Mike McDaniel – November 24, 2024 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 24, 2024
Postgame – New England Patriots
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Mike McDaniel
Q. What impressed you about Tua’s performance?
MIKE McDANIEL: I think it was another game where he’s found a way to improve the way that he plays the position throughout the game. In previous years, we’ve just spent a lot of time talking about the most monumental thing that you have to overcome as a quarterback, which is playing the position regardless of the ebbs and flows of motion. So not changing how you play based upon positive or negative results and letting every play stand on its own. I think since maybe the Buffalo game on, I think he’s really taken a step forward in that direction, so him playing at the level that I think that he has the last couple games was a feat in and of itself because it’s become more of the norm and not the exception. I think making the plays that he needs to make, understanding the progressions and how to get completions, when to extend plays – he came in at halftime frustrated that there was too many hands, as he put it, on a couple of those red zone opps where he almost turned the ball over, and was frustrated with himself but then moved on. That’s the key for our team is when you have a confident player touching the ball every play that is impervious to the emotions of the game, good or bad, as a collective unit, you can be a problem for people to defend.
Q. How important was WR Jaylen Waddle getting the opportunities he had and coming through with those opportunities?
MIKE McDANIEL: I think one of my favorite things about this game that I’ll remember is Waddle has been taking his route running, his release work, the nuances of the receiver position, and he’s had so much growth over the last month and a half while also fielding questions left and right, whether it’s in the media or even at home, like where is the production, where is the production, where is the production. To get better when the ball isn’t coming your way so that you’re aptly prepared when the ball does, it’s everything that I believe in, everything that – it was an earned game for him. He got the opportunities and because his mind has been in the right spot where he’s been focused on what he can control and not all the other noise, he was able to really make some big-time plays in those moments. It’s something that I don’t think people truly spend the time really putting themselves into receivers’ shoes. In the National Football League, especially if you’re one of the better receivers in the league, you have expectations of output that you have no – a lot of times you have no ability to control. A lot of players get worse from situations like that. He’s been eager to help the team win, and he’s been doing that week in, week out, by plays off the ball or plays when he doesn’t have the ball. For him to make some plays on the ball this game was much deserved, and we had a lot of teammates that are fired up for him.
Q. You’re not one to duck narratives, reality, or whatever. We’ve been waiting 11 months, 12 months, whatever it is, to see you in a cold weather game again. You’ve gotten back in the mix. You won the three games you had to. What’s next for the Miami Dolphins this week?
MIKE McDANIEL: Well, you’re just going to let me really lean into this victory for a while, huh? (laughter) Yeah, I’m eager for those moments. Just like you’re eager to settle the score if you don’t – if you believe that you’re not just a front-running team, you have to win when there’s some adversity going on. And so instead of just complaining and wallowing in the fact that people say those things, we’ve been able to win some games with our backs against the wall, so to speak. The same thing applies with – I’ve already told the team, there’s two things that will be said until we do something about it, (and that is win games against) good teams and (in) cold weather. It doesn’t bother me in any way, shape or form. We have some plans on how to attack this week, but I relish that opportunity because, yeah, there’s one way to correct that. I know there’s a locker room full of people that believe and are eager to set that narrative straight, but there’s only one way to do it, and there’s only one way you’d want it to be done is you want to go earn that sentiment or maybe some take-back from some people that have strong opinions, or they’re going to be right and it’s your choice as a team. We’ll get started on that tomorrow. Tonight will be less Packers and more Barbies, right Ayla? (laughter)
Q. There was a report this morning that this club was ready to trade DT Calais Campbell to the Ravens and that you stepped in and argued or made the point that he was too valuable to lose.
MIKE McDANIEL: I guess, yes, the offer for compensation for his services was real, and I think it wasn’t like it was Chris (Grier) versus me. It was more that Chris looks at it the way I do, or we work together, and I may or may not have thrown an adult temper tantrum. (laughter) I think you have to look at – that’s the tricky thing about Chris’ job is he has to look long-term and short-term at the same time, what’s the best for the organization, and then he also – we rely on each other for things that I need to be on top of, and one of those is the locker room and what one individual does for an entire team. I think it speaks to Calais because that was a strong compensation for a guy that’s – he just passed the 30-year-old mark. (laughter) It speaks to how he’s playing. It speaks to what he means to the team, that teams would be willing to do that, and there was some competition for that. But yeah, my job is to speak on behalf of what’s the best thing for the 2024 Dolphins. I’m just fortunate to work in an organization where myself and the GM can be transparent and work together, and he didn’t want to see any more adult temper tantrums.
