Miami Herald: Dolphins players have turned on McDaniel

[The Firebaugh Kid]

17 hours ago, Logic said:

I've said it numerous times on this forum:

I believe that Mike McDaniel is a sharp offensive mind and probably can have a long career in this league as an offensive coordinator.

I do not believe he is a leader of men or is head coach material.

His schtick was fun and funny when the Dolphins were winning, but as things have slowly and consistently gone south, his charm has begun to wear off with players and fans, and I don't think he's long for the job. I think he's the offensive whiz kid version of Rex Ryan.

In my own mind, I operate on the assumption that Mike McDaniel will not be the head coach of the Miami Dolphins beyond 2025 or, at the latest, 2026. 

Brother you are the most well spoken and realistic person on this message board, always solid takes. Cheers 🍻 

[Fleezoid]

McDaniel should just go back to the "Best Buy Assistant Manager" look. 

 

[benderbender]

On 1/6/2025 at 12:55 PM, benderbender said:

I have a crazy feeling Mike McDaniel is gone. He had so many bites at the apple with an explosive offense and above average defense. Misused Tua, overpaid him, and now the cracks are getting bigger as Tyreek wants out. Fumbled OBJ. Lost money and development time of DBs by buying in on Poyer. Gambled and lost on Christian Wilkins walking. Doubled down on cold weather bravado instead of actually prepping in it multiple times. Only real wins in FA being Jonnu Smith and Calais Campbell. 0-2 playoff record. Losing a sure division title last season down the stretch that was statistically improbable. 

 

I think he did an admirable job with the offense. He gave the Dolphins fanbase way more to cheer for than Flores. But there were probably too high of expectations from the beginning and it wouldn't shock me to see ownership move on from him. 

 

[Beck Water]

2 hours ago, Fan in Chicago said:

However there is something to be said for dressing and behaving in a manner appropriate for your job. If a coach has certain minor quirks (clapping, incessantly chewing  gum) then it doesn't matters. But McDaniels' acting and talking style resembles a stoned college guy on a Saturday afternoon . Which I argue is not appropriate.

To use a rather extreme example, I work in a professional engineering environment and often have to face customers. I cannot show up for work in shorts, cut sleeved t shirts with tattoo showing while expecting my boss to say "I am fine with his dressing as long as he is selling". 

 

Certainly, a certain dress code is expected in some businesses.

 

My point is: while a number of football fans commented unfavorably on McDaniel manner of dress and speech, it was pretty clear the team was fine with him when he was taking them to the playoffs for the first time in 6 years then taking them to their best record in 15 years and vieing for the AFC East title in the final game.

 

I think the corollary there is, IF it's true that McDaniel is losing or has lost the locker room, it won't be because he's a capris-wearing nerd - that was fine while they were winning.  It will be because they've lost faith in his offense, or they've lost faith he can get them "over the hump" to win a playoff game in cold weather.

[FireChans]

1 hour ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Does drafting a QB early and selling the story of he/we need a couple years together to develop buy them some time?

 

I cant imagine an owner as meddling as Mara would be happy using an early pick on a QB who his next regime might not even want.

 

Side note: a Giants QB room of Wilson, Winston, and Sanders is such a weird room.

I'm not sure what saves them which is literally the worst position to be in. Mara picked the middle road of not empowering them and also not firing them.

[GunnerBill]

16 hours ago, DrDawkinstein said:

Grier and McDaniel are dead men walking.

 

I wouldnt be surprised if owner Stephen Ross was behind this opinion piece at some level. He wants to fire Grier, but also wants to replace both the HC and GM at the same time, so Grier has been given one more (lame duck) year, and they're already laying the groundwork to move on from McDaniel.

 

You love to see it.

 

 

 

Year Grier surviving this time around is bad news for McDaniel IMO. It woulda been pretty easy to blame the GM for some of their roster issues, fire him and let McDaniel help choose a new GM. After all he is well above .500 as Head Coach (28-23 in the regular season) and his two playoff losses have come to the two best AFC teams of this era - KC and Buffalo. The fact he held onto Grier a year screams "I want to clean house but it is too early to can McDaniel so I'll wait a year."

[Beck Water]

18 hours ago, Buffalo716 said:

He played division 1 football it's not like he's a pencil pusher lol

 

You need to have a lot of football talent to play division one

 

? McDaniel played football at Yale.  Where he earned a degree in history.  Shades of Marv Levy and his masters degree in History from Harvard.

 

Frankly, I think you need a lot of football talent to play football at just about any school beyond HS level, but Yale ain't DI

 

 

[FireChans]

6 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

? McDaniel played football at Yale.  Where he earned a degree in history.  Shades of Marv Levy and his masters degree in History from Harvard.

