Flores Preparing for Full Bills, and Other Wednesday Morning Thoughts

Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores has a lot of respect for the Buffalo Bills and he doesn't expect them to rest their key players in Week 17

Never mind what comments came out of Buffalo, Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores fully expects the Bills to use all available personnel for the teams' matchup in Week 17.

Flores responded in his Zoom media session Wednesday morning to comments from Sean McDermott after the Bills head coach said he had made a decision on whether to rest key players for the season finale but would keep that information within the organization.

The Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers already have secured the second and third seeds in the AFC playoffs with identical 12-3 records, though the Bills will have the tiebreaker if they finish with the same record.

McDermott's comments came after Steelers coach Mike Tomlin revealed Tuesday morning that he would sit veteran quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for the team's finale against Cleveland and possibly other front-line players.

“Yeah, I mean, I expect everyone to play," Flores said. "Sean is a competitor, (offensive coordinato) Brian Daboll is a competitor, Josh Allen is a competitor, (Stefon) Diggs, (Jordan) Poyer, (Micah) Hyde. I mean, I expect them all to play. That’s how we're preparing. Yeah, that’s how we’re preparing.”

The Dolphins, of course, need a victory against the Bills to clinch the fifth seed in the AFC playoffs, otherwise they'll need the Steelers to defeat the Browns, the Cincinnati Bengals to defeat the Baltimore Ravens or the Jacksonville Jaguars to defeat the Indianapolis Colts to make the playoffs.

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The problem is that the three teams the Dolphins would need to lose are favored to win Sunday by double digits.

Other topics Flores touched on Wednesday morning:

On how much of a priority is avoiding turnovers when it comes to rookie Tua Tagovailoa, who leads the NFL in lowest interception percentage at 0.9 percent: “Yeah, that's a good place to start at the quarterback position. I think he’s done a good job from that standpoint. Obviously there's a lot of other factors, like every position. That's one of them, which we evaluate. I think he’s done a good job in a lot of areas, but like every position there’s 15, 18, 20 different things that you're looking for. But obviously the turnovers are a big, big one. And he's done it he's done a good job from that standpoint.”

On the knee injury sustained by linebacker Elando Roberts: 

“Elandon’s injury was significant as you guys saw with him being in the game. You guys saw that. He’s obviously not going to play this week."

On his message to rookies Noah Igbinoghene, Lynn Bowden Jr. and Malcolm Perry, who are likely to handle the return duties at Buffalo is Jakeem Grant is sidelined by his ankle injury: "Look, we talk about ball security every day here, how important that is, make smart decisions with the football when you have it, catching it, putting it away. Again, the entire fate of the team is in your hands when you have it, so we’ve got to protect it. So that's the message to those three guys but really everyone on the offense and and defensively if we get our hands on it.”

On the challenges of facing a scrambling quarterback like Josh Allen:

“We want to keep him in the pocket; if he gets out, we’ve got to cover them a little bit longer. We'll try to chase him down. Look, this guy is one of the top players in league. I think he’s really made a lot of improvement. Sean and Brian Daboll have done a great job with him. This guy, he's tough to deal with. Very, very good player. I know Daboll well. It’s almost like Daboll playing football from a mind standpoint. He’s done a good job.”