Q. I know the game got out of hand a little bit. Your thoughts on watching QB Drake Maye today, what you saw from him today and throughout the season?
MIKE McDANIEL: Yeah, it was what we kind of prepared for. He had ownership of the game even a little bit more than what had shown on tape. He made some plays in similar fashions that he made on tape. I think when you’re able to be a pocket passer but then extend plays and make teams pay when you’re in man coverage or two man, it’s a problem. He’ll continue to make plays as he gets better and better in the pocket. It’s a guy that honestly, I’m not really rooting for his development, being in the division, but I can appreciate the player, and they have a very good player to work with at that position. We’ll continue to have to be on our stuff.
Q. You pulled your starters for a series there in the fourth quarter and then put them back in after the fumble six. What went into the decision to go back to your starters?
MIKE McDANIEL: Well, personally it’s my least favorite good problem to have is a multiple score lead in the fourth quarter and trying to figure out the perfect scenario. I had a lot of conversations with players that – there were a lot of guys that were resisting coming out, which is a phenomenal thing. That’s exactly what you want. Then I won a couple arguments with some of the players, and then the results of when they weren’t out there, I quickly backpedaled out of that and allowed them to do what they wanted to do from the jump. Guys wanted to stay out there based upon wanting to finish the game and the amount of emphasis that we’ve put on not just starting fast but finishing the way that you start and finishing strong, and although it wasn’t – the fourth quarter wasn’t necessarily completely smooth, there was some positive stuff going on, specifically players that wanted to be on the field and lead us to victory.
Q. There’s obviously a lot of season left, but when you look back to when you were 2-6, what did you guys do right to get to this point to put together this nice stretch?
MIKE McDANIEL: I think starting with the captains and the leadership council in the locker room, guys chose to believe, and that’s hard when everyone is telling you the opposite. They chose to believe. They chose to focus on what matters, which is doing their jobs, and they focused on not getting ahead of themselves and taking it one practice at a time, one meeting at a time. I think you can’t understate – three-game losing streaks in the National Football League feel like an eternity, and we’ve had two of those this season. Like I explained to the team when we were 2-6, it is feast or famine basically with the team, because if you can stay together through all that adversity, generally the season has great things in store because, like life, it’s not about avoiding adversity, it’s about flourishing within it. Or you can lose another game and you can have people – you can have issues left and right. What I’ve seen is guys that have fought for something they’ve believed in starting April 15, 2024. They believed in this team taking a step, taking another step from the two previous seasons. It didn’t start out the way that we were used to, so you really can’t hide. You find out who really believes in what you’re doing, who really believes in each other, and there’s nothing more powerful than us against the world, and sometimes fate allows you to be in those situations. What does that leave us? Our record now is 5-6, and the Packers aren’t going to care about our three-game win streak. The Packers are going to want to make us the team that can’t win in the cold or beat good teams. We’ll have an opportunity on Thursday to either prove them right or wrong, as well as everybody else in front of a bunch of families that are digesting and judgmental. (laughter)
Q. What has LB Chop Robinson’s development done for the defense?
MIKE McDANIEL: It’s been very timely, I’ll tell you that. You hope – you have a lot of forecasting in the draft process. You feel strongly based upon all the work and all the talent, but then it comes down to the human being. The NFL season is brutal for rookies, so to see him come on and continue to have a bigger effect on NFL games, during the period of time where every other football season he’s ever played in his life is ending, it speaks to who he is. It speaks to the entire outside linebacker and edge room, some of the most competitive, relentless players we have on the team, that are as invested in each other as anyone. Man, it’s real cool to see a player handle all of the pressure that comes with being a first-round draft pick on a team that needs the rookie class to produce and to just chop wood every day – see what I did there? (laughter) And get some results that weren’t just earned this week. It’s been earned since the day he was drafted. I’m fired up and can’t wait until this game is his worst game.
