Mike McDaniel – December 8, 2024 (Postgame)
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MIAMI DOLPHINS QUOTES
Sunday, December 8, 2024
Postgame – N.Y. Jets
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
What was the speech about resiliency? What was the speech you gave your team about resiliency earlier this week, and how did you see it play out today?
MIKE McDANIEL: There’s been a lot of very motivated passionate meetings, whether it’s led by myself or Frank (Smith) and ‘Weave’ (Anthony Weaver) or by players. There’s a lot that I kind of shared with them in my life story, how it’s not always a bad thing when people think you can’t do stuff. I was an only child in Greeley, Colorado, which you guys don’t know what that is. It’s like 70,000 people, and I was 4’10” tall in seventh grade, so there were a lot of people that said that I couldn’t, and I see that in our team. There’s just so many people that can attest to being able to press forward regardless of who says what and wherever. But the main thing, whatever I said, the players chose to believe. The players chose to have an absolutely motivated practice week. The players chose to not give up in this game. When you do that and you survive some adversity, the thing on the other side is the – that’s the best stuff, regardless. One thing I know in life, easy is way overrated and not that fulfilling. I don’t know how you know about a team meeting. I don’t know who the snitch is. But the team meeting isn’t the headline. The headline is guys coming together. I thought the vision of the team – I couldn’t be prouder of the fourth quarter, the complementary football, when plays needed to be had, some of the biggest plays in the game were on special teams. Guys like Malik Washington, for instance, last week did not define him. An absolutely critical return. The plays that ‘33’ (Siran Neal) made. A missed extra point, does that define you? It’s the same thing as 2-6 or 5-7; only if you let it. The locker room, I think it’s important to really acknowledge the absolute non-negotiable effort and strain that we see from this Dolphins team. I think the crowd played a big part, and it was important to our guys. We’ve had a rough season. We have a lot of people paying a lot of money to come see us play, and Hard Rock Stadium is special to us. All of those things were really cool, and I was just really happy with what the team did and how they approached the week allowed them to have an opportunity to have a really cool football moment together today.
When you think of a franchise quarterback, you think of the kind of things we saw today from QB Tua Tagovailoa. We’ve seen parts of that, but putting it all together like he did today with the season on the line, what can you say about that?
MIKE McDANIEL: Well, I think there are two games. For me, the game he had at Buffalo exorcised some demons for him and I, just in general, and I don’t think he could have had that game two years ago. I don’t think two years ago this game occurs. He continues to get better. But he’s really – I think he had 47 pass attempts this week. He had 40 last week. I think it’s been since the Monday night game that he’s turned the ball over. It’s a lot of work, and all of his work is paying off because he’s a naturally gifted quarterback, not only the skill sets but people gravitate towards him. He makes people better. That’s an incredibly important part of that position. I thought it was a big game for him in Green Bay, as well, because not everything played out the way he wanted it to. But what he’s doing is he’s mastering the art. The hardest thing to do, you could argue the hardest position to play, is quarterback out of all the positions in sports, and the biggest differentiator with quarterbacks is it’s a big moment. There’s a lot of stuff on you. And to be able to play clear minded and let the game come to you – case in point, 47 pass attempts and 0 interceptions again – it’s really cool to see. Not an ounce of it hasn’t been earned from him working on his craft, and that connectivity with the guys he’s throwing to, ‘10’ Tyreek Hill) and ‘17’ (Jaylen Waddle), there’s been a lot of talk about their production and stuff. They’re executing this offense the best they’ve ever executed. Their routes are the best. They’re on the field the longest they’ve been on the field. So there’s a lot of cool things coming together. That’s why you fight, because the point is it has nothing to do with how difficult the journey is, but moments like this are on the other side. So we’ll enjoy this as individuals and as a group today and then one thing I am very comfortable being confident in is that we’ll watch the tape tomorrow and then guys will start getting ready for the next week and copy, paste the way we approach it because that’s what the league is about. When everyone is all in, really cool things can happen, people can make plays in certain situations, and you can all of a sudden come up with a defensive stop that’s absolutely critical at the end of the game, and then you can do stuff at the end of the half and the end of the game offensively to get some points, which I thought was a huge area of growth. Yeah, I didn’t realize until it was live speed that I had never been in an overtime game, either, as a head coach, so that was cool. I’m glad the rules are as they are.
