Mike McDaniel – December 9, 2023
Download PDF version
Saturday, December 9, 2023
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(DT Christian Wilkins popped up on the injury report with a groin injury. Is that something that you anticipate will sideline him on Monday night? And has S Jevon Holland progressed to the point where you guys feel comfortable with him playing?) – “Christian, I’m not worried about playing Monday night. Unless new information comes across, I’m pretty confident that he will. Jevon is a wait and see. Not because of any other reason but we are truly letting him progress and I do not want to – I want to see how he feels today on the practice field, then I want to see how he feels tomorrow from it, then talking to him, making a decision that is in line with how important he is to our team. We’ll take that up through tomorrow, but he’ll be on the practice field today doing some stuff.”
(Since today is the most important day of our lives, but this is also Art Week in Miami. Monday is your show day with the team. Can you just touch on the art of deliberate practice?) – “I didn’t see that coming but I would love to talk about deliberate practice. I think the whole point and the residual effect of deliberately practicing is that getting yourself to a mental space that’s as close to a game – I’m not sure if you guys know anything about reps, but they’re helpful. I think deliberately practicing things with intent that’s as close as possible to a game can make game-time performance less about stressful make a play, we have to win, and more about, let’s go perform and do what we are very prepared to do. I think there is deliberately practicing for individuals – 10 times out of 10, just list off the greatest whatever’s. The greatest whatever’s, they’re all deliberately practicing things. The first three that come to mind for me are always (Michael) Jordan, Kobe (Bryant) and Tiger (Woods). Steph Curry. Putting yourself in this mental space of performance, over time that helps individuals. Now you compound that with, what if a bunch of individuals are doing that next to each other? Well, not only do you get better at playing with each other, but there’s an inherent unspoken rise in your confidence to go play together. You’re invested more, you’re more convicted and it’s kind of like a snowball. So that is something that the only way we’ll win more games, most specifically this one, is that we stay true to that. It’s the reason why any of our successes have happened the way they have, is because of our adherence to that deliberate practice and being present. When you practice deliberately and get addicted to that, this team isn’t crowning themselves. This team is not taking any entitlement in an NFL game. This is their moment that they’ve been working for that they’ve earned. There’s definitely some positive residuals to that. So yeah, I like talking about deliberate practice.”
(T Terron Armstead, how did his Friday participation go? What do you anticipate for him this week?) – “No setbacks for Armstead. He’ll still be questionable. We’ll take today and then all the way up till the game. I’ll rule Rob Hunt out.”
(Is LB Jerome Baker also out?) – “Yeah, he will be. There’s multiple things at play. Because of the roster, he’ll be going to short term IR, or IR in general. You can’t really forecast what, when and why. That doesn’t rule other people out. We just, for the roster, it was very on the line of his timeline. So we’ll be putting him on IR today.”
(Will LB Jerome Baker be that last number eight, designation to return?) – “See, it’s hard. That’d be like me saying, that’d be me accessing the crystal ball. I think that that very well could be the outcome, but you’re hesitant with the way the season goes, the roster needs and him and his recovery. You just want to temper that a little bit. To assume that is not irresponsible, but I wouldn’t put money on it because it’s not known, if that makes sense.”
(I wanted to follow up on that. Earlier in the week, you said that he wasn’t going on IR and then you said there are multiple things that play, but was this an instance of further examination?) – “This is more about team needs – really the collective accumulation of the roster and multiple positions, because it was right on the fringe of yes or no with it, and our starting point at that point in time was we didn’t need to do it. Things change every day, which is why I don’t stamp anything that’s unknown. So, we’ll be going in that direction now and feel good about that.”
(What is known that this team has a lot of Pro Bowl-leading vote getters. How excited are you guys just this month to be recognized league wide with having this amount of caliber of talent?) – “The thing that excites me about it is what it tells me is people enjoy watching some of our elite players, but more than that, our whole team. When people enjoy the way you play, you turn the page and I can attest to it in my journey, there are certain guys that became your favorite players. At one point in time, I was voting as a fan for players. I think what’s cool about this team is that there is no harbored resentment, only build up and excitement for anyone that is – any one of our playmakers that we really depend on. I think a lot of guys take Tyreek Hill’s votes and it’s personal to them as well. So what I see is the result of a lot of work, a lot of talent by the individual players, a full commitment to their game as well as all their teammates. It’s votes for individuals, but I know you don’t have multiple players receiving that type of attention unless your team is playing well. Just in general, I think our team puts it all out there every time we play, and from a football perspective, it is fun to watch. So I’m very happy for all of them, the team and the individuals.”
