3 philiosophies the 2023 Miami Dolphins need to embrace
By Matt Serniak
I’m not joking. The Miami Dolphins should hire someone whose only job is to decide if there is enough evidence to challenge calls.
I think Mike McDaniel only hit on one challenge the entire season and I think it was in the playoff game against the Bills. Everyone knows McDaniel challenges the best when the lights are the brightest.
The number of times we had to watch Mike McDaniel challenge a play that everyone in the solar system knew was never going the Miami Dolphins’ way was staggering. I really don’t have any recollection of any challenge where I thought the Dolphins got hosed.
That’s why I wish the Miami Dolphins would hire an instant replay consultant/czar/aficionado whose only job is to watch to see if a play is worth challenging or not. Full disclosure, most of the time it’s not worth it and will save timeouts(insert McDaniel timeout joke here).
At this point, I think we have a handle on the types of plays that can get overturned. Catches get overturned here and there mainly because nobody has any Earthly idea what is a catch. The play where they aren’t sure if the ball got to the first down or not on those one-yard-plunges; those don’t usually get overturned due to there not being enough evidence to overturn it. The delay of game one should be reviewable based on how black and white it is but it won’t.
What I absolutely know is that Mike McDaniel and whatever system he has in place for challenges needs to be revamped. Hire someone for only instant replays and that area of the game can be taken off his plate. If you think it’s wild to hire someone whose only job is to tell the coach to challenge plays or not, it isn’t. The Colts hired Jim Tressell to do just that after he got canned at Ohio St. Was he the perfect guy to be a pioneer for this niche profession? Maybe not. But he paved the way for what I want to happen in Miami.
And the thing is, they need to hire someone who is watching the TV version of the game. Get some perosn, let them drink and eat whatever they want, and let them have access to what is being broadcasted to the masses. Those images are better than what the coaches in the booth are seeing.