Report: Flores Suing The NFL, Dolphins & Giants

"Finatik wrote:

Why does it have to be anything else then a relationship breakdown. That is pretty soft and not character assassination. Why does he have to come to his defense and say "I fired the guy but he's a decent man". No one does that. Just sayin.

Because a man's career and name are on the line. If the media start to run with the angle that this guy is almost a tyrant and it's not true, then as one of the few people who can clear it up, you defend the man's name, regardless of 'creative differences'.

"Galant wrote:

Flores says that he was offered money but also that Grier said Ross was angry when Flores was winning. If true then Ross wasn't just trying to keep Flores happy, he wanted Flores to lose.

Try telling the players they have an owner that is angry they played their hearts out and won, that he wants them to play worse and lose.

How many of those players are still on the team even? 4?

How many players think the Bengals got the better end of the deal vs us?

They knew what we were doing, they signed up to play hard and get tape. And a salary. Because it's a job.

It seems to me there is merit in Flores’ lawsuit simply based on the alleged facts stated in the lawsuit, but to imply racism is extremely disappointing to me. I see no stated incidents either in word or deed that indicates racism was a factor in Flores dismissal.

Flores dismissal was a direct result of his refusal to intentionally tank…and I don’t blame Flores one bit. I already offered my opinion in the HC thread. I completely blame Ross and Grier for this debacle in hiring a new head coach and wanting him to intentionally fail. In this aspect, I applaud Flores for showing how inept and dysfunctional the Dolphins organization truly is.

However, to pull the race card and blame systemic racism for his firing is absurd and equally disappointing.

Brian Flores, you’re an OUTSTANDING head coach and I was one of your biggest cheerleaders. You weren’t fired because of your race. You were fired because you are a competitor and had the integrity not to intentionally lose, giving in to the owner’s unethical master plan to throw a season to get a particular quarterback in the draft.

If you have evidence of racism, by all means present it as part of your lawsuit, but please don’t tarnish your image with unfounded allegations while pursuing what is in my mind a righteous lawsuit against against the fans’ inept and failure of an owner in Stephen Ross.

"Finatik wrote:

What the part about how he played the music all practice to make his point? That happened. I guess when it's "racial"....cue the revisionist history.

This new information throws everything into question.
If he was being isolated for months and even over a year, then that's going to mess with a guy. Plus, issues like the music, by themselves, are just 'quirks'. It's when you paint it with a bad overall picture that people start going, "Oh yeah, see, that fits the bill...".

All the previous stuff now has to be re-evaluated.

"The_Dark_Knight wrote:

It seems to me there is merit in Flores’ lawsuit simply based on the alleged facts stated in the lawsuit, but to imply racism is extremely disappointing to me. I see no stated incidents either in word or deed that indicates racism was a factor in Flores dismissal.

Flores dismissal was a direct result of his refusal to intentionally tank…and I don’t blame Flores one bit. I already offered my opinion in the HC thread. I completely blame Ross and Grier for this debacle in hiring a new head coach and wanting him to intentionally fail. In this aspect, I applaud Flores for showing how inept and dysfunctional the Dolphins organization truly is.

However, to pull the race card and blame systemic racism for his firing is absurd and equally disappointing.

Brian Flores, you’re an OUTSTANDING head coach and I was one of your biggest cheerleaders. You weren’t fired because of your race. You were fired because you are a competitor and had the integrity not to intentionally lose, giving in to the owner’s unethical master plan to throw a season to get a particular quarterback in the draft.

If you have evidence of racism, by all means present it as part of your lawsuit, but please don’t tarnish your image with unfounded allegations while pursuing what is in my mind a righteous lawsuit against against the fans’ inept and failure of an owner in Stephen Ross.

This is more or less where I stand right now. I'm open to hearing more about possible racism, but it seems hard to demonstrate that from what I've seen so far. I wouldn't say it tarnishes his image for me though. They could be very sincere in this respect. I'll be interested to hear what he has to say and see what comes out of this.

EDIT - The one angle I can possibly see here concerns the Rooney rule. He could argue that if the Rooney rule has any merit it has to be in making sure black coaches get a real fair shake at each job, not a token one. That is, teams are required to give true consideration to at least one black coach, not just say that they did. The fact they had an interview scheduled that they didn't care about could be shown to be going against the spirit of the Rooney rule. The spirit of the rule would be that it exists because the league believes unconscious prejudice could influence decisions and one way to try to mitigate that is to force oneself to conduct a proper look at a black candidate. Failure to properly consider a candidate could be what's considered racist because now black candidates suffer in a way white ones don't, they have to go to fake interviews, having their time wasted.

The rule is problematic. I don't really agree with it. However, if it's there then a case can be made that it should be properly complied with.

"JIGGAJOE wrote:

We were tanking for a QB. Nobody had to worry about being replaced other than Fitzpatrick or Rosen.

You sure about that?

"Galant wrote:

Because a man's career and name are on the line. If the media start to run with the angle that this guy is almost a tyrant and it's not true, then as one of the few people who can clear it up, you defend the man's name, regardless of 'creative differences'.

That is just not the real world that the person that just fired you is obligated to stick up for you. Otherwise if he thought all that he wouldn't have fired him. I liked the guy but this isn't the 1st time we've heard it was his way or the highway with Flores. Not a huge leap to tyrant. And the media trash people all the time. Is he supposed to come to everyone's defense when this happens, especially a former FIRED employee. Just not seeing it.

"The_Dark_Knight wrote:

It seems to me there is merit in Flores’ lawsuit simply based on the alleged facts stated in the lawsuit, but to imply racism is extremely disappointing to me. I see no stated incidents either in word or deed that indicates racism was a factor in Flores dismissal.

