The Miami Dolphins have many issues right now and one of them is that head coach Mike McDaniel is not getting better in several areas as an NFL head coach.
The dust has mostly settled from the Dolphins' latest beatdown into oblivion at the hands of the Ravens. As a guy who was in attendance for the Bills game earlier this year and also this Ravens game, let me tell you both games went the same way.
The games were close for about a quarter and then around the end of the first half the Miami Dolphins vomited all over themselves and the other team decided enough was enough.
It hurts really bad, especially with how the game ended. We're all a bit emotional about things because we see what was the best season in 23 years go up in smoke. This season has the feeling like all the other times Miami has made the playoffs the last few times and that feeling is a first-round exit.
I've written earlier in the year about how the time for pessimism is later in the season and that I'm prepared to have my heart shattered. My heart is broken but not completely shattered due to the season not being over and the Dolphins having an opportunity to get the #2 seed. Amazingly, that is still in play but I have no good reason to think that the Dolphins won't get stomped out by a recently struggling Bill's team who I just know will find their way against the Dolphins and put up 45 on them.
All eyes are looking at Mike McDaniel and mine are no different. The way his team came out and performed on the road with the #1 seed in play was beyond embarrassing. Not only that it looks painfully obvious that he has yet to learn basic lessons that he has encountered over his first two seasons of being a head coach. Things that he himself has said he knows he has to improve upon. Well, he's not improving on those mistakes. Instead, he keeps making the same mistakes over and over again.
McDaniel is a very smart coach. That can't be debated. Getting to the playoffs with the Miami Dolphins in back-to-back years never happens and he accomplished that.
The problem is too much money and draft picks have been used on this team to get boatraced by the Ravens in week 17. Losing in Baltimore is fine but getting blasted into another dimension like we've seen plenty of other times by the good teams is just about unacceptable.
Again, these areas that Mike McDaniel hasn't improved on I think can be improved on in like 10 minutes. It's up to Mike McDaniel to get over himself a bit and understand there are greater things than being perceived as the smartest guy in the room.
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Mike McDaniel's gameday routines need to be figured out and there's no good reason why they aren't.
This has everything to do with Bradley Chubb being in the game with three minutes left and down 30 points.
McDaniel came out and said that he was sort of just about to get the defensive starters out before Bradley Chubb, potentially the defense's best player this year, tore his ACL trying to make a play while his team was down 30.
McDaniel also said after the game, in a very smart-ass way, a way I would respond if I did something really stupid and just wanted to potentially, that if he had known Chubb was going to get hurt he would have taken him out. The thing that's what the money is for. The money is for you to have a system in place for situations like this.
And Mike McDaniel hasn't learned from when this happened to Jaelan Phillips and to a smaller degree Jevon Holland in the Jet game. That game was also out of reach and Phillips was still out there.
This is something that in high school is beyond easy to figure out. As a guy whose job, when I was an assistant high school coach, when the game was out of reach one way or the other me and other coaches would say on our headsets, "Hey coach time to get our guys out right?" That's how easy it is.
What I really think happened is that McDaniel had no idea Chubb, Ramsey, and other key players were still in there. He's human and I understand losing track of things but that doesn't make it anywhere near right. Someone whether it's an assistant coach, a ballboy, or a strength and conditioning coach needs to be tasked with getting in the coach's ear about getting guys out. Obviously, that system doesn't exist in Miami but it could. It can be fixed in two minutes.
It's the kind of thing that should have been figured out in August but it can assigned to someone or everyone for that matter this very second.
Mike McDaniel still struggles with his play calling inside the 5-yardline.
McDaniel is just going to continue to call goalline fades right? That's what we're going to keep doing?
I had to hear on Hard Knock after the Titans game McDaniel say that his calls sucked. He was specifically talking about not running on short yardage and fades to Cedrick Wilson.
So what does he do, throws a fade to the mighty Julian Hill on a two-point conversion. Rip that play out of the playbook.
There are so many other high-percentage plays to run besides the fade route. I'm pretty sure the only one the Dolphins hit was the one to Tyreek Hill in week one and yet we keep trying it.
You're telling me with Tua's accuracy that some form of crossers isn't a better option or getting the ball to backs in some fashion isn't a better play? Nope, I'm not going to believe that.
If memory serves, McDaniel called a fade last week to Wilson. I just don't want to hear how he needs to improve on that only to go ahead and do that exact thing. It's beyond infuriating.
Not sure if Mike McDaniel can even do this but he needs to be more flexible in his approach in big moments.
We are who we are. It's hard to change who we are but let's not act like it can't be done. People make wholesale changes in their lives or learn completely new skills all the time. Mike McDaniel needs to learn how to change his philosophy in the biggest moments.
I'm talking about the interception at the end of the first half that led to a dagger of a TD. Miami just made a nice play and I, stupidly, figured they would just naturally take the clock down to the two-minute warning.
I should have realized that McDaniel wouldn't be able to help himself and would rush the offense into another play. Tua stares down Cedrick Wilson and Roquan Smith makes as casual of an INT you'll ever see.
Why did this have to happen? Why not just do what everyone else on Earth would do and just let the clock get to two minutes? Why are you doing everything you can to give the ball back to the Ravens with time on the clock?
The reason is in my opinion that McDaniel likes to zig when everyone wants to zag. I actually think he loves that.
Mike McDaniel's confidence is wonderful. It has led to 11 wins and winning isn't easy. But in these big moments where decisions against the best teams in close games playing it straight and traditional is often the way to go. This is where confidence morphs into hubris and that is not going to get it done in the NFL in big games.
He can simply not do stuff like this but it might be too much in his nature to change it. Because of his overall nature which has a ton of good to it. That's why unless a playoff game is won Mike McDaniel will be on the hot seat next year. You simply can't have this roster, even with all the injuries some you're responsible for and be out in the first round without some consequences.
I believe that Mike McDaniel is an excellent person. I think he has a good soul to him and genuinely wants to help everybody be the best they can be. I think the players respond to him positively. All this is great but if it doesn't translate to wins in the biggest of games and puts this team to the ultimate goal of Lombardi or even a deep playoff run it doesn't much matter. This is a results business and expectations have changed for this team based on resources pumped into it.
I don't know if the Dolphins win any more games but I do know that Mike McDaniel can change these three things if he wants to. It's up to him.
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