said.

Bad coaching can ruin football teams, and it really brings into question what the Dolphins could have accomplished if Gase was the coach he was originally advertised as. Could Miami have made it to the playoffs for two consecutive years? The talent was obviously there. But clearly, Gase is not a good coach. He wasn’t with Miami, and he’s not with New York.

So now Brian Flores takes command of a team with players who have undeveloped talent. Role players fill out the roster, but very few players are easily recognizable. Xavien Howard, Jerome Baker, Reshad Jones, Albert Wilson, maybe a few others. And yet, despite the lack of talent – and their winless record – the Dolphins are somehow trending up.

How is that possible?

Maybe, just maybe, Brian Flores is a good coach, teaching his players how to win in the face of challenges they don’t really have the talent to overcome.

“From the first play to the last play and every play in between, they all count.” Flores said on Thursday. “So you want to have high execution really on every play, and good communication, because you don’t know which one it’s going to be that is the difference between winning and losing. I think that mentality, that every play counts and if you dwell on previous plays – good or bad – that will affect the next play. So just having a next-play mentality and an every-play-counts mentality. That’s where I would start.

“To me, the next part is there are critical moments in the game. Let’s call it critical red-zone possession or a critical third down or a defensive possession after a score. There’s kind of critical points in the game. Again, every play counts and every play is critical; but there are critical moments and junctures in a game where as a team, we need to kind of recognize that and play our best football right then.”

That is the mark of a good coach. Good coaches take whatever they have and make the best of it. That is also what Bill Belichick has made a career out of. He turns otherwise nameless players and turns them into stars. True, he has Tom Brady to help make ends meet, but there are very few teams who can talk about the ‘next man up’ mentality, and actually apply it effectively.

Flores isn’t there yet. However, the fact that the Miami Dolphins are still competing in games and fighting to the very end to succeed, that’s coaching. Flores just might be Miami’s next great coach, but it will take some time for the talent to arrive before that judgment can be made. Belichick is successful with Tom Brady, and vice versa.

Wait until 2020 when Flores (hopefully) gets his version of Tom Brady, whoever that may be. Once the QB position has been firmly addressed, maybe Flores can build on what he’s doing with the players he has to make do with, and turn the Dolphins back into a true contender. His talentless team is trending up, while talented teams are falling on their face much worse. That speaks volumes.

Luis Sung has covered the Miami Dolphins for numerous outlets such as Dolphins Wire for six years. Follow him on Twitter: @LuisDSung

Dan Marino

Dolphins dissed again as Dan Marino ranks 41st on NFL Game Changers

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It’s no secret that the national media has a bias against all things Miami. It doesn’t matter if it’s the Dolphins, the Heat, or the Marlins. Media members have called for action to be taken against the Dolphins for their apparent tanking efforts. Meanwhile, those same media members are saying teams like the Bengals would be wise to cut their losses and attempt to put themselves in a position for the number one overall pick.

In other words, tank 2019.

That double standard is something Miami sports fans have had to accept. However, when the greatness of Miami’s legends is disregarded as nothing more than average, then it’s time for heads to roll.

Ask almost any defender from the 80s and 90s who the toughest quarterback to defend against was, and they will probably tell you it was Dan Marino. He lacks a ring, but was no doubt the greatest passer to ever play in the NFL. Marino set records that wouldn’t be broken until the NFL took action to accommodate quarterback play. In just Marino’s second season, 1984, he threw for over 5,000 yards and 48 touchdowns. He then threw 44 touchdowns in 1986. Those numbers were unheard of back then. No QB would get to 40 touchdown passes for another 13 years (Kurt Warner, 1999). No QB would get to 5,000 yards for another 25 years (Drew Brees, 2008).

In many ways, Dan Marino is responsible for the type of play we see in the NFL today.

So how in the world can anyone make a top 100 list of things/players who changed the NFL as we know it, and only put Marino in 41st place?

