Brian Flores liked to bring the pressure in the pass rush when he was running the Patriots defense back in 2018. It was a successful approach that earned the praise of his players and fans alike.
Now in his third season as the head coach of the Dolphins, Flores will bring that style of play to the season opener against New England on Sunday evening at Gillette Stadium.
And given that Flores’ Miami defense will be bringing that pressure against a rookie QB in Mac Jones – the Dolphins blitzed 41 percent of the time a year ago under Flores -- the New England first-round starter will certainly be tested mentally and physically right out of the gates in his NFL debut.
“I think since Coach Flores has been down there they’ve pressured quite a bit on defense,” Bill Belichick acknowledged during his Wednesday meeting with the local media. “So, we’ve played them four times and we’ve seen quite a bit of what they do. I wouldn’t say that they have shown a lot of drastic changes in preseason, they’ve made a few. A few things I’d say are a little bit different for them but overall it’s still pretty much what it is. They have good corners. They don’t mind pressuring the line of scrimmage and letting those guys do their thing. And they’ve been pretty correct in doing it. I’m sure we’ll see both.”
As Belichick noted, part of Miami’s ability to blitz is based on strong cornerback play from Byron Jones and Xavien Howard, who led the NFL with 10 interceptions a year ago.
The combination of strong cornerback play and pressure pass rush will put even more focus on Jones in his first taste of NFL action.
Seen as NFL-ready coming out of Alabama thanks to a skill set based on decision making and accuracy, those strengths and others may be tested early and often by the Dolphins.
While Belichick obviously has a lot of confidence in his rookie starting QB – otherwise he wouldn’t have named him the starter following the competition with Cam Newton this spring and summer – the Patriots coach realizes that there is a lot of unknown on the regular season horizon for both Jones and the new-look Patriots.
“Mac has a lot of strengths,” Belichick said. “But we’re looking at a whole different level than he was at. So, we’ll see how it goes in the NFL.”
