Mike McDaniel – September 9, 2024
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Monday, September 9, 2024
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(Have you had any update on the situation with WR Tyreek Hill, any clarity on what happened and just kind of how to move forward with this for him?) – “Really the time since yesterday to now I think for me personally, it’s been hard for me not to find myself more upset the more I think about it. That’s because of my teammates and trying to put myself in that situation that they’ve described emotionally, and then knowing more than that – I think the thing that (explicit) me up, honestly, to be quite frank, is that knowing that I don’t know exactly, I don’t know what that feels like. I think it’s very, very important that two things should be true – I think you let due process work and information to be gathered to appropriately project an opinion. However, I can’t get away from the fact of what I know their experience to be. You try to put yourself – if I’m Calais Campbell and I’m 38 years old and you’re going to work, whatever personal innocence that you have relative to – you’re a gigantic, strong, just a miraculous man that has done right in all ways, shapes and forms. There’s just elements to that that is very triggering, but I also do think that it’s supremely important to wait for information to be gathered before any rush to judgement. Regardless I know the feelings expressed to me are unsettling. Two things did come from the adversity: I’m super proud of teammates being teammates, and I’m super proud of our guys understanding the civic responsibility of a platform and intending to do right by it.”
(We’ve heard all summer how close this team has been. To see two, not only just teammates but new teammates in TE Jonnu Smith and DT Calais Campbell stop and come to his aid, I got to imagine that’s a pretty powerful coaching moment for you.) – “It’s what you hope your team is comprised of. Situations that you can’t plan for sometimes give you the best window into where your team is at. I’m very proud that they see each other as teammates and hold that in regard the way they do. You spend as much time, you are so interwoven into the story of their lives that you hope that teammates understand that we are extended family. I was very happy that a guy in a situation like that didn’t feel alone.”
(You’re clearly very aware and have perspective that probably we don’t about the impact of race in this country – police, excessive use of force, racism. I’m curious, has that perspective changed over time, or is this something that’s always been something that’s really emotional for you?) – “Well yeah, because it’s two part – I guess my journey has left me aware, but at the same time there is a huge level of I don’t know, because I’m not – simply by my appearance, I don’t have a history of feeling profiled. I’m not sure if that makes it – for me in particular, I just feel pretty helpless at times. Situations like that it’s not about the emotions that arises for me, it’s about the people in it. It’s probably more visceral because yes, I do spend a lot of time prioritizing empathy, and then when you know you can’t truly understand, the unknown is what crushes me. I can only forecast. My forecast, what if it’s worse? Since I was young, the racial relations and all things involved in that has been just kind of one of those things that I’m on the outside looking in at everything going on. I know from one thing, my appearance lends me to the journey of many not alienated.”
(With that being said, how impressed were you the way WR Tyreek Hill was able to bounce back from all of the pregame drama?) – “I was very, very impressed by him, individually and collectively, his teammates. I was just very impressed with everyone. To me, the teammates minimized whatever was going on as much as possible. I think the teammates, they did a great job of understanding what the game means to Tyreek (Hill) and tried to assist him as best they could to be able to do what he loves. Especially when you’re hitting the expert level of anything, there is a safe place there that you know the ground rules firmly and that you can do what you really love to do. I think that protecting that from a teammate standpoint and supporting him was very, very powerful.”
(In the past you’ve discussed the difficulty of wanting to have the answers for your players but sometimes having to accept that you don’t have them. You can’t reach that. So what do you – you mentioned not being able to know what that experience feels like – what can you tell guys like WR Tyreek Hill and DT Calais Campbell in a situation like this?) – “I think it’s better to listen more than anything. I think life is super humbling, and I think it’s important to recognize when your words don’t mean (expletive), like what am I going to say?”
(What was the process like in the locker room? It was such an odd incident to happen right before a game, and I sense that something had to have happened in the locker room for things to – for everybody to get their heads back in the game and just get their focus where it needed to be. Was it something you said, something WR Tyreek Hill said or how did that work?) – “There were some key players that are leaders of this team that I think did a great job of communicating to other players via word of mouth when they were getting close to arriving to the locker room and they were met by teammates in the locker room. So I think that in itself – you try to put yourself through their timeline – and however long it lasted, there was certain feelings during the situation, but then the second they got in the locker room, to have numerous people come physically to them to greet them and support them, that’s how it was handled. You want to make sure your guy is OK and, in that process, you want to make sure that they do not feel alone.”
