Brian Flores sure seems to have picked up a thing or two from Bill Belichick.
Flores’ record against Belichick improved to 3-2 on Sunday when the Miami Dolphins defeated the New England Patriots 17-16 at Gillette Stadium.
Flores, now in his third season as Miami’s head coach, spent 11 years on Belichick’s staff in New England, and no former Belichick assistant has enjoyed such success against the Patriots head coach.
So, what’s the deal?
Well, an NFL team executive offered an interesting breakdown — complete with a “Star Wars” reference — to The Athletic’s Mike Sando in a piece published Monday.
“It is not like Flores is beating Bill 42-10 with some powerful offenses,” the exec told Sando. “He is winning these games with recipes borrowed from Bill’s own playbook. That is the story. This is Luke Skywalker beating Yoda, and normally you can’t beat Yoda because he is too fast, too cunning, too sly.”
Perhaps water will find its level at some point. After all, the Patriots and Dolphins square off twice each regular season, so there presumably will be plenty more chances for Belichick, the teacher, to exact revenge against his former pupil.
But, as Sando notes, Flores now has beaten Belichick with Tom Brady, Cam Newton and Mac Jones serving as New England’s quarterback. So, it’s clear who’s been winning the war since Flores left Foxboro and took over in South Beach before the 2019 NFL campaign.