(I’m still thinking about OL Austin Jackson earning his contract extension and the strides that we’ve seen for QB Tua Tagovailoa under you, what is it that you emphasize in your culture to establish confidence for players and also the player development that we’ve seen?) – “Everyone is receiving what Chris Grier, Tom Garfinkel, Brandon Shore and Mr. (Stephen) Ross, they decided to hire. Out of the gate, I have a strong connection with what the job is. To me, the job as a coach is to coach and to maximize players’ ability. You do that by having a lot of people who are like-minded, as coaches, going after it the same way. Then you have to have the right roster where guys are actually interested in doing whatever it takes to be their best selves. You have that pool of people – coaches adhering to being a coach first and foremost, and that’s the only driving factor. Then you have players that want to be coachable. Then you have all these individuals trust each other and make themselves vulnerable and really take out all the confusing other things that happen in life and you can have a situation where there’s a lot of people daily really going after their opportunities that they’re given that very day. I understand it. I think my role in particular, your job is when things don’t go well, your job is to take that all on your shoulders. That’s the responsibility. But all the successes, it’s the furthest thing from just me. I can’t do anything on my own at all. Even if I said something awesome that was unbelievably the best thing that anyone’s ever heard, someone has to listen to it and buy into it. The collection of people is what really allows people to grow. It’s really cool to be a part of. There’s a lot of people invested not only in themselves, but in each other and their stories. When you’re doing that, you’re kind of really capturing the essence of why you even want to be on a football team in general, which is really, really cool.”
(Understanding the overriding notion that you’re going to play the game when the NFL tells you you’re going to play the game, what are your general feelings about playing on a Monday night?) – “It never bothers me. I understand that your week can adjust based upon if it’s a Monday or a Thursday or a Friday. I know one thing, if we want our league healthy, we have to make money. So being on primetime Monday night, yeah it makes you have a short week, but you know what good teams do? They have a lot of adjusted schedules. So you have to look at it through the lens of we want as many of those opportunities as possible, so that means people want to watch us, that the league is healthy because there’s a national televised audience. If that’s what the good teams do, then you want to be in that category. I don’t look at it at all as labor-some. It’s more of a compliment and opportunity that you should take seriously. I know it is an honor every time that you’re playing with most of the time no other games. Is there another Monday night game in there?”
(Yes.) – “Is it simultaneous?”
(Yes.) – “So it’s an honor to have only one other game played. (laughter) You got 50 percent, so that’s a lot more percentages than usual. It’s something that all the guys get geeked up for and it’s fun.”
(I wanted to talk about the NFL’s initiative with My Cause My Cleats. Have you been able to see some of the cleats that the players will be wearing on Monday night? Also, your thoughts on a team that is very involved in the community with some great causes and their foundations?) – “I haven’t. It’s kind of like a last unveiling. I don’t know their causes because I will see them on Monday night. There’s certain guys that I kind of know what direction they’ll go. My thing is that anytime people are wearing or involving themselves in something that’s bigger than themselves and they could get away with not doing, I think that shows that from a human being standpoint, those individuals don’t feel entitled and feel very lucky at all the things that come their way in this lifestyle. And also understand the platform that you really have to reach people and utilizing that. So it’s very meaningful to me, just from a standpoint of having awareness to where your place is at in the world, not taking for granted that people actually want to watch you do something that you love to do, and then on top of that, utilizing it to the best of your ability to bring awareness to certain things. There’s a lot of things going on in the world and a lot of things slip through the cracks, so it’s a cool deal that I think a lot of people get a lot of stuff out of it in a lot of areas that could use the attention. So it’s pretty cool.”
(To keep the main thing the main thing this week, you guys face a former Heisman Trophy winner and I know execution is a priority to you. What are some things that you, as a former run coordinator, stands out with RB Derrick Henry and the challenge that you all have coming up this week?) – “I’m really excited and glad you asked about the Tennessee Titans, because I think this is a great challenge for our football team. It jumps off the tape that this team that we’re going to face tries to beat you physically on both sides of the ball. It’s a priority of theirs. And I think that’s an element that is steadfast in December and January. So I think that’s a rep that is perfectly timed that will be a tremendous challenge. I think that you’d be a fool to take a team that plays with just the ultimate, I want to say, commitment to the fundamental principles of football – running the ball, stopping the run, all those things. If you take those types of teams lightly in this part of the year, you will learn a lesson fast and it will not be comfortable. So I’m very comfortable with the way that our team has approached it thus far. We have one day of practice left that I’m hoping matches the first two, because they understand that there is a team coming to Hard Rock Stadium that is fully intent on winning the game and giving us our first home loss. So if you understand that, it’s your job to prepare and be your best self regardless of what team you play. But just know, it’s going to be a physical one.”