 

Frankly, I think you need a lot of football talent to play football at just about any school beyond HS level, but Yale ain't DI

 

 

Oh no! Not again!

8 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Year Grier surviving this time around is bad news for McDaniel IMO. It woulda been pretty easy to blame the GM for some of their roster issues, fire him and let McDaniel help choose a new GM. After all he is well above .500 as Head Coach (28-23 in the regular season) and his two playoff losses have come to the two best AFC teams of this era - KC and Buffalo. The fact he held onto Grier a year screams "I want to clean house but it is too early to can McDaniel so I'll wait a year."

Yeah it just means they are both cooked haha. Gotta think Grier knows it too. He's been more candid with the media than ever, which is usually a dead-man walking symptom.

[stuvian]

I have been impressed by what McDaniel has been able to squeeze out of his talent. It's starting to look like this team is past its prime.

 

With Mostert gone, veterans wanting out and Tua one hit away from senility there's no where to go but down. 

 

The Dolphins have been a country club for a long time. They showed it by sending Vic Fangio packing after players complained he was too tough. 

[Beck Water]

18 hours ago, Logic said:

I DO feel like the whiz kid OCs that always get touted as the most creative minds in the league tend to just put a lot of window dressing on otherwise classic/basic schemes.

Like...Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan both dress the same group of plays up to look like different things. They can run the same few basic zone run concepts -- and the passing plays that are based off of those concepts -- out of multiple different formations or personnel groupings, but at the end of the day, they're not different concepts than what a lot of other teams run. It's the window dressing and variety that they couch those concepts in that make them unique and hard to defend.

In McDaniel's case, I think it's the pre-snap shifts and cheat motions that dress up his scheme. I DO think his scheme has been easier to catch up to and stop than the other two guys I just mentioned, and he hasn't really thrown many effective counter punches as yet. He hasn't adapted.

So perhaps even the "long time OC in this league" forecast is generous. Or perhaps he adapts and grows.

 

I think you've cut to the heart of the matter here.  

 

McDermott was on the record saying "what he's doing on offense is almost revolutionary".  He then proceeded to dissect and neutralize what McDaniel was doing.

 

Other teams paid attention and adapted the principles if not the method.  And McDaniel hasn't counterd as yet.

 

It's rather the same thing as Daboll.  In 2020, when Josh took a giant step up as a passer, we were shredding teams.  In 2021, when Daboll committed to doing what he did in 2021 only more so, the Pittsburgh Steelers totally neutralized us in the season opener and other teams took note.  Not immediately, and not all teams could pull it off, but the blueprint was out there and we had some critical losses.  We don't know if Daboll would have adjusted in Buffalo 'cuz he left for the Giants, but Dorsey, who kind of took over as "Daboll lite", got solved (and replaced).

 

But it's not because McDaniel is a nerdulent-looking capris wearing pustule that he'll have problems, if he's having problems.  It will be because he's been "solved" schematically and hasn't adapted.

 

[Doc]

8 minutes ago, stuvian said:

I have been impressed by what McDaniel has been able to squeeze out of his talent. It's starting to look like this team is past its prime.

 

With Mostert gone, veterans wanting out and Tua one hit away from senility there's no where to go but down. 

 

The Dolphins have been a country club for a long time. They showed it by sending Vic Fangio packing after players complained he was too tough. 

 

The Dolphins have had a lot of talent on offense at the skill positions.  I'd love to see what Josh could do with them.

[Captain Hindsight]

11 minutes ago, stuvian said:

I have been impressed by what McDaniel has been able to squeeze out of his talent. It's starting to look like this team is past its prime.

 

With Mostert gone, veterans wanting out and Tua one hit away from senility there's no where to go but down. 

 

The Dolphins have been a country club for a long time. They showed it by sending Vic Fangio packing after players complained he was too tough. 

Miami is absolutely loaded, especially on offense

 

If The Bills had Tyreek Hill and Jaylin Waddle and Achane, Josh Allen would only need to play half of each game and they would still break the scoring record 

[JP51]

35 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

Certainly, a certain dress code is expected in some businesses.

 

My point is: while a number of football fans commented unfavorably on McDaniel manner of dress and speech, it was pretty clear the team was fine with him when he was taking them to the playoffs for the first time in 6 years then taking them to their best record in 15 years and vieing for the AFC East title in the final game.

 

I think the corollary there is, IF it's true that McDaniel is losing or has lost the locker room, it won't be because he's a capris-wearing nerd - that was fine while they were winning.  It will be because they've lost faith in his offense, or they've lost faith he can get them "over the hump" to win a playoff game in cold weather.

True this...  I dont see the way he or Belichik dresses as an issue... I think results are an issue... he could wear spanx on the field and if he won the SB every year... they would roll with it. 