Did TE Jonnu Smith ever say anything to you during the game about not getting targeted? Whether he did or not, what changed in overtime?
MIKE McDANIEL: We have so many talented players that can do things with the ball. He came and he has this deal where he reminds me of a play, so it’s constructive, but I know what that means. (laughter) He did it in Indianapolis when he scored I think it might have been his first touchdown. He reminded me of a play. I did something similar, or it took me probably another series, but then I called the play, and whether it was a tip or it was a tight window, it was that screen that was incomplete. So actually he said something, we called a play, it was live speed and he would call it a drop. I’m not sure, I’d have to see on tape, but he would call it a drop. But my working relationship with that competitor, you also know that yeah, in the short term it sucks that the play wasn’t made, but I also know that, all right, in my back pocket, that bothers him more than anybody, so he will make a play. He said something, but I knew where his competitive spirit was at and how he had touched the ball, and it wasn’t a completion. I knew when push came to shove in crunch time, he would come through just because that’s what he’s shown me. He’s a very resilient individual that’s a competitor and makes all his teammates better by the way he competes.
Regarding T Terron Armstead, he’s a veteran who’s injured and has to leave the game. He was clearly frustrated. At one point he’s giving tips to T Patrick Paul. At another point he’s giving tips to LB Chop Robinson. What does that say about Terron and what does that say about this team?
MIKE McDANIEL: I think you hit the nail on the head. That’s why he has a C on his chest. That’s why he’s a special player, because it was undoubtedly very frustrating for him. But we talked this week about – I saw the same thing from Raheem Mostert. He desperately wanted to will his way to play. He didn’t. But I saw value added, and there’s a reason why the highly respected and regarded players are as such, because in this game there’s a lot of things that go on. You’re 1/11th in regards to who you are and what you’re doing, so you can only control what you can control. But there is gigantic power in adding value from energy or investment, and Terron, that’s what he does. He’s a huge piece of our locker room. I feel just fortunate to have him on this (team), to be able to sign him in 2022, because we wouldn’t be where we’re at without him. You know you’ve got something good with your team in terms of the ability to play down the stretch and play and handle whatever occurs when you have guys that are major contributors when they’re unable to, whether it’s injury or whatever the scheme is, when they’re still adding value by recognizing that they still have value, even when they’re not playing.
How would you assess and evaluate the way T Patrick Paul played?
MIKE McDANIEL: Yeah, it felt — I can tell you that I was not calling plays around him. In games, one thing that is a big deal when you do have a lineup change on the offensive line is you know a guy is playing well if you don’t have to adjust your play calling. So I was not having to, okay, do this but run right, do this but slide left. It was not too big for him. He has a lot of room to grow in this game, and he knows that. That being said, it felt like it was a big moment for him simply because he was competing play in, play out, and was not necessitating extra help. He was not necessitating to be on the back side of things. I was able to call the game as I would normally call it, which that in and of itself is a compliment.
Two games out with four weeks remaining. Can you paint a picture of where this team stands?
MIKE McDANIEL: I know we’ve got a game against the Houston Texans, and I absolutely, positively will not have anyone on this team think about anything else, absolutely. The Houston Texans are a great team, and once my eyelids open for post-sleep tomorrow morning, our energy will be focused on our game in terms of cleaning up stuff as it applies to Houston, and the rest of the stuff takes care of itself. What you don’t want is to spend your time – I could really care less. I don’t care who plays. I don’t know who has a bye. I don’t really care. We have Houston, and we need to build upon what we did this week. They’ll certainly be deserving of every ounce of our time and effort.
-DOLPHINS-
