Mike McDaniel – December 24, 2023 (Postgame)
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Sunday, December 24, 2023
Postgame – Dallas
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Mike McDaniel
Q. What does this mean to you and the team?
COACH MCDANIEL: It means we won our 11th game. It means that the team isn’t crazy for feeling the way they feel. I think, specifically since I’ve been in the National Football League, I think the experience for players has changed with the advent and heavy push of social media. I think it’s really hard to ignore the noise, so to speak, or not hear it. I think you’re going to hear it. And so it’s impossible for people not to know all the things that we’re not capable of doing. But I’m proud for this team because regardless of what people say, you have to get to a mode where you’re solely worried about doing your job and being responsible for that with your teammates. And anything else, you get distracted and lose focus on what actually matters. So I thought this is a big win for this team because it’s always big when you do something that internally you know that you’re capable of. And when it comes to fruition, it’s pretty satisfying. I think a lot of their training – I think a lot of the season came out tonight. I think there are really cool results when people persevere through tough times and don’t let tough times wear you down too much. Nobody on this team thought we were going to lose that game. And that’s pretty cool when everyone tells you that you can’t do X, Y or Z. So that’s what that is. It’s a win against a really good team that is tough to beat, just in general, that has playoff experience for the last several years. But then it’s like, awesome, check that box, let’s get as healthy as we can, and let’s go play the Baltimore Ravens. So we’ll be fully on that tomorrow. Tonight, I think it’s just satisfying to have an earned victory that took everybody. And I thought there was, from the beginning of the game to the end, you know, from DeShon Elliott making that stop on the goal line that gave us another down and we got the turnover, all the way down to there’s just to the plays that were made on the final drive. And I thought it was very fitting that for a game that people – our locker room is filled with “they said you can’t” – filled with guys that have been told they can’t. One of which is Jason, can’t make 50-yard field goals. So that’s what it’s about is taking things into your own hands, working to be the best version of yourself, cutting no corners. And you get results like that in a high-stakes game with a lot of pressure. This team was fully confident and knew it would take all 60 minutes. So it’s a cool one to be a part of. I think a lot of the guys are happy because their Christmas isn’t ruined.
Q. 3:27 when you take over at the 25. What’s your mindset there aside from getting in field goal range?
COACH MCDANIEL: I was excited to see which phase was going to win the game. I wasn’t going to count our defense out for a second and I wasn’t going to count our offense out either. And the second that they scored the touchdown, went up by one, I was happy for the opportunity because I know you have to figure out a way to win in those moments to have the season that you want. I was very pumped. I was confident that our guys would execute. And I think we got – it was cool that we matriculated down the field. Their pass rush was real and we were able to get into scoring position. And then to be able to convert to get to first down, to get – it epitomizes what the Dolphins are. Jeff Wilson comes and fights for the yardage that allows us to kneel down and kick a field goal. That is happening all over the place in all three phases, which is why you’re seeing a team that is playing very hard for each other each and every week. So many guys are contributing. So many guys are stepping up with injuries, and that’s the most fun football to be a part of.
Q. Tell us about the decision to go screen to Tyreek on the third-and-3?
COACH MCDANIEL: I was trying to – getting Tyreek the ball isn’t that novel. I was picking the play that I thought you guys would second-guess the strongest if it didn’t work. (laughter) No, you’re going through – it was a nice discourse. I was pumped about our offensive coaching staff. We kind of went back and forth with a couple of different calls. And then as we thought about it, where we were on the field and kind of the look that Tyreek had in his eye, he’s got to a place where he knows when a defense is fully committing all of their resources to stopping him and it’s not frustrating him. He’s just trying to find his moments to do something great. That is something that is not easy to do, especially when he’s put as much pressure on yourself as he does. But you want to talk about something confident. As long as we had someone in between the first primary defender and him, he’s going to find a way to get those yards. So I thought it was well-executed, good ball placement. Braxton Berrios did a great job and Lester Cotton did a phenomenal job as well. That’s what it takes for those type of wins.
Q. The use of technology you know that because of social media and everything that sometimes it is hard for guys to drown it out. I’m just curious, what’s your message throughout the season and maybe this week? Was it, if you hear it, internalize it, use it to push you further or drown it out?