Now, some would say that this is just an arbitrary list in order to put together a clip show. Perhaps, but then don’t make it a top 100 list. When someone makes a list like this, the placings matter. Anyone who watched Dan Marino play knows how ahead of his time he was. He had amazing velocity on throws. His release speed was unmatched. If he were in his prime today, Marino would likely break all the records again, and no one would be able to catch him this time.

But what makes this truly egregious is not where he’s placed. It’s who – or what – is ahead of him.

So they expect viewers to believe that a group of cheerleaders and fake grass (really, fake grass?) had more of an impact on the game of football than the man who turned the NFL into a passing league? The astroturf is the worst offender here, especially since a lot of teams are looking to transition back to normal grass. So, is the impact really still felt (literally) today?

Changing the game means forever, it means that it reshaped the NFL as we know it. Dan Marino did that. Dallas cheerleaders? All due respect to them, not really. Astroturf? Players don’t even like it and teams are going back to grass. How do they rank above the greatest passer in NFL history?

Either this is a result of a young intern who doesn’t know who Dan Marino is and thinks Patrick Mahomes is already the greatest QB of all time, or it’s a slap in the face to the legacy of the Miami Dolphins and their most legendary player. Either way, something needs to be done about this. If not now, then in future lists when discussing greatest anything. Dan Marino was the Patrick Mahomes of his era. The level of excitement fans had watching him across the nation prompted the NFL to change the rules to let future QBs have a chance of pulling the same feats.

41st overall, that’s the most blasphemous thing that can ever be said about the legend that is Dan Marino.

Well, except for the idea that he wasn’t good enough of a QB because he never won a championship. But that’s a discussion for another time.

Luis Sung has covered the Miami Dolphins for numerous outlets such as Dolphins Wire for six years. Follow him on Twitter: @LuisDSung

Justise Winslow Is Ready To Elevate Miami Heat

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If ever there was a time for Justise Winslow to get comfortable, this offseason was it.

The 10th overall pick from the 2015 draft had just completed his most productive NBA campaign to date. His stat sheet was essentially a string of career highs, including his 12.6 points, 4.3 assists and 1.5 threes per game. His 43.3 field-goal percentage was a new personal best. Ditto his 51.3 true shooting percentage. His 37.5 percent perimeter success rate narrowly missed his best mark, but it shattered the dismal 25.8 percent from his first two seasons.

If he wanted to kick his feet up and bask in the finest offerings available on South Beach, who could’ve blamed him?

But that’s not how Winslow operates. That season—a mini-breakout at the very least in the eyes of everyone—wasn’t what he wanted.

Before his second season even started, he made his grandiose ambitions known. The then 20-year-old told assembled media at the Bahamas-based training camp that he not only wanted to lead the team “but to be a star and have my own team one day.”

So, Winslow didn’t settle this summer. He barely left the gym.

Despite skyrocketing his three-point percentage over the previous two seasons, he overhauled his shooting form. He changed his release point and sped up his stroke. He took hundreds of shots per day, from all spots on the court.

He had turned his three-ball from a worrisome weakness to something he could unleash when he really needed it. But that wasn’t enough. In his mind, his outside shot can be one of the sharpest weapons in his arsenal.

“I think I should be [shooting] around five or six threes a game, but shooting a high percentage,” Winslow told Five Reasons Sports. “I want to shoot plus-40. I’ve been around 38, but I think shooting more will make it easier to get that percentage.”

Winslow relays this information so calmly and confidently it’s easy to overlook what he’s saying. Ten players shot 40-plus percent with five-plus attempts last season. Four maintained that accuracy rate on six-plus shots a night.

It’s a wildly ambitious aim to join that company, but dreaming big is kind of his thing.

When laying out his roadmap for the season at Media Day, Winslow’s laundry list of self-imposed duties and goals included: “Starting point guard. Playmaking. Second-Team All-Defense. Most Improved [Player].”

