DAVIE Noah Fant Jersey , Fla. (AP) —first-year coach Brian Flores jumped on a plane to Boston to take part in the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl ring festivities.The long flight gave Flores a chance to reflect on how far the Dolphins are from such an occasion. Hired hours after coaching the Patriots’ defense in the NFL title game, he’s now four months into a rebuilding job in Miami.And Flores already feels like he’s behind schedule.“I have high expectations, so I’m always going to say we’re behind,” he said. “There are always two, three, four, eight things I feel like we could have done better. I do see some improvement. I see a lot of progress. Practice looks the way I want it to look, just from an operational and tempo standpoint. But I want to be at a higher level at everything. So no, we’re not where I want to be.”Part of Flores’ message has been that his standards will be high, which means he expects major improvement for a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game since 2000.Progress probably won’t come quickly. Oddsmakers give the Dolphins only a 200-1 chance to win the Super Bowl in Miami in February, and no team is a bigger long shot.But the offseason practices provided cause for encouragement. Winning rave reviews were veteran newcomer Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback, injury-plagued DeVante Parker at receiver and first-round draft pick Christian Wilkins at defensive tackle. Players praised the culture established by Flores and his staff, and the team avoided any major injuries.“I think it has been a very successful offseason in terms of the attendance, in terms of the attention to detail and the work,” said Fitzpatrick Dalton Risner Jersey , who is with his eighth NFL team and already a leader in the locker room. “It has not been perfect by and means, but I think we’re headed in the right direction. I think everybody also understands the work that’s in front of us, and the fact that we’re not even close to being where we need to be.”Fitzpatrick’s competitor for the starting job, Josh Rosen, received an offseason grade of incomplete — not a good word for a quarterback, but as anticipated. Rosen is still learning the playbook after being acquired from Arizona in April, and he declined to say whether his progress is on schedule.“One of my favorite phrases is, ‘If you set no expectations, you’ll never be disappointed.’ I don’t really have any expectations,” Rosen said. “I have good days and I’ve got bad days.”Fitzpatrick worked with the first team throughout offseason drills, but the quarterback competition won’t begin in earnest until next month.“It’s so early that until we really get into the nitty-gritty of training camp and the preseason, it’s just too early to say, ‘This guy is a starter,'” Flores said. “First team, second team, I think I don’t put too much stock into that. We’re working everybody on the same plays. It’s about execution. It’s about fundamentals and technique. And if you do those things and you progress Drew Lock Jersey , then we’ll see where guys fall.”Players are now off until training camp begins in late July. Fitzpatrick will head home to Arizona to spend time with his wife and seven children. Rosen plans to stay with his parents in Los Angeles and work out at his alma mater, UCLA.“The work never stops,” Rosen said. “Just a little different location.”For Flores, the break began with his New England reunion. He worked for the Patriots for 15 seasons.“Good to see some old friends,” he said. “I’ve built a lot of really good relationships up there.”He’ll be back in his Dolphins office Friday, trying to figure out how to beat the Patriots when the teams meet in September. ATLANTA (AP) — In a Super Bowl short on scoring, it was the New England Patriots‘ defense that set the tone.For most of the season the Patriots have stuck to their principles on defense, making just enough plays to win.They were much more than that Sunday night against the Los Angeles Rams.The Patriots battered and bewildered quarterback Jared Goff and the Rams, stifling the NFL’s second-ranked scoring en route to a 13-3 Super Bowl victory.New England quarterback Tom Brady said the Patriots’ defense set the stage for a win that gave sports fans in New England another set of bragging rights over rival rooters in LA. Last October, the Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.It also sent linebackers coach Brian Flores, the Patriots’ de facto defensive coordinator this season who is expected to be named Miami Dolphins coach as early as Monday, out with a victory.“They played unbelievable,” Brady said of the Patriots’ defense. “Challenged all these plays. …. They held them.”The Rams’ 3 points equaled the fewest scored in a Super Bowl.When Goff began to find his groove late in the fourth quarter and the Rams trailing 10-3, Los Angeles drove inside New England’s 30 for just the second time in the game.The momentum proved to be short-lived.Enter safety Duron Harmon.Playing in place of Patrick Chung after he suffered an arm injury in third quarter, Harmon combined with cornerback Stephon Gilmore to break up what would have been a touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks. Then, on the next play Andy Isabella Jersey , Harmon pressured Goff on a blitz and forced him into a throw into coverage that was intercepted by Gilmore .“It was clutch,” Gilmore said of his interception. “I knew he was going to force it up there. Our defensive line put a lot of pressure on him and he chucked it up there and I was able to make a play.”New England’s offense took it from there, sealing the victory with a 9-play, 72-yard drive that ate up 3:05 and ended with a 41-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski.The Patriots’ defense gave Goff different looks all night and many of them seemed to confuse the 24-year-old quarterback. They routinely sent an extra deep safety on third-and-short situations and disguised their blitzes up the middle. The latter benefited linebacker Dont’a Hightower, who dropped Goff for a pair of sacks to stunt drives.New England finished with four sacks for the game.“We’ve got a special group,” Hightower said. “We were able to do a lot of different stuff and they weren’t able to pick it up. We were able to get a lot of one-on-one rushes all game and able to get up on the quarterback.”It added up to an abysmal performance by Los Angeles on third-down situations. The Rams were 0 for 6 on third down in the first half and 3 of 13 for game. New England also held Los Angeles to just 260 total yards.None of the Rams’ running backs were able to get much traction, either.Los Angeles, which entered the game averaging 175 rushing yards per game during the playoffs with four touchdowns, mustered just 3.4 yards per rush on third down. All-Pro running back Todd Gurley finished with 10 rushes for 35 yards. C.J. Anderson, who had 167 yards and two touchdowns through two playoff games, had seven carries for 22 yards.Cornerback Jason McCourty, who joined brother Devin McCourty after being traded to New England this offseason, also had some pivotal pass breakups.“It’s the best feeling ever,” Devin McCourty said of watching his brother. “He’s done everything right this year. He’s been an inspiration to every guy.”New England bailed Goff out early in the fourth quarter when Gilmore was called for defensive holding on Goff’s third-and-11 pass attempt, giving the Rams a fresh set of downs.But the Patriots recovered, using a sack by Jonathan Jones Jamel Dean Jersey , a holding penalty against the Rams and tackling Gurley for a loss to force a punt.Linebacker Kyle Van Noy said the team also got energy from Chung, who returned to the sideline in the fourth quarter wearing a sling.“I don’t know what kind of injury he had, but it didn’t look good,” Van Noy said. “Anytime you have a captain go down like that you feel for him, you want to step up for him.”It was the second straight impressive performance by the Pats’ defense.In the AFC championship game the Patriots held the Kansas City Chiefs, the NFL’s top-scoring offense during the regular season, scoreless in the first half. They held the Rams, which averaged 32.9 points per game during the regular season and 28 points in the playoffs, to just three points.“We ain’t stars over here,” Van Noy said. “We just come to work and keep grinding and grinding and grinding. It shows. Look at the scoreboard again. We’re champs, baby.”