Mike McDaniel – January 3, 2025
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Friday, January 3, 2025
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(Can you share if QB Tua Tagovailoa is out on Sunday?) – “We’ll approach it like ‘Snoop’ (Tyler Huntley) is starting. It looks like the way that I approached the week was probably smart, I see it as unlikely that Tua (Tagovailoa) will see any action.”
(And I know you’ve been very consistent with what you said, but there was something on NFL Network saying it’s just a nagging thing, it’s not structural issue that’s highly worrisome. So is this a case simply of a bruise just not healing as quickly as everyone thought?) – “It’s not a case of – a bruise would be like pain tolerance, and that’s something that I think Tua wishes it was just a pain issue. It’s quite literally being able to have the strength to do what we ask him to do as well as protecting himself from very serious injury if we don’t treat it appropriately. So I wouldn’t say it’s a bruise, but it’s a unique muscle issue that is a result of the hip.”
(Has there at least been progress this week?) – “Yeah, there has, and we expected that now that we got a little more familiar with the injury as it relates to his body. Some of the most challenging has been like you usually base things off of knowns, so if I say somebody has a high ankle (sprain), depending on the grade – if it’s inside or outside – you have a barometer. If somebody sprains their MCL, if somebody has an AC joint, these things are patternized based upon the routine and how often they happen to various players where this injury wasn’t really of that nature. So it hasn’t been a setback but that’s because we’ve proceeded with caution.”
(Have the doctors said he should rest for a certain amount of time, be it another two weeks before he resumes football activity, another month?) – “It’s been more of consistent check-ins to see how far it’s gone and whether or not it’s quite literally safe to play football in a responsible fashion. So that’s why it’s kind of been forecasting and daily acknowledgements or deep dives into how it’s doing. That’s why we kind of have to check in on the daily.”
(Just to be sure, the bone itself is completely intact, no hairline, no nothing?) – “Right. Right, 10-4. Confirmed.”
(What have you learned this season?) – “I mean there’s been a lot. There’s been a lot of lessons offered. Some of the most valuable lessons unfortunately come in times of adversity, for sure. And the lessons within learning this team, the team’s been able to tell me who they are from individual to individual to each phase. I think there’s nowhere to hide when you start the season behind the eight ball. When you’re 1-3 or 1-4, 2-6, those are trying times, but you do get to find out a lot about people and who you’re working with and whether they’re coaches or players. I know one consistency since I’ve been in the NFL is if you’re able to flip a 2-6 start, your first eight games and your next eight games is 6-2, there’s only one way and that’s in-house, effective work and strain and detail and you’re doing it for the right reasons. So learned a ton of that. I think there’s been, you didn’t quite know how teams were going to adjust based upon the season before from how defenses were going to attack us and kind of get a picture of that and there’s a lot of guys that I’ve learned in the whole process that I can really rely upon based upon the most valuable experience there is and that’s real – real life, real time. The biggest thing is that I’ve learned that I can lean in on this team to go ahead and put their best foot forward for the right reasons to win a football game to try to, as I’ve watched them, try to keep this team together for as long as possible and earn another opportunity to practice together and play.”
(Are you still holding out hope that T Terron Armstead might be able to play?) – “Based upon experience, it would be unfair to really dismiss his ability to dig deep and do stuff for not only himself, but for the team. So I’ll always leave that open and he’s a hard guy for me to rule out, specifically when he doesn’t throw in the towel. I’m hopeful but I would say – I wouldn’t say I’m pessimistic nor optimistic, I really don’t have a feel and it’s probably going to take all the way until that hour and a half time frame before the game, before we know for sure.”
(How about S Jordan Poyer? Are you optimistic about him?) – “There is some optimism there from my standpoint. And I know he will do absolutely everything to play, he’s been very adamant about that. I am confident at the position with him and Jevón (Holland) battling various things and trying to play in the game. I’m also very confident in the work that Elijah (Campbell) and Pat (McMorris) have had, specifically over the last couple weeks. So I know our bases our covered there.”
(WR Jaylen Waddle. I was going to ask you about Waddle as well.) – “I would say I’m feeling optimistic, in a positive fashion. So we’ll see what today uncovers but I’m feeling good barring no setbacks.”