Remember when Winslow’s pining for the point guard spot caused such a media frenzy in September? Well, there he was running the first team offense on opening night while veteran Goran Dragic steered the second team.

Winslow ran it tremendously, too. He scored 27 points, dished seven dimes and snagged seven boards. When the cameras deservedly came his way in the locker room afterward, he essentially shrugged, stared straight into the lens and asked, ‘What did you expect?’

“This is who I am,” Winslow told reporters. “I’m not going to have 27, seven and seven every night. But my role is to lead this team, and I want to be held accountable to it. I’ve earned it.”

Once billed as a potential franchise savior, Winslow again finds himself with a franchise that doesn’t need saving. Not when four-time All-Star Jimmy Butler will make $142 million to fill that very role.

But for Miami to elevate its ceiling, to leap from a lottery team to one hosting a first-round playoff series, to post elite ranks on defense and above-average ones on offense, it could certainly use a costar.

Winslow—hungrier, more confident, more aggressive than ever—looks ready to share the center stage.

“He has an ability to impact winning, put his fingerprints on winning in a lot of different facets,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “That’s not just with the statistics or the box scores, but it’s with his voice, with his leadership, with his command of the game on both sides of the floor. He really truly has to be a great two-way basketball player for us.”

The Heat don’t need Dion for the playoffs

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There are two planets. One’s ozone is collapsing, with overheating oceans causing superstorms.

The other is 2700 light years away, moderate amount of sunlight, with and 297 day calendar. That is the solar divide between living on Planet Dolphins and Planet Heat.

Pat Riley’s organization had an 89 percent chance of going to the playoffs before the last game of the preseason. The Dolphins have a 42 percent chance of finishing dead last and garnering the number one draft pick.
For the past two years the Heat have been one game away from making it into the playoffs. This summer they had the chance for Russell Westbrook but the ledger price would cost them the majority of the roster. Imagine parting with Goran Dragic, Justice Winslow, and Bam Adebayo- who’ve all proven to be Biscayne Bay approved, for one player. Especially coming off a season where Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant just got injured. The math didn’t make sense.

Last Friday night Erik Spoelstra, before God and Mike D’Antoni, sent out the JV squad to keep pace with James Harden and Russell Westbrook. The fourth quarter mirrored a finals game. Westbrook ran off the floor with an injured finger. Kendrick Nunn, a total unknown here before July, scored 32 points in 30 minutes — and ended the game with eight more. The Heat were within five. Spoelstra’s motive wasn’t to win. He came to compete. Jimmy Butler was on the bench, Dragic saw little time. This was about turning everyone into the first string.

The real glitch didn’t come from the Rockets. It was obvious Spoelstra wanted to see his second tier compete against Harden and D’Antoni. The main problem was Dion Waiters complaining as Nunn and Herro were scoring. A clear shot of the bench saw everyone clapping. Waiters, at one point, had his arms crossed.

If you’re sulking in preseason, what the hell happens during the playoffs? One of the biggest worries about bringing Butler down to Miami was how he would mesh with an already formed team. Meanwhile Waiters is on Instagram liking comments that say trade him. On Twitter, he’s doubling down on how “anyone can win with the Big Three.” He must have been on 2K when Hassan Whiteside was put on a plane to Portland.

While Jimmy Butler is getting everyone in the gym at 3:30am, the other serves friction. His message, “They’re stealing my showtime.” Pat Riley didn’t concede the team to Lebron James. What makes Dion Waiters think that he owns Miami? If Butler had instigated half of this, there would be hell to pay. Eighty-nine percent. The Miami Heat are going to the playoffs. Just don’t expect Dion Waiters to be there.

Hurricanes morale being tested in Manny Diaz’s first season

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The rare five game homestand concluded with a very disappointing overtime loss to Georgia Tech and now back-to-back road games against Pittsburgh and Florida State awaits them.

According to expectations, the Miami Hurricanes were supposed to win all five home games and be well positioned for a spot at the ACC Championship Game. Instead they went 3-2 including a win against a ranked Virginia team.

