MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. - The year was 2008. Brian Flores was elevated from his scouting role and became a full-fledged NFL assistant coach with New England in what would be Mike Vrabel's final season playing linebacker for the Patriots.
So, officially, Flores coached Vrabel.
Flores doesn't remember it quite that way.
"I didn't coach Vrabel," he said. "I would say he probably more coached me as a young guy in New England when he was there and he was a player. He was pretty much a coach on the field then. I certainly didn't coach him, but I have a lot of respect for him."
Semantics of who coached whom notwithstanding, there's no debating that Flores and Vrabel will both be coaching Sunday, when Flores and the Miami Dolphins visit Vrabel and the Tennessee Titans in a game with massive playoff implications for both teams. A Miami win would put the Dolphins (8-7) on the brink of their first postseason berth since 2016, three years before Flores took over; a Tennessee win would give the Titans (10-5) their second straight AFC South Division title and third playoff trip in a row in Vrabel's four years as coach.
And to hear Vrabel tell it, not only did Flores coach him in 2008, but they're still coaching one another now.
"I know that was, I am sure, tongue in cheek," the 46-year-old Vrabel said of Flores' recollection of that 2008 season. "Brian is very intelligent. I have continued to bounce ideas off of him even though we are competitors in the offseason. There are guys that you trust in this league."
For Vrabel, Flores - more than five years his junior - is one of them.
AP file photo by Wilfredo Lee / Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores is trying to lead the team to its first playoff berth since 2016, three years before he was hired.The 2008 season was an anomaly for the Patriots. Tom Brady tore his ACL in the opener and was out for the remainder of the season; New England went 11-5 even without its star quarterback but wound up missing the playoffs - the only time that happened in a 17-season span from 2003 to 2019. Vrabel, who won three Super Bowls as a Patriot, was traded to Kansas City after that season and played the last two years of his career with the Chiefs before starting his coaching career as an Ohio State assistant.
Flores and Vrabel forged a bond during that 2008 season, though, and it has gotten even stronger over the years.
"I think his toughness, his acumen, I think that shows up and you see it in the way his team plays," Flores said. "He's somebody I call a friend. I have a great deal of respect for him. ... I think they've done a lot of really good things over there building a team, building the culture. A lot of things that we would like to emulate."
The Dolphins tend to follow the unofficial NFL script after a game: Take 24 hours to celebrate a win or lament a loss, then get back to work on the next opponent. Miami's win at New Orleans this past Monday didn't allow Flores that window, and he had started studying the Titans even before the Dolphins faced the Saints.
Just a few minutes after that game, Flores made clear he had already turned the page to another week and the matchup with Vrabel and the Titans.
Said Flores: "The game ahead is going to be as tough as any game we're going to play."
Just in time?
NASHVILLE - The Titans are showing serious signs of healing up after using an NFL-high 88 players this season.
For the first time in weeks, Tennessee did not declare any player out Friday ahead of Sunday's game. They also activated wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine off the COVID-19 reserve list.
"Is that the first time?" Vrabel said of not declaring any player out. "It is better than rattling off seven names."
Tennessee will have left tackle Taylor Lewan and right guard Rodger Saffold back after they spent short stints on the COVID-19 list and missed last week's win over the San Francisco 49ers. Lewan was declared out for that game with a back injury, while Saffold went on the COVID-19 list the day before.
Linebacker David Long, who missed the past six games with an injured hamstring, practiced all week and is available, and wide receiver A.J. Brown (calf) practiced fully Friday after sitting out Thursday.
On an injury report with only nine Titans listed, Tennessee had only two players classified as questionable: Defensive lineman Larrell Murchison (knee) and outside linebacker Derick Roberson (illness) missed Friday's practice.