(You’ve called that Rams game, that week leading up to the Rams game, like it was the turning point in the season, but can you just detail a little bit more what specifically was it about that week, about that preparation, that execution that led to the turnaround in the season?) – “I think it was also coming off of a hard one to stomach. We had a game in Buffalo that we lost on a 61-yard field goal at the end and just knowing what that meant to the guys. You have across the country, three-hour difference in time, time zone trip to the other coast, on national television; so you don’t have any time to sulk and you have to have to have confidence playing a good Rams team and there were reasons for people to feel defeated. So just knowing based upon – I think it was two last-second field goals in a row that we lost on, Arizona the one the previous week – that it was going to be tough to overcome a third consecutive letdown and I didn’t know what that would look like. So then guys go on a two-day trip across the country, you’re hoping for the best, but I do understand it’s the National Football League in football. And for them to boldly go after the game the way they did for us to – it was the first time that I really saw the three-phase contribution on display in that game where down to the wire, you had a defensive stop, you had a drive to make it a two-score game, and then really it took all the remaining time in the game after our field goal team trotted out there and made it a two-score game. Then they had to eat up all the time remaining in the game just to try to attempt to get the one touchdown. So it took the whole team. If one piece of the team was half in or not detailed in that moment, we lose our third game in a row and have a long flight home that who knows where the team is going to be at. I knew it was important and it was national television against a team that was second in the division at the time – I can’t remember – but ultimately have proven to be a tough team to a lot of opponents throughout the season. Knew that going in, so I thought it was defining moment that enabled us. It wasn’t a clear path after that game, we did have some ups and downs, but once we were able to do that together, the trend was to persevere which is what it takes in the National Football League.”
(If I could have just a quick little follow-up, what was that flight home back to Miami like for you?) – “I slept. And so that tells you a lot. You have so much frustration, you go into a season with so many expectations and it was far from the fight being over and I knew on that flight that the fight was going to be over for nobody. I know one thing to be true in the National Football League, is that you don’t achieve anything or you don’t have growth without adversity, and it was high in adversity, but it’s been high in growth as well. So I’m glad we gave ourselves an opportunity as a football team there to be in a position where we could play for our playoff lives the last three or four weeks and come down to Week 18 where you need to win a game. I think a team is better served when they’ve gone through stuff throughout the course of the season for those elimination-type games which we’re definitely well-versed in.”
(To circle back to QB Tua Tagovailoa real quickly. Now that you have more information, is surgery an option and would surgery help whatever is ailing him?) – “It’s not a surgical solution. It is a ‘stop aggravating this by pushing through and try to regain some security and strength’ and so it’s time.”
(I think it’s the dramatic in me, but I can’t help but think about the fact that this is game is really like the epitome of sports. You guys are fighting for the playoff spot versus a once-elite aging quarterback and you’re likely starting a backup, the 2-6 to 6-2 turnaround. I know you’re laser-focused on the Jets, but have you had a moment to step back and be like, “damn, this is kind of cool?”) – “I think I’ve had a moment to understand how much this game needs to be in our primary focus because of the football team, really everything they’ve gone through, deserves to put their best foot forward in this moment to try to fight to keep the team and the season alive. So I think inherent in that is some reflection just based upon understanding, all right, well, it is a tough spot to not have complete control over your destiny, but it is also something that you’ve earned to have partial control and how important it is for us to take advantage of that against a team that has a ton of weapons everywhere and that wants to finish their football season on a high note, because you have a lot of offseason that the taste of the last game sits with you. I don’t disagree with you. I think this is kind of what football is about, is straining through the highs and lows of a regular season to try to get in the tournament and in the tournament, you have seeding but it’s elimination, single-elimination. So to get there, we’ll need a valiant effort – one that will have to be in the scope of what’s allowed us the opportunity and I think doing so will be very validating and then we’ll see what the world has in store for us.”
(I don’t think we’ve touched on LB Anthony Walker Jr., have we? How’s he doing?) – “We haven’t. He’s hanging in there. He’s such a competitor and had such a big stamp on the season and then following the San Francisco game, the Monday after, had something pop up. You can rule him out for this game. and he’s obviously hopeful that our season extends as well.”
