Changes could and should be made surrounding the Miami Dolphins following their embarrassing loss to the Cleveland Browns in Week 7 to fall to 1-6. Unfortunately, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross doesn't yet see a need to make any changes involving the general manager and/or the head coach, and thus, the same regime will be tasked with leading the team to Atlanta to take on the Falcons next weekend.
That evidently falls down to Miami's starting quarterback, who head coach Mike McDaniel has already stated will continue to be Tua Tagovailoa. However, judging by his latest comments, McDaniel doesn't seem to be setting high expectations for the man in the No. 1 jersey.
Mike McDaniel says Tua Tagovailoa will remain Dolphins' starting QB
During Miami's 31-6 blowout loss to Cleveland on Sunday, we saw rookie QB Quinn Ewers enter the game in the fourth quarter. This came after Tua had thrown three horrific interceptions against the Browns, with the last leading to McDaniel signifying that his day was done.
Naturally, that led to questions as to whether Tua would continue being the starter, and if so, for how long? Well, we know Tagovailoa will be the starter for at least Week 8. When asked about it on Monday afternoon, McDaniel confirmed it and tried to add a little humor that seems to have fallen flat.
Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel says Tua will be the starting QB this week. And his expectation is that they will not throw “ten picks.” pic.twitter.com/Vqvztxu3zl
— Clay Ferraro (@ClayWPLG) October 20, 2025
There's a saying that "behind every joke, there's at least 10% truth." In McDaniel's case, I'd wager it's a bit higher than 10%.
While he's still going with Tagovailoa as the starter, it's possible that it's not the route that McDaniel wants to go. Yet, he knows that to hold onto the job for as long as possible, it's what Ross and GM Chris Grier want. That the HC and the QB figure it out.
According to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, McDaniel added that he and the Dolphins' offense watched the game tape from Cleveland, "and discussed how we can improve for each other," and that the tempo of film watching was changed to correct mistakes.
If this were the NWSL (the National Word Salad League), I'd nominate McDaniel as Coach of the Year myself, because I truly don't know what any of that means. Maybe they watched it at two times the normal speed just to get through that embarrassment faster. Given the amount of pre-snap penalties Miami makes that would not be tolerated by most professional football organizations, it would make some sense.
The only plausible explanation I can think of is that while Tua may be the starter going in, we could get a lot of Ewers next Sunday anyway. McDaniel's days are numbered in South Florida, and Tagovailoa isn't far behind him. The two are beginning to throw each other under the bus, and if Ewers could miraculously lead the Dolphins to a win or two -- or at least look relevant -- it may give McDaniel his claim that he's not the problem.
His "10 picks" comment was a clear dig at the Dolphins' starter. McDaniel has always liked to exaggerate on some level in his attempt at humor in his years as Miami's head coach. And while it could be considered funny in his first couple of years when the team was winning, when you're losing -- and badly -- the tone comes off quite different. So even though 10 interceptions in one game isn't realistic, it's important to note that Tua does have 10 picks on the season already, tied for the most in the NFL.
Regardless of what happens at the QB position on Sunday, the end result of the game is bound to feel like déjà vu. Thus, we'll likely be right back here asking the same questions next week. When is McDaniel getting fired? When is Tua getting benched? And so on.
Those questions should have been answered by now, but it falls on the one man who doesn't seem to want to believe what's right in front of him.