“Last week, we just lost our focus,” said safety Gurvan Hall Jr.

Due to the losses to Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, the criticism and skepticism towards first year head coach Manny Diaz is beginning to mount. Some on social media even went as far as to suggest that he should be fired and replaced with a big name coach. Saying “this is a rebuild” in his most recent postgame press conference set off fans and media alike due to it being contrary to the offseason hype that was “The New Miami.”

So far the players still support him.

“He’s still the head of the snake,” Hall said. “I mean, he coached the defense last year. We all believe in him. We all trust him.”

“There’s going to be criticism wherever you go,” said senior defensive tackle Pat Bethel, who went through three years of having Diaz as defensive coordinator before this season. “It don’t matter if you’re a meter maid. It don’t matter if you’re a doctor. It don’t matter if you work on the powerline. It’s going to be criticism regardless, and that’s just the way it is. We got to put our mindset and put our tunnel vision on so that we can do the job at hand. We can’t be worried about the outside world.”

Why does Bethel or the rest of his team still feel like Diaz is the right guy to lead them?

“He just is,” he said. “He’s a guy you’ve got to be around. He brings the same energy every day. He knows how to run the system. He knows how to coach. He knows exactly what he’s doing, so we trust him fully, and we’re all in for him.”

For better or for worst, the Hurricanes are stuck in the Manny Diaz experiment. It takes a lot of money to hire a head football coach and it takes just as much to fire him prematurely. Diaz has been with the team for three years as Mark Richt’s defensive coordinator prior to becoming the head coach so these are also his guys. 

With road games against Pitt and Florida State coming up, Diaz may not afford to return to Miami empty handed.

Panthers coach Joel Quenneville focuses on the positives from opening-night loss to Lightning. (Craig Davis for Five Reasons Sports)

Panthers Multiple Comebacks Fall Short

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The Panthers opened up their road trip in a spot they haven’t been familiar with in quite some time, a good start to the season. Entering tonight’s game, the Panthers were sitting at 4-2-3 and held Wild Card # 2. They entered the game with points in 7 of their first 9 games.

The Panthers faced adversity to start the game, with defender Mike Matheson and Vincent Trocheck hurt and not playing. Mike Matheson didn’t make the trip with the team while Trocheck is day to day. 

The Panthers were down multiple times tonight in this game, being down 1-0, 3-2 and 4-2. The Panthers came back every time, which has been a theme for them this season. In this point streak, the Panthers have came back from a 2+ goal deficit 3 times in the 3rd period.

At the 14:59 point in the third period, defender Mark Pysyk (who has oddly been playing as a forward) scored what had seemed like the go ahead goal but just 3 minutes later, the Flames’ Sam Bennett tied it to go to OT, where the Panthers eventually fell in a shootout.

The loss today continues on what seems to be a trend for this Panthers team, great scoring who never seem to be out of the game but still to be struggling on the defensive ends.

Sergi Bobrovsky continues to struggles as he gave up 5 goals tonight. It’s the 5th game that he has let up at least 4 goals.

Though the Panthers loss, their point streak was extended and remain one of two teams who still have 2 or less regulation loses.

Now at 4-2-4, the Panthers climbed up in the standings and sit third in the Atlantic, trailing first place Buffalo by 5 points with a game in hand.

The Panthers continue on their road trip Sunday vs the Edmonton Oilers.

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Fun factoid about the game by Roy Bellamy of the Dan LeBatard show, the Panthers participated in their 162nd ever shootout in franchise history, which is the most in NHL history since that time. That is right on #Brand.

 

Ryan Ragone making the field as a Hurricane walk-on should be celebrated

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Ryan Ragone joined the Miami Hurricanes this year as a walk-on after redshirting his freshman year at Arkansas State. He went on to play his way onto the field for a few snaps here and there before playing most of last week’s game vs. Georgia Tech in place for the injured Michael Pinckney. 

