Flores and a handful of Miami Dolphins have enjoyed success against Chiefs and Mahomes
An NFL team could do worse than to use the New England Patriots as a model. The Miami Dolphins have taken that path and the results are starting to look, well, Patriot-like.
Two years ago, the Dolphins hired Brian Flores as head coach. He’d spent his entire professional career (since 2008) with the Patriots, the final three seasons as their linebackers coach. After an 0-7 start in 2019, Miami is 13-8, including 8-4 and angling for a playoff spot this season.
The Miami roster includes former Patriots like linebackers Kyle Van Noy and Elandon Roberts, safety Eric Rowe and center Ted Karras.
Flores, some of his current assistants and a few of his old Pats-turned-Fins helped New England sweep the Chiefs in 2018, beating them once in the regular season, 43-40, and again in the AFC Championship Game — a 37-31 victory in overtime.
In both games, the Patriots got off to big leads. The Chiefs took fourth-quarter leads in each meeting only to lose on the final play both times.
That was Patrick Mahomes’ first season as a starter and the Patriots remain the only team to defeat Mahomes twice.
Flores was impressed by Mahomes then, and is even more so now.
“Obviously that was an MVP season for him, so he was doing a lot of good things, a lot of things very well that year,” Flores said. “But I think you see a lot of growth from him, even more command of the offense. I think that’s in part due to even a raised level of confidence. You see a more mature player.”
Here’s how Sunday’s game might play out.
When the Chiefs pass
Patrick Mahomes continues his MVP quest. He missed one touchdown pass to Tyreek Hill when Hill didn’t know he had caught a ball in the end zone, and another to Hill on a holding penalty. Still, 31 touchdowns and two picks this season is an amazing ratio. The Dolphins will look to limit Hill and Travis Kelce and make Sammy Watkins or Mecole Hardman beat them. An area in which Miami excels: is takeaways. They have 21, second in the NFL.
Edge: Chiefs
When the Chiefs run
There probably has not been enough said about the effort of Darrel Williams last week against the Broncos. WIth Clyde Edwards-Helaire out, Le’Veon Bell got the bulk of the snaps, but Williams made some big plays on the Chiefs’ final possession. Miami’s rush defense ranks 21st in the NFL, surrendering 122 yards per game.
Edge Dolphins
When the Dolphins pass
Miami this year is kind of a hurried version of the Chiefs back when Mahomes sat behind Alex Smith before becoming their starting QB. Tua Tagovailoa started this season behind Ryan Fitzpatrick. Tagovailoa made his first start in Week 8 and has missed one start since. The Dolphins are 4-1 in his starts, losing only to the Broncos. He’s thrown seven touchdowns and no interceptions this season.
Edge: Chiefs
When the Dolphins run
Starter Myles Gaskin had missed four games with a knee injury before returning against the Bengals last week. He rushed for 90 yards and caught two passes for 51 more. Run defense isn’t a Chiefs strength, but the Dolphins are averaging a league-last 3.7 yards per carry.
Edge: Chiefs