The Miami Dolphins playing eight consecutive Jay-Z songs during a practice this week was surely no coincidence, and head coach Brian Flores confirmed as much Thursday following his team's 22-7 preseason victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

On Monday, wide receiver Kenny Stills, who has taken issue with team owner Stephen Ross' support of President Donald Trump, criticized Jay-Z for his newfound partnership with the NFL. That prompted Flores to switch up the playlist for Tuesday's practice, which the coach said was done to motivate his player.

"It was a challenge to Kenny to perform regardless of whatever is going on outside," Flores told reporters. "I would say, and I said this to him, he hasn't performed up to that level over the course of training camp, or as I've seen. So that was the challenge -- to get open, catch the football and make plays for this team, regardless of what's going on outside of this building."

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Stills didn't seem too bothered.

"We talked about it in-house and he handled it in-house," said Stills, who has knelt prior to the national anthem since 2016 to protest social injustice. "For the most part, I think it was him seeing if I could handle if people were going to heckle me or play Jay-Z in another stadium if I could be mentally strong enough to handle that sort of treatment. I've been dealing with this since 2016 -- music, boos, racial slurs. So I don't think a little Jay-Z music is going to ruffle my feathers that bad."

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Flores, a former New England Patriots assistant, said he was surprised by how much attention his song choices received in the media and gathered the team to say he supports those who are using their platform to bring attention to social justice and racial equality issues.

"Quite honestly, they're bringing attention to my story," Flores said. "I'm a son of immigrants. I'm black. I grew up poor. I grew up in New York during the stop-and-frisk era. So I've been stopped because I fit a description before. So everything that these guys protest, I've lived it, I've experienced it. So I applaud those guys' protest."

Ross departed the NFL's social justice committee earlier this week due to backlash from his support of Trump.