The tackling from the defense was subpar overall and the Yellow Jackets were able to rush for 207 yards and beat the Hurricanes 28-21 in overtime, but Ragone got the brunt of the fans frustration on social media.

That led to teammates and coaches defending him soon after.

“I thought Ryan Ragone went in and did a heck of a job,” Miami defensive coordinator Blake Baker said. “If he was struggling maybe that was something we could’ve discussed but he went in there, he played 31 snaps, we had him down finding his way around the ball 10 times from either an assist or a solo tackle. There’s some plays that I’m sure just every kid that walked on that field would like to have back but I tip my hat to him.”

The consensus from fans, blogs and media alike was that freshman scholarship linebacker Sam Brooks should’ve filled in at weakside linebacker. However he is middle linebacker Shaq Quarterman’s backup. If he was in that position, he would be going in green. 

“He’s moving from defensive end, what he played in high school, to linebacker, so he’s learning a new position,” Diaz said. “It would be unfair of us to expect him to understand how to play Mike [middle linebacker] and Will, right? That’s why he didn’t feature defensively on Saturday.”

Fans typically don’t care about the players on a personal level because there’s always a great distance between the two. College football is not a professional sport but since it’s on TV and in a venue that holds more people than towns across America, it might as well be. The brand and uniforms are professional even though the kids are not, but they are treated as such in their criticism.

Linebacker is a position of historic pride at the University of Miami and for Ragone to position himself for playing time in an ACC game as a walk-on is an accomplishment worth celebrating.

“It’s one of those deals where his number was called,” Baker said, “and I thought he answered it.”

But the fans are so blinded by the rewards of the score to have any interests of who he or any other student-athlete is as people. Whether or not it’s any fault of their own, is for another column.

Miami Heat Predictions: Five Reasons Sports Network

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The Miami Heat start their 2019-20 season with the most optimism in at least four years… and perhaps longer.

They have a real star, a streamlined roster and an intriguing group of young players.

What do some of the Five Reasons Sports Network contributors expect?

 

Zach Buckley (@ZBuckleyNBA): This Heat team has sneaky-good upside to climb as high as No. 3 in the East. Jimmy Butler might be my favorite surprise top-five MVP finisher, with a leap similar to (if a bit more subdued than) the one Paul George made last season. If Miami has a finalist for both Rookie of the Year (Tyler Herro) and Most Improved Player (Bam Adebayo or Justise Winslow), it could sneak its way into 50-win territory. My crystal ball sees the Heat riding a top-five defense to a 48-34 finish and the conference’s No. 4 seed.

Alejandro Villegas (@AlejandroVG32): The Miami Heat season is finally here and we’re all excited.  No more Hassan Whiteside whining (though now we have Dion Waiters filling up that role), and finally a superstar who needs to win now. Jimmy Butler is in his 30s already and there is no time to be wasting his time. So we’ll probably see his best version from the go, with a bunch of exciting young guys. I see the Miami Heat winning 50 games this season, with a solid defensive season and hopefully a set productive rotation (and Erik Spoelstra not trying to figure it out the entire season). Hopefully they make it to the East Conference semifinals at least.

Greg Sylvander (@LeftyLeif): The arrival of Jimmy Butler should do wonders for the scoring challenges this group faced in recent seasons. Just how big of a leap Bam Adebayo and Justise Winslow take in starting roles will be the crucial element in how far this team can go this season. If Tyler Herro is as good as advertised, it further elevates the trajectory in a big way. Having flexible depth that should allow the team to survive the occasional injury bug, and a combination of expiring contracts and young players to remain in position to execute a trade for another frontline player, I see 50 wins.