(We’re a day removed from this incident. Happened more than 24 hours. Miami-Dade Police Department has made a commitment to transparency. We don’t have the body one camera video yet which might clear up a lot. I’m not sure whether you thought about that or talked about it. Do you have any thoughts about their releasing that video and is there anything you can address relative to the importance of them releasing that video?) – “I think you let the process take its time. It’s one thing for timeliness of it. I think for anyone to have an opinion, if there are facts, they should have facts before they have an opinion. So I don’t pretend to know all the things involved in that process, so for me to even have an opinion about today and having expectations for it to be released today, I think that should be short-sighted on my part. I don’t know what goes on with that and I think that there’s a lot of things they have to – I’m confident that everything will get reviewed, and I am confident that this is too much in the spotlight to just sweep under the rug. So I feel like what I don’t know now, it’s not my time to know, but I think facts supersede everything. I think it’s important for people to allow a fair process for all information to get distributed because that’s I think kind of the – I just think that’s kind of a super important pillar for me to stand on for my scope, is that I don’t think it’s fair to anybody to rush to judgment. That’s why my emotion comes from the journey and the experience from my teammates and extrapolated to other things; that’s where the emotion comes from, but I think you have to let the process play out. I think that’s super important.”
(You’re obviously very emotional about this. I’m sure a lot of guys on the team are emotional about it. How tough is it to get focused on a game for Thursday?) – “I think there’s a good amount of – I would venture to guess one of the favorite parts of being in the NFL and being on an NFL team is that we are able to immerse ourselves into something that’s a tangible goal that you have some control over. I think that a lot of times it’s therapeutic to be in the process of NFL game week and a Thursday night division opponent. There’s a lot of very constructive things to think about and sometimes that can be our greatest gift – that gift of supreme distraction, if it were. So I think our guys are highly motivated to – especially when the world creeps in on you and rattles you a little bit – there’s I think, some comfort in our known prepare for an opponent, know your assignments, and play together type of orchestration of football that is timely for… I don’t know about this particular situation, but in times, there’s just been innumerable times of things happening in all ways, shapes or forms to players, and they find the comfort in the process and the commitment to each other and the team. So I think when I see guys, what is it tomorrow? What is tomorrow? When I see all the team together tomorrow, I have a pretty sound expectation of guys being very, very focused on our next opponent which happens to be in the division. They happen to play in Buffalo.”
(Do you believe at all in the thought that a team has another team’s number, so to speak? Given what has happened in the last 15 matchups or so, even preceding you, and how much is it to clear that mental hurdle to beat a team like that within your decision and doing it so early in the season?) – “I think there’s always – I worry about the risk of people modeling a current team or a specific opponent on a new team based upon old things. So there’s a lot of players on this team that didn’t play Buffalo with the Miami Dolphins last year. There’s a lot of people that the first time that they played Buffalo was last season. So to be all encompassing, for me I’ve never subscribed to it, but you have to make sure that your team is there and that your team doesn’t see it that way as well because you can wish stuff into existence. To me, I think it’s very involved in fanbases which we feel and it’s very motivating for our ultimate goals and what we want to do with the season, but to have someone’s number, I think on either side, you’re kind of dismissing all the things that have changed that make this new team what it is. I think for this team, we know the stakes of it, but at the same time I don’t think anybody is thinking about the Buffalo Bills as anything but the team that’s won the division for however many years in a row that has had very successful seasons the last handful of previous ones and know that collectively, they will play hard, determined, physical football. Beyond that, I think these are two new teams playing against each other. I know if you’re on the opposite end, I’ve been – I think I was in San Francisco, I can’t remember how many we won playing the Rams in a row, but on the winning side, you’re fearful of people thinking that it’s just the decal that’s winning these games because it’s a very competitive league, and if you take anything to be an assumption, like you have someone’s number, you will get proven wrong quickly. I think the two teams playing is absolutely one of my favorite things in the National Football League because you have – I think it starts with fanbase. When you know your fanbase wants no part of losing to another team, you can feel it in the stadium, you can feel the energy and those stakes. Bottom line is you get in this business for stakes like that, so it should be really fun football that will be hard earned. It will definitely physical, and I think the winning team will have to earn it. And so we’ll be in a situation where we’re trying to prepare ourselves this week to be that team, and I absolutely know, with full conviction, that the boys in Buffalo will be doing the same.”
(A football question about WR Jaylen Waddle, CB Jalen Ramsey and LB Jaelan Phillips. I know Waddle finished the game, but how is he? CB Jalen Ramsey, how is the hamstring? LB Jaelan Phillips, how is the Achilles? Have you seen them and what is their status for Thursday as much as you know?) – “The ones going into the game, simply by the snap count, it was a positive experience for Jaelan (Phillips) and Jalen (Ramsey). You heard how I – they spell them differently, so I say them differently. (laughter) I think they probably had some more snaps than we might have had in our minds, very careful to not put something in their head, but I think that playing over 50 percent of the snaps for both of those guys was – the only way that happens is you’re testing the waters, and you feel very good about what’s occurring. So those were positive things, absolutely. Jaylen Waddle was from upstairs; he was called into the tent based upon want they saw and independent neurologist cleared him. So I think he should be good to go as we move forward.”
