Mike McDaniel – December 16, 2024
Download PDF version
Monday, December 16, 2024
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(An encouraging updated statement on WR Grant DuBose earlier this morning. With regard to WR Jaylen Waddle, was his injury knee or ankle? Do you think he’s going to play again this year?) – “So I don’t have much to add on Grant (DuBose). We’ll be excited to see him when doctors deem it appropriate for him to fly. Before I get to (Jaylen) Waddle, I’d also like to commend the collective training staffs – both ours and the Texans’ and the doctors involved for handling a situation as they did. It was imperative for him. So with regard to Waddle, not major, not surgery-related; but in question for this week, kind of day-to-day on knee but avoided anything serious.”
(When you get a report like that this morning, an encouraging report, you just never know what could happen overnight. And just kind of, is it a little bit more, kind of taking a deep breath when you get each report comes out encouraging on WR Grant DuBose, obviously?) – “Absolutely. I think every step you’re hopeful to be encouraged, so it was good to be able to express that to his teammates.”
(Have you talked to him today?) – “I haven’t talked to him directly. I think he was resting when I got my call in there, so I didn’t catch him but look forward to.”
(Was there any bit of a restless night just waiting to hear for the next update? I mean was it, for all different reasons I guess, but that being primary?) – “Yeah, you could say that.”
(Obviously football is fun and it’s a business but just seems like every time something like that happens, the emotions for yourself, the team, just talk about the emotional aspect that you and the team had to go through to endure something like that again?) – “It’s something that I think the only way you get through something like that is with your teammates. I think we needed each other at that time, and you also have in the back of your mind, knowing Grant (DuBose) and what would make him proud and just the human being that he is, so you’re trying to do right by him and the team and the situation. There’s no really right answer, ultimately. I said last night, you have to kind of lean on the factors of your responsibilities to a lot of different people. But I thought the – his injury was right after a touchdown that defense got off the field and it was a momentum shift, the special teams fake punt, and then to have that touchdown to go up two scores, it was that drive that Grant got injured. So for the collective response and to be able to, through two phases, be able to get a touchdown was one of the positives of an overall, I would say, negative night.”
(You said you were going to hold off on LB Bradley Chubb a week, you had said that was likely. Do you think this week is likely? You still could wait even beyond. Are there still things you need to see before deciding on Sunday for this week?) – “I think the process, as we kind of laid it out at the end of last week, it hasn’t changed in terms of you go through practice fully communicating before and after, have an organized plan and then see where that leaves you through conversation at the end of the week. So that will be something that we will have on the forefront of our minds but won’t be decided until the end of the week.”
(On the three interceptions, QB Tua Tagovailoa was targeting WR Tyreek Hill. After watching the film, was there any recurring theme or disconnect between the two?) – “You want the good news or the bad news?”
(Bad news first.) – “The bad news first is that they were in fact three interceptions. That’s the bad news. The good news is both Tyreek (Hill) and Tua (Tagovailoa) have been very accountable, and both say it’s their fault. That’s what you want. It’s the second-best to not having the discussion at all because it didn’t happen, but I think it’s very important as you move forward within the NFL season to prepare for the next opponent that guys, your whole locker room, is pointing the thumb, not the finger – that saying. And the best way to ensure that is your captains are handling themselves that way. I think, I hear both of them, the things that they could have done and I think that’s a – I can let them argue over that responsibility because at the end of the day, the responsibility of the ball goes to everybody and the only way that you’re going to make sure that, that mistake or those mistakes don’t happen again, is if you have accountability to have standards of play that don’t allow for that. So I was happy with their response to the situation because what you don’t want are people talking about what the other person could do, because they’re not the other person, that doesn’t help what we’re trying to do.”
(I guess the most perplexing thing this season, at least to me, is running game going from first in the league in yards per carry to 31st this year – 5.0 [yards per carry] to 3.9 [yards per carry]. Is RB De’Von Achane still the same player he was last year? He’s gone from 7.8 [yards per carry] to 3.0 [yards per carry] as well. Is the trouble in the running game the last five weeks mostly the result of blocking, that isn’t up to the standard?) – “I think first and foremost, the style of play and kind of what defensive presentations for other games, I’ve been very candid about. I think there’s a couple plays here or there that would dictate different outcomes as well as sometimes people are playing the run more than the pass, which is what we kind of came into around the Jets week. But this game, I thought our ability to execute looks that are advantageous for us to run, it was one of the factors that you can say the turnovers were the reason we lost. You could say the run game was the reason we lost. You could say a given up fake punt that turned into a touchdown. You could say that was the reason for the loss. All things, all of those things would be true, but it’s any one of those things. I think this particular game, I don’t think was up to the standard, regardless of whoever’s in there. I think everyone’s very, very aware after today’s meetings that that is not anything we want Miami Dolphin football to look like. I think our competitors in the running back room want to do better with the looks that are given, but last night, I didn’t think that they were really given a – their yards per carry doesn’t do them justice. I thought our blocking wasn’t good enough so then the focus is specifically on this week and how to improve that and anything beyond that is conversation, hyperbole or whatever, but we need to get it better fast because the same problem will present itself if we allow it to this week against the 49ers.”
(You said yesterday that you wanted the team to kind of remember how the loss felt. They’ve had a chance to stew on it for about 24 hours. What’s the team’s mood and what’s the motivation going forward?) – “The team’s mood is – there’s a reason behind my belief in the individuals and the collective. There’s a competitive edge that when you really look at it, we had another game, another example of a huge improvement in one phase. I thought defensively, forcing five three-and-outs I think it was and the points they did give up, there were several situations where they made a four-point play – Kader (Kohou) did on a PBU before half – and then you’re trying to get a stop after that fake punt. But overall, significant improvement from week to week in one phase, and then the lack of complementary football, that to me is what this game will be remembered for by our team, just because you go one month or four games without turning the ball over and then you do it four times in one game. I think overall guys have to hone in on their responsibilities and know why offensively they’ve been feeling pretty good about their production because we’ve been very mindful off the football. And once you lose sight of that and you end up wasting a great outing by another phase, and it’s just happened too many times. I think you can point to all of our victories and every single one of them you have at least a half and sometimes beyond that of truly complementary football. I think back to that New England Patriots game, the second quarter where the score just flipped when you felt the power of all three phases, and understanding that, I think it gives – we have a locker room that’s very hungry to do right by their jobs and do right by the team. That means let’s produce a three-phase output that we’re happy with, not just one week but you have to do it for consecutive weeks if you want to reach all those goals that we do not – we’re very over the top with being transparent our belief in each other and what we expect out of the season. In that journey to produce something closer to our expectations, we have to do right by this football team, organization and the fan base by having games where our three phases are the reason why we’re winning the game, not two or one of them.”
(Just to wrap up one of the flurry of roster moves on Saturday. With QB Skylar Thompson, would you like to – I know you needed a roster spot, would you like to invest more time in him? Might you claim him for your practice squad if he goes through waivers unclaimed?) – “We’ve talked about this discussion and it’s based upon the rest of the roster as well, but if he clears waivers, that’s something we’re interested in and we’ve considered. So that’s something that we’re looking into but we have to wait the facilitation of this day.”