Paul Austria (@PaulAustria_): The addition of Jimmy Butler is enormous, especially when you consider that the Heat “culture” is what drew him in versus staying with a better contender in Philadelphia.  I’ve always felt like what Miami was lacking these past two years was a wing player that can create his own shot, aka a guy that can just “get buckets.” Now they have two in Butler and Herro. Winslow seems to be getting more and more confident playing point guard by the day and Adebayo as well. I think the addition of Meyers Leonard is slept on, but what ultimately will decide the success of the Heat this season will be how well they rebound, as they lost an elite rebounder in Hassan Whiteside. The cohesion the team showed in the preseason is absolutely noteworthy and a 52-30 record with a 4-5 seed in the playoffs is surely within reach for Spo and company.

Ethan Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick): Well, here we are, back to relevance. It seemed like everyone (but Dion Waiters and James Johnson) has been smiling since the summer. Erik Spoelstra has been freed from his major malcontent (Hassan Whiteside) and has interchangeable parts that he can deploy countless ways. The hype train may have gotten a little ahead of itself locally, but this is a good team with a chance to improve significantly after a rough early schedule stretch. Oh, and don’t rule out a trade prior to the deadline. I’ll conservatively say 47-35, which should be good for third or fourth in a shallow East.

Michael Sonbeek (@Dutchbeek): The Heat field a team that they haven’t had in a long time……a high upside young team. Adding Jimmy Butler to the mix should put an end to their recent mediocre streak — especially now that they have realized their mistakes from summers past and have begun to clean that up. I’ll say 48 wins and a second round loss, possibly better if Tyler Herro turns out to be legit.

David Friedman (@TacoBoutSports): As we move into a new era of Dwyane Wade-less Miami Heat basketball, the fresh faces of Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro have Heat fans feeling cocky once again. Butler oozes Heat culture and it feels as if it’s contagious in the locker room. Herro has gone from a “huh?” draft pick to someone that Heat fans view as untouchable. The Heat should continue to make moves during the season, maybe a little Philly cheese special, and will push for a top 4 seed. Let’s say 47-35 and a third spot.

Ricky J. Marc (@RickyJMarc): After finally acquiring that bridge star to move Miami into a new, post-Flash era, the Heat finally have direction again. Most players’ roles are going to be clear now, and Erik Spoelstra looks to be rejuvenated after a tough go at it these last few years. Jimmy Butler and the Heat look to be a attitudinal match made in Miami, and with the ever-improving Justise Winslow as the team’s future PG, Bam Adebayo as the team’s center of the future (now that Hassan Whiteside is finally gone), and Tyler Herro looking to be Miami’s starting SG of the future, this team looks good again. Expect a scrappy defensive squad that will look like a 55-win team on good nights and a 44-win team on bad ones. If there’s one thing to know, it’s that this team won’t give up at any point this season. They’ll make some noise this year, and could very well sneak into the Eastern Conference Finals if one of the East’s contenders aren’t careful. I think 48-34 sounds about right.

5 Minute Dolphin Lead: the best time of our lives

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For five minutes the Dolphins lead the Bills and it was the most hopeful moment of the entire Miami season.

The Buffalo Bills put up two field goals. In an act that surely scared the hell out of Brian Flores, the Dolphins marched right down the field to score a run-it-in backfield touchdown. In bright red flashing numbers on the screen: 7-6. I choked on air. What was happening.

I’ve said all year, there’s the team- then there’s management. The players want to win. Tanking only works for the coach, GM, and owner. There is no benefit as an Offensive Line Coach for my team to under perform. It’s even worse for players. Recovery is gruesome. Making them placeholders for your draft picks while they sustain injury is asinine. In week one when they were calling their agents, screaming get me outta here, like the Dwayne Wade T-Mobile commercial.

I watch every week for the players. Not for Stephen Ross or his New England hire. As happy as I was to see that touchdown, two minutes later you’re angry because you know this isn’t a management that wants to win. Wasting an entire year on a method that doesn’t work for unproven rookies. As happy as I was to watch them take the lead, sheer rage followed. The Dolphins don’t just have to beat the team on the field, they have to beat their own organization.

Relish that 7-6 lead all year long. Winning isn’t something you stop doing this year and magically turn on next year. Just ask the Cleveland Browns.