As the Miami Dolphins pursue their first victory under coach Brian Flores — and first since their “Miami Miracle” win over the New England Patriots last season — the Patriots are also trying to find their groove in South Florida heading into Sunday’s Week 2 matchup.
“Certainly give the Dolphins credit. When we look at it on our end, we have to coach and play better than we have,” legendary Patriots coach Bill Belichick said during a conference call with the South Florida media on Tuesday.
“The matchups we’ve had against the Dolphins haven’t gone in our favor.”
The Patriots have lost five of their past six games against the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium, including last season’s 34-33 heartbreaking loss, which saw Kenyan Drake score a 69-yard touchdown on a busted play as time expired.
That Week 14 win was the last time the Dolphins won a regular-season game. The Dolphins have been 0-4 since, including their 59-10 blowout loss to the Baltimore Ravens in last Sunday’s season opener.
But Belichick is confident that Flores, his defensive play-caller last season, will be able to turn it around before this weekend’s game.
“The Dolphins have a lot of good players. They have a lot of good coaches. I know the head coach, coordinators, many of the position coaches. I know they’ll make a lot of corrections,” Belichick said.
“First game with a new program is always a big learning experience for everybody. We’ve got to be ready to go.”
Belichick, in his notorious form, was in no mood to go down memory lane much and discuss his relationship with Flores, which spanned the past 15 years before he was hired by the Dolphins after New England’s win in Super Bowl LIII in February.
Belichick did not want to discuss any advice he gave Flores before taking the Miami job.
“Brian was with us a long time, played a lot of different roles. Did a great job for us,” said Belichick. “Whatever we accomplished was a team effort. When we moved him from scouting to coaching a long time ago, I realized his potential.”
Instead, Belichick squared his focus solely on the Week 2 matchup.
Belichick was coy when asked if he expects recently acquired receiver Antonio Brown, a Miami native, to make his Patriots debut against the Dolphins on Sunday.
“I don’t know. We acquired him [Monday],” Belichick said.
Overall, Belichick praised the Dolphins players and new coaching staff outside of criticizing his team’s past performances in South Florida.
“They are young, aggressive and talented and we’ll have to contend with all of them, along with the scheme they’ll come up with,” Belichick said.