-DOLPHINS-
Jaylen Waddle – November 24, 2024 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 24, 2024
Postgame – New England Patriots
Dolphins WR Jaylen Waddle
Q. How did it feel just to be so involved in the offense and to have the kind of game that you just had today?
JAYLEN WADDLE: It felt good. Always feels good after a win, having a good game. Having an individually good game don’t mean nothing without a win so that’s always good.
Q. Did you have a sense today might be your day?
JAYLEN WADDLE: No, not really. We’ve got a lot of playmakers on the team, so somebody normally has a day. If it’s not ‘Nu,’ (Jonnu Smith) then it’s ‘Reek,’ then it’s Achane, ‘Heem’ (Raheem Mostert). We’ve got a lot of playmakers. That’s what makes this offense so great. We’ve got guys that can make a play any time.
Q. It sounds like you’ve got good perspective, but it’s got to be hard to be patient because you haven’t gotten the targets in the past and today you really showed up.
JAYLEN WADDLE: I mean, it’s good. I can go back to college when we got a lot of playmakers all over the field. That’s what makes this game so exciting. That’s what brings the fans out, playing with such great talent. So no, it can’t be like that.
Q. You haven’t been frustrated at any point this year?
JAYLEN WADDLE: No, man. I was more frustrated from the losses than individual, me having individual goals or anything. That’s more like a media thing, really.
Q. Speaking of losses and wins, that’s three in a row. As far as wins go, how close do you think you are where you want to be, the type of team week in and week out, especially on offense?
JAYLEN WADDLE: I think we’re headed in the right direction. We’ve got big games coming up ending the year, so it’s important that we start playing our best ball heading into this last stretch of the season.
Q. Have you been seeking anything in terms of confidence, swagger? In the past you’ve played with so much confidence and so much swagger. Did you feel like you recaptured anything today?
JAYLEN WADDLE: No, man, I have the utmost confidence in myself to go out there week in and week out and play to the best of my ability. Never confidence, always got swag for real, for real.
Q. Tua said he’s excited to go up to Green Bay and kill some narratives. This team in cold weather hasn’t had the most success. Do you feel the same way?
JAYLEN WADDLE: Yeah, man. Cold weather game. It’s going to be real football weather. They’re bringing their best. We’re bringing our best. Thursday night football, man, that’s what it’s all about.
Q. Do you feel Jonnu Smith having the success he’s having starts to open things up for you and maybe now Tyreek Hill, too?
JAYLEN WADDLE: Yeah, man, Jonnu has been balling. He’s been tremendous for us in the run game, the pass game. Having the defense worry about him might take someone off of ‘Reek’ (Tyreek Hill), might take someone off me, opening up in the run game. It’s great having all these playmakers on the team and on the field, man.
Q. How are you celebrating your birthday?
JAYLEN WADDLE: I don’t know, man. My mom didn’t even make it down, sadly, so I’ll probably just watch some Monday Night Football and go to Renzo’s house or something.
Q. How do you think this stretch of games for Tua since he returned from injury, how does it compare to some of his best stretches as a professional in your opinion?
JAYLEN WADDLE: Yeah, man, Tua has been playing great ball. It’s really just him, for real. I can’t even explain it. He comes to work every day, and he just brings that swag, that confidence, and when he goes out there and plays like that, man, it’s just fun.
Q. Take us through that touchdown you scored and the feeling of pretty much capping off the day for you by getting into the end zone.
JAYLEN WADDLE: Yeah, RPO, really. Tua kind of did a no-look that kind of messed me up a little bit, but yeah, man, just had determination. Wes (Welker) has been telling me about getting in the box all week, previous weeks, and just had to fight to get in there for real.
Q. Did you see Stephen Ross did the Waddle again?
JAYLEN WADDLE: I didn’t, I did not. Mr. Ross be hitting it, though. He be hitting it.
Q. Are you waiting for a huge moment or what’s going on with the Waddle?
JAYLEN WADDLE: I don’t know, man. It was getting like out of hand. When I go out in public, people be trying to tell me to do it, so it’s just like, ah.
