Patriots’ coach Brian Flores: Rams ‘do an extremely good job with their tempo’

Brian Flores, who is the presumptive new head coach of the Miami Dolphins, has a major chore in front of him in his current role as defensive signal-caller for the New England Patriots.

He must do whatever he can to put the Patriots’ defense in the proper position to succeed in Super Bowl LIII Sunday against the Miami Dolphins.

‘It’s fast, they’re on the ball’

The Rams have an explosive offense, led by quarterback Jared Goff and loaded with dangerous weapons, but they also have a scheme that emphasizes “11 personnel,” one back and one tight end. For Flores, that is less of a factor than the pace at which the Rams run their offense.

“They all play a little bit different spots, they’re all over the place, so you can’t really hone in and lock in on what they’re doing.”

“I would say they do an extremely good job with their tempo,” Flores told SiriusXM NFL Radio’s Kirk Morrison. “It’s fast, they’re on the ball. So it’s 11 personnel, but they operate at a very fast pace. They got great skill players, from (Todd) Gurley to (Brandin) Cooks to (Josh) Reynolds to (Robert) Woods. Goff’s played incredibly, they’ve got a great offensive line, the tight ends, (Tyler) Higbee, (Gerald) Everett.

‘You can’t really hone in and lock in on what they’re doing’

“They’ve got great skill players … and they’re able to keep those guys out on the field. They all play a little bit different spots, they’re all over the place, so you can’t really hone in and lock in on what they’re doing. So it’ll be a great test for us.”

What is the best way for the Patriots to handle that test?

‘We have to have our best communication, we’ve got to try play a physical ball game’

“We’ve got to play our most disciplined game,” Flores said. “We have to have our best communication, we’ve got to try play a physical ball game. And they do a good job of playing with all those things, not allowing you to communicate, not allowing you to play physical because they’re moving fast. Fortunately, we’ve started to play decently over the last few weeks, and, hopefully, we can get that done on Sunday. Big test ahead of us.”