Flores dismissal was a direct result of his refusal to intentionally tank…and I don’t blame Flores one bit. I already offered my opinion in the HC thread. I completely blame Ross and Grier for this debacle in hiring a new head coach and wanting him to intentionally fail. In this aspect, I applaud Flores for showing how inept and dysfunctional the Dolphins organization truly is.

However, to pull the race card and blame systemic racism for his firing is absurd and equally disappointing.

Brian Flores, you’re an OUTSTANDING head coach and I was one of your biggest cheerleaders. You weren’t fired because of your race. You were fired because you are a competitor and had the integrity not to intentionally lose, giving in to the owner’s unethical master plan to throw a season to get a particular quarterback in the draft.

If you have evidence of racism, by all means present it as part of your lawsuit, but please don’t tarnish your image with unfounded allegations while pursuing what is in my mind a righteous lawsuit against against the fans’ inept and failure of an owner in Stephen Ross.

You missed the part where he was invited to an interview with the Giants, even though the Giants had already decided to hire someone else. I don't think he's saying "the Giants are racist", he's saying "the NFL's Rooney Rule is racist."

"KeyFin wrote:

You missed the part where he was invited to an interview with the Giants, even though the Giants had already decided to hire someone else. I don't think he's saying "the Giants are racist", he's saying "the NFL's Rooney Rule is racist."

He is saying that the NFL on a whole has some race issues and the Rooney Rule is a poor band-aide for the actual problem.

"Dol-Fan Dupree wrote:

He is saying that the NFL on a whole has some race issues and the Rooney Rule is a poor band-aide for the actual problem.

...which in his view, makes it a racist policy that promotes systematic racism within the NFL.

"Galant wrote:

This new information throws everything into question.
If he was being isolated for months and even over a year, then that's going to mess with a guy. Plus, issues like the music, by themselves, are just 'quirks'. It's when you paint it with a bad overall picture that people start going, "Oh yeah, see, that fits the bill...".

All the previous stuff now has to be re-evaluated.

But Flores did that. Not Ross.

People cant see the lawsuit has multiple facets. He alleges impropriety against ross and racism by the giants and broncos

I don't give a damn about the Giants, but Ross was doing the correct thing. We desperately needed Joe Burrow. The guy is a once-in-a-generation talent and we blew the chance to get him, thanks to Flores. Wins. Mean. Nothing. The playoffs mean everything. The Superbowl means everything. If Flores doesn't get that, he's not head coaching material.

"KeyFin wrote:

...which in his view, makes it a racist policy that promotes systematic racism within the NFL.

Forcing you to interview someone based on the color of their skin and not the content of their character is racist on it's face. It is a racist rule. Literally.

"Finatik wrote:

But Flores did that. Not Ross.

The point is that we now have to consider that Ross has been a horrific tyrant subjecting Flores to horrible treatment and forcing him out because he wouldn't play along with his dodgy schemes. That has to at least have us look at everything with an additional perspective.

"pumpdogs wrote:

The dolphins did nothing racist but the Giants on the other hand is a different story.

I'm not even sure this is true. There's nothing saying you can't decide on who you want to hire before the last interview. The Giants were still planning to go through the motions with the Rooney Rule. That's not a violation per se.

I don't see racism anywhere here.

"Silverphin wrote:

You sure about that?

Bout 95%

"JIGGAJOE wrote:

Bout 95%

And I'm 100 percent sure that it wasn't just a QB that was replaced during the draft.

"Rick 1966 wrote:

I don't give a damn about the Giants, but Ross was doing the correct thing. We desperately needed Joe Burrow. The guy is a once-in-a-generation talent and we blew the chance to get him, thanks to Flores. Wins. Mean. Nothing. The playoffs mean everything. The Superbowl means everything. If Flores doesn't get that, he's not head coaching material.

And they could of taken Herbert. Should have taken Herbert, considering Tua himself admitted that the internal rotation of his hip was never going to be the same and he couldn't "twist" fully. Whoever chose Tua is to blame.

This is going to have implications among the Dolphins players. And so far, considering how much of an evil tyrant Flores was supposed to be, I've not seen any indication of resentment from players. Quite the opposite.

Ross could really have messed up here. He may have singlehandedly lost the entire lockerroom. Paying their coach money for losses then slandering his name because he wanted to win and do it within the rules? Not a good look.

"Clark Kent wrote:

And they could of taken Herbert. Should have taken Herbert, considering Tua himself admitted that the internal rotation of his hip was never going to be the same and he couldn't "twist" fully. Whoever chose Tua is to blame.

I've never gotten a clear answer who made the call on Tua. It's a mystery.

Here's the even more messed up part. If what Flores is saying is all true, and he's willing to throw away his career to expose all this, then we actually had a real stand-up head coach with a commitment to winning no matter what, and the organisation threw him away for that.

Chronically. Sick.

"Galant wrote:

Is there precedent? I've never heard of an owner being forced out.

Donald Sterling, ex owner of the Los Angeles Clippers

"Galant wrote:

Here's the even more messed up part. If what Flores is saying is all true, and he's willing to throw away his career to expose all this, then we actually had a real stand-up head coach with a commitment to winning no matter what, and the organisation threw him away for that.

Chronically. Sick.

A stand up guy who really, really wanted Desean Watson (but not Tom Brady apparently). Hmm.

"Cashvillesent wrote:

Donald Sterling, ex owner of the Los Angeles Clippers

Thanks. Any in the NFL?