Q. What do you mean Tua threw you off because of that no-look? Was he looking over there?
JAYLEN WADDLE: Yeah, he was looking probably safety off, create space for me, allowing me to get past him, and I was making some YAC.
Q. Are you saying you’re retiring the Waddle?
JAYLEN WADDLE: I don’t know if retiring. I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s retiring. It needs a break for a little minute.
Tua Tagovailoa – November 24, 2024 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 24, 2024
Postgame – New England Patriots
Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa
Q. You were able to get the ball to WR Jaylen Waddle early and often today. How much of that was a concerted effort and how much was just a matter of how the game and flow of the game went?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: I think it was just a matter of how the flow of the game went today with what they wanted to do. We got to see early on and Jaylen (Waddle) had his opportunities and he made use of those opportunities.
Q. For you the way the offense is moving right now, what do you feel different these last few weeks that’s worked that it just seems like everything is there for you in front…?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: It’s just going through the progressions. I think that’s where we’ve taken a step forward in this offense in retrospect to last year, is one and two aren’t there; we’re able to flip our feet, work through the progression and what that entails for us, if he’s open. If not, knowing where our checkdowns are. I think that’s the biggest difference.
Q. Your confidence has to be through the roof right now. What’s it like when you’re on the kind of heater that you’re on right now?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: I would say it’s always great to win. It’s always great to enjoy the win. But there were some things second half-wise that we knew we could have capitalized on that we didn’t, things we said we wanted to do coming out in the second half that we didn’t and those can be frustrating. But I would say we’re still below the .500 threshold and it’s a long way to where we want to get to. We’ll enjoy this win, but this next one is going to be big for us, and we’re excited to go down to Green Bay and show everybody on primetime what we can do.
Q. Did you expect to see this much single safety high looks?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: You know, honestly, going into the game, having my mind with what they put on film this year, what they do, and then you go back and look at the rest of the years where they were successful in stopping some of our in-routes and whatnot, so you kind of have in mind, okay, these are the ways they could potentially play us, but then I also still have in the back of my mind, be ready for two (high safety), be ready for two-man, variations of four, whatever that looks like. And so preparing-wise, that’s sort of how we – that’s sort of how I go about my process so that I don’t get stuck on what the progression is and I can progress faster knowing what the coverage is.
Q. Did you think you were done when you came out at 31-7?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Not necessarily. Mike (McDaniel) came up and told me that he doesn’t like doing that, taking a guy out and then having to put him back in, but I told him at any point, I was ready, whether I had to sit out the rest of the game or not.
Q. When you talk through your progressions, like with Jonnu Smith on the first touchdown, where was he on your (progressions)?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: He was probably four if you’re counting the numbers on the progression. But that’s what I’m saying; like with what the defense presents us, it helps speed up the process with getting through the progression and getting to guys.
Q. You said a few weeks ago that you see what happens one by one, see if you guys can get on a streak. This is three in a row. Now that you’re in that mode, would you want it to be get that streak, get that going?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: It feels good to win any way. But yes, getting into a rhythm of stacking wins up in the win column, I definitely think that’s a big morale booster for the guys in the locker room, and this is something that they can take into this upcoming week. Guys are feeling good. Everything feels better when you win.
Q. This will probably be remembered as the Jaylen Waddle game, bust out game for him. Had you had to counsel he will him during the last month and a half or so when he hasn’t been getting the ball as much as he had in the past?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: No, I didn’t have to do any of that with ‘J. Dub’ (Jaylen Waddle).
Q. How meaningful is it to you to know that you’re 7-0 against a divisional opponent in New England?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: It’s great. It’s great any time you can find a win against a divisional opponent. It’s not my win, it’s the team win so I’ll leave that at that.
Q. You mentioned the significance of the coming game, but what do you think about maybe playing in some cold in Green Bay?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, I mean I’m excited to kill narratives, so let’s go. Bring it on.
Q. Talk a bit about avoiding interceptions these past couple of games. Obviously today and last week against the Raiders, just talk a bit about not giving New England’s offense any opportunities off of those?
TUA TAGOVAILOA: Yeah, ending of the half, in the first half, definitely didn’t like how we ended there, too many hands on the ball off of decisions and off of placement of the ball. That needs to be better. You just never want to put the team in a situation where we already have points to not get points.