COACH MCDANIEL: No, as I’ve been a head coach, I’ve kind of recognized that it’s impossible to be in a vacuum. So, I didn’t really explain it that well. I can’t remember what day it was. But I’m assuming I was tired in my press conference, but when I was talking about telling people, F off, it wasn’t you shouldn’t have that question. People are entitled to any question they want. It’s understand that this is going to come. People are going to say this, this, or that. And respectfully take that information and that’s the F off part, is you’re not allowing other people’s information pushed on you to occupy rent in your brain, that you know that that’s going to come. So I think for me, when there’s going to be narratives that the team is going to hear, I try to talk about them because I know that it’s going to be talked about. But you do that so hopefully they trust you enough that it doesn’t now occupy their brain because you said it, but you’re trying to really position them in the direction where, hey, this is going to happen. Don’t even bat an eye. People are going to talk about not – everyone’s going to talk about stuff we haven’t done until we do it. And you shouldn’t get mad at that. It’s like, yeah, we haven’t beaten a team with a winning record so we’re vulnerable to that. All the things that you haven’t done, should we really be entitled to blind faith before we do it? That’s kind of where they were at. I feel like the team did a good job of it not really owning their minds and souls in the process of the week because that’s what happens if you get distracted and start thinking about, ‘I’m so pissed that someone said we couldn’t beat a team.’ You’re now not thinking about your job, and that’s the challenge for all teams. And just with this massive amount of information that’s always thrown at you, with millions and millions upon millions of people having an opinion of you and how your performance was, you just have to come to grips with the fact that – I talked to them from my perspective. I know exactly what’s going to happen if a play doesn’t work or if a decision doesn’t work out, as it should. So I think that was that strength. That’s what I was proud about, is the team came together and found a way to focus on what matters. Because all the other stuff, it’s not ‘woe is me’ because that’s part of the reason why we get compensated the way we do. It’s part of the reason that people care. So being able to focus on what your job is, is monumental and in games like this if you’re not that way, you will lose them somehow, some way.
Q. You talked about the Tennessee game, about the lessons that you learned by the team and also by yourself. What did you think you learned in that game that came to play late in this one?
COACH MCDANIEL: From the team’s perspective or mine?=
Q. Yours.
COACH MCDANIEL: Mine? Really from that game, there’s some times as a coach that you can try to will things into existence and you can kind of – like one of my starting points of how I just view this whole game, is I have a job to do to put people in position to succeed. But like, I never am responsible for the results that are good. Like, I could call a terrible play and it works or I could call the perfect play and it doesn’t work. It’s the players and putting them in position for success. And sometimes I can fall into the trap of, like, I need to make the perfect call. It’s not that. It’s giving people opportunities in a smart fashion relative to what the defense is doing and what you’re successful at. So more listening to what’s going on right in front of me and less trying to take the game into a schematic place because I don’t see it that way. I think you prepare a certain way. If your players are prepared, they know exactly what to do in certain scenarios. And then in moments like those you get the ball to whom the quarterback is confident in, who will be open, and who’s really got the hot hand and live from there.
Q. There will be a lot more in Tua’s career going forward, but in this point do you think that final 3:27 was career-defining at this point with what he was able to do and with the stakes that were part of that?
COACH MCDANIEL: I think it was a big moment for other people, probably something – there’s always validation when you’re able to come through in a big moment. But really the way I look at everything and the way I try to talk to the team is we define ourselves each and every day. So, like, what does that mean for him? It’s validation, but it also means nothing because it’s not like what would have changed if we didn’t win that game. That’s the way you have to look at things. You’re constantly chopping wood to be the best version of yourself while holding on to your belief in yourself and everybody else. I’m sure deep down it gives some sort of validation, not that I would see. And to me I don’t think you’re going to like the results if you’re living in the past, off your past accomplishments. You have to be satisfied with how you go after that day and what’s set in front of you that day. For him, that’s the only way he’s going to be satisfied, is that relentless pursuit of improving his game. I think – I’m happy for him – but there’s not one player on our team that was surprised. You know what I mean? I don’t really know where that leaves us, but, man, I need a drink of water.
Q. I saw Steve Ross walking off the field and he shook his fist. This has to be a very satisfying win for him. Have you had a chance to share a moment with him and has he expressed his joy to you?
COACH MCDANIEL: Yeah, it really brings me a lot of joy because the way I look at it, and from my experience, he was the one owner that decided that I was worthwhile to interview and took a shot on me where a lot of people in the first hiring cycle don’t. And in the process of getting to know him, there’s a ton of things that I could find from a relatable standpoint from both myself and just – he has earned everything to his name on his own and been extremely successful to do that. And I know that he hadn’t felt that same success with the Dolphins, by his own admission. But you want to talk about a guy that positions an NFL franchise to succeed where he doesn’t use his power of being the owner, like, literally, he could tell me to stand on one leg for the rest of the week. (laughter) But he doesn’t. He hires people and lets them do their jobs and supports us; reaches out to me after a tough loss, is worried about me. So for me, it’s hard for me not to look like I – part of the million reasons that I have to do my job to the best of my ability is to bring to him what I think he deserves because he’s, I mean, I can’t imagine an owner I’d rather work for and he deserves that satisfaction. And I know a lot of guys are happy that they can do that because he deserves it. He gives us everything that we could possibly want to try to have a winner.
