Given the opponent on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ schedule this week, Brian Flores’ civil lawsuit that involves the Miami Dolphins is bound to be a storyline ahead of the matchup Sunday night in South Florida.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin wants no part of it.

At his weekly press conference Tuesday, Tomlin cut off several questions about Flores’ lawsuit that alleges bias in the NFL’s hiring practices and claims Dolphins ownership incentivized him to “tank” games early in his tenure as head coach.

“It’s a non-factor,” Tomlin said. “It’s a non-story for us. It really is.”

The return to Miami will be the first for Flores since he was fired by the Dolphins in January. He filed his lawsuit Feb. 1 and was hired by the Steelers as a senior defensive assistant/linebackers coach less than three weeks later.

Tomlin said the 41-year-old Flores, who was 24-25 in three seasons as Dolphins coach, has been an invaluable member of his coaching staff.

“He’s a quality coach. He’s a great communicator,” he said. “You don’t ascend in this business the way he did without having certain tools, and he’s consistently displayed those tools since he’s been here. I don’t think anybody is surprised by that. It’s why we had so much excitement when we had an opportunity to acquire him.”

Tomlin, though, downplayed Flores being able to provide any inside knowledge that might help the Steelers defeat the Dolphins.

“It is a useful resource, but in the coaching profession we all feel it is overblown,” he said. “It’s not about what the coaches know, but what coaches can convey to players and what players can recall in an instant in the moment before the ball is snapped.

“Often you can sit around in the classroom and provide quality insight and a player can nod in agreement, ‘Yeah, I see that, I understand that.’ But the minute they get on the field and the bullets start flying or the snap is imminent, those things become less relevant.

“We have to put together a good plan. Our players have to understand the plan, and they have to go out and execute the plan and very little of that has to do with where coach Flores worked last year or his intimate knowledge of members of their football team.”

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