Flores, Dolphins once again at the forefront of change

Miami Dolphins’ players released a powerful video Thursday night that showed the type of leadership Brian Flores has instilled in his players.

A New Era in Miami

It has been 584 days since Brian Flores became the 13th head coach in Miami Dolphins’ history. It didn’t take long for everyone to notice a change in South Florida.

Sure, after all the moves and signing this offseason, the new players have fans excited.

But it is Miami’s second-year head coach that should give everyone the most hope, and not just for his schemes and strategy.

Earlier this offseason, I wrote about Brian Flores, his leadership during the George Floyd Protests, and how the NFL should’ve followed his lead. 

So, with the season approaching and the world watching to see how the NFL would handle protests and other social issues.

It was no surprise that once again Brian Flores and his Miami Dolphins were the first to make a statement.

BREAKING NEWS: The@MiamiDolphins players will stay inside for both national anthems. They express their discontentment with what they call “fluff and empty gestures” by the @NFL pic.twitter.com/ghUktHhPt9

— Jay Williams (@RealJayWilliams) September 10, 2020

13 Dolphins players including head coach Brian Flores appeared in this incredible video created by Kaleb Thornhill, the Dolphins Director of Player Engagement.

After the video released, reaction around Twitter spread quickly, as expected.

Most of the feedback was positive. However, as you can expect, there was a small group that had an issue with an NFL franchise not “sticking to sports”.

Flores was asked about his thoughts on the video and the origin behind it.

“It came about because of all of the things that have gone on in the country over – obviously starting with Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. I think this has been an ongoing conversation. I think we all know how it came about. It was a player-driven decision that came from a lot of conversations about trying to find a way to voice their opinion. It’s about issues that are important to the players and we decided to move forward with it. They are things that I’m supportive of as well, and that’s why I joined in with them.”

I could not be happier with how Miami’s players and staff have handled this unprecedented season.

There’s an old saying that “not all heroes wear capes.” The same holds true for football players and their helmets and pads.

But in this instance, Coach Flores and his players are heroes.

And like many others have said, I have never been more proud to call myself a Dolphins’ fan — that has everything to do with what this team has begun to embody both on and off the field.

He was then asked if the players had talked to owner Stephen Ross and what they hope to achieve with this call to action.

“I talked to Steve about the video. He was supportive. But it was directed at everyone. I think every individual in this country can do a little bit better. It’s players, it’s coaches, it’s owners, it’s media, it’s everyone. Everyone can do better and that was the message. I think to try to misconstrue the message or take it some other – in a different light – that wasn’t what the message was supposed to be. We can all do better. We all need to do better. What’s happening in this country and really around the world, we need change. And it’s something that we’ve been saying for a long time. The players were – the video speaks for itself from that standpoint; but from a message standpoint, it’s that we can all do better.”

The strongest statement from the Dolphins’ HC on Thursday morning was what he said regarding the NFL’s response to the ‘protest movement’.

“I think we can all do better. That was the message in the video. Nobody is going to put words in my mouth about how I feel about this, that or the other thing. I think the video speaks for itself… We’ve got kids who can’t go to school because there is no WiFi. To me, that’s a major issue because I would have been that kid growing up where I grew up. We can do better. We can find ways to help more people. That’s the message in the video. That’s what it is.”

 

Elandon Roberts, Isaiah Ford, and Mike Gesicki also weighed in on the video and how unified Miami’s roster is.

elandon roberts on the video: "we talked about what we wanted to do as a team. and we did what we did as a team."

— josh houtz (@houtz) September 11, 2020

gesicki on the video: "it's obviously being talked about. i think it was a pretty powerful message. i think we got the message across that we wanted to get across, and i think it's been able to speak for itself."

— josh houtz (@houtz) September 11, 2020

ford on the video: "we all talked together as a team–as a whole. we worked together to put the video together, and i think the end video is what we tried to portray."

— josh houtz (@houtz) September 11, 2020

It took 584 days for Brian Flores to reshape the Dolphins into his vision.

We got a long way to go as a society. But if we listen to what Flores and his players preach, change could be imminent.

“We can all do better.”

#InBrianFloresWeTrust

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