[CSBill]

19 hours ago, Logic said:

I've said it numerous times on this forum:

I believe that Mike McDaniel is a sharp offensive mind and probably can have a long career in this league as an offensive coordinator.

I do not believe he is a leader of men or is head coach material.

His schtick was fun and funny when the Dolphins were winning, but as things have slowly and consistently gone south, his charm has begun to wear off with players and fans, and I don't think he's long for the job. I think he's the offensive whiz kid version of Rex Ryan.

In my own mind, I operate on the assumption that Mike McDaniel will not be the head coach of the Miami Dolphins beyond 2025 or, at the latest, 2026. 

 

Totally Agree! As always, sound Logic always wins.

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 02:50 PM by CSBill

[DapperCam]

I think the players are part of the problem too. They basically forced Fangio out of town because he was too tough on them, and then he goes to 2 super bowls on elite defense.

 

I know we all complain about McBeane’s insistence on high character Boy Scouts, but this is the result of the opposite side of the spectrum.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

37 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

  We don't know if Daboll would have adjusted in Buffalo 'cuz he left for the Giants...

 

Later in his Buffalo tenure, and last year for the Giants, Daboll reminded me of Chief Lutz from 'Beverly Hills Cop 2'. 🤨

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

19 hours ago, Logic said:

I've said it numerous times on this forum:

I believe that Mike McDaniel is a sharp offensive mind and probably can have a long career in this league as an offensive coordinator.

I do not believe he is a leader of men or is head coach material.

His schtick was fun and funny when the Dolphins were winning, but as things have slowly and consistently gone south, his charm has begun to wear off with players and fans, and I don't think he's long for the job. I think he's the offensive whiz kid version of Rex Ryan.

In my own mind, I operate on the assumption that Mike McDaniel will not be the head coach of the Miami Dolphins beyond 2025 or, at the latest, 2026. 

 

Completely agree. I have come to grudgingly respect that he has some brilliant play designs. He gets the most out of players there and he has some brilliant offensive players.

 

But managing a team? Vic Fangio got the boot only to one year later but on a dominating defensive outing against the Chiefs in the Superbowl.

 

Managing a roster? The team is incredibly top heavy on aging vets and players with injury concerns. They are bottom five on cap for 2025 at the moment.

 

But damningly  the man has Andy Reid syndrome when it comes to playcalling. I keep going back to the regular season finale in 2023 with the division on the line. He had Mostert and Achane line up in the backfield and had Tua effectively run a read option to do a pop handoff. With the Bills playing back to limit Hill and Waddle the Bills were gashed on the ground. It was exploiting an inherent weakness to our lighter middle and deep safeties .

 

And then he stopped calling it. He kept Tua slinging it even as the game was never out of hand. And Tua kept forcing it and got picked off to deal the game

[Mr. WEO]

3 hours ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Does drafting a QB early and selling the story of he/we need a couple years together to develop buy them some time?

 

I cant imagine an owner as meddling as Mara would be happy using an early pick on a QB who his next regime might not even want.

 

Side note: a Giants QB room of Wilson, Winston, and Sanders is such a weird room.

 

I'm still not convinced Mara is pulling every string.  It is at least as likely that Daboll and Schoen are too dumb to run a team with a Beane and Josh Allen.

 

What QB could they draft next week that would produce a huge sigh of relief from their fan base?

 

Side note: Schoen and Daboll put together that QB room.

[DrDawkinstein]

9 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

I'm still not convinced Mara is pulling every string.  It is at least as likely that Daboll and Schoen are too dumb to run a team with a Beane and Josh Allen.

 

What QB could they draft next week that would produce a huge sigh of relief from their fan base?

 

Side note: Schoen and Daboll put together that QB room.

 

Oh for sure, agreed all the way. I'm just going off the recent report that the Giants are holding private workouts for Sanders and other QBs, and they obviously need a new QB (whether or not there is a good candidate in this draft).

 

Thinking strategically, if they do draft a QB at #3 then that means Schoen/Daboll have owner permission to draft a QB, and if they have that buy-in from the owner it might indicate that Mara is willing to give them more time in order to develop said QB.

 

Not saying there they should draft a QB, or that there is a good one to draft.

 

wrt to the QB room, I think it's a weird room personality-wise. Wilson with his overly-groomed "public persona", and Winston just a weirdo in general out there licking his fingers trying to "eat a W"... then throw in a Shadeur Sanders... would love to have the Hard Knocks footage from that room.

[Saint Doug]

1 hour ago, Captain Hindsight said:

Miami is absolutely loaded, especially on offense

 

If The Bills had Tyreek Hill and Jaylin Waddle and Achane, Josh Allen would only need to play half of each game and they would still break the scoring record 

Josh is a great leader, but I’m not sure he’s ready for those jokers. Wouldn’t want these guys in Josh’s locker room. Probably worse than Diggs.