Mike McDaniel – October 25, 2023
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Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(For the first time all season you have more guys on IR than the rules allow you to bring back, so I was going to ask this in a careful way. I’m not asking you which of these players you’re going to designate to return, just asking from a health standpoint, do you anticipate OL Isaiah Wynn, WR River Cracraft, WR Erik Ezukanma – those three or any of those three – being physically able to play this season if you all decide to bring them back? Wynn, Ezukanma, Cracraft.) – “That was very well-put. Isaiah (Wynn) has a long journey ahead of him. I’m not going to rule it out, but that’s why I don’t adhere to timelines because I would’ve been totally incorrect on the Jalen Ramsey window opening. He’s got a long journey, but I’m not going to say zero chance. River Cracraft’s window will be opening today, so I would say he’s on the positive side of that question considering he’s practicing today for the first time. And we’re still allowing the process to go with Erik. I can’t firmly say either way, not as far out at this point as Isaiah, but you really just have to handle things as they come. So he’s diligently going. It’s going well, but it’s hard to have a finite date on that one.”
(Is S Jevon Holland still in concussion protocol and if so, is he progressing in the protocol?) – “Yeah, he is progressing in the protocol. It’s been positive at each stage, so we’re just hoping for his health and we’ll assess the football when that’s complete.”
(And CB Jalen Ramsey, will he be out there this Sunday, do you anticipate? Do you know?) – “That’s several days ahead of us. Did you guys know what today is?”
(Wednesday) – “Which is?”
(The most important day?) – “There it is. (laughter) It’s the most important day of our lives because it’s the only one that actually exists. So it would be getting ahead of ourselves to predict. He’ll have an uptick in his participation. He’ll be getting some reps, not just on scout team today, and we’ll see how that manifests itself. It’s been all positive so far but you don’t want to get ahead of yourself in that. And that’s the way from a coaching staff perspective we’re handling it, as we’re prepared for either way and we’ll just see how each day progresses for him.”
(With the injuries that you guys have had, does that change your thinking as far as moves before the trade deadline?) – “I think to the credit of, first and foremost, the actual players that we have on the roster, and then to our personnel department led by Chris Grier, I’m very, very comfortable with everybody on the roster. So we were talking about this back in August about how much depth we have and we’ve continued to progress as a football team so we’re fortunate that we have high-quality players across the board in terms of depth at positions. So I’m not really looking for anything at all. And who knows what Chris (Grier) is doing, but he hasn’t come knocking on my door or in my office about anything. He’ll always be doing his job, but I’m very happy with the roster that we have, even with the slight adversity that we’ve been facing.”
(What do you think of the Miami Dolphins throwback kit?) – “’Kit?’”
(It’s a soccer phrase.) – “Oh, got it. Topical for Miami. (laughter) I’m really a huge fan of our uniforms that we have. I’m a huge fan of the throwbacks. I think we’re fortunate to have an iconic logo and that historical – the whole idea of throwback uniforms I think is tailored to us specifically just because we do have – that’s my whole childhood is what I picture. It’s cool when we have those on deck and it’s always fun to plan, but I love our uniforms, too, so it’s a win-win for sure.”
(You’ve been adjusting to multiple offensive linemen being out really the entire year. I was curious as the play caller, how much does not having your five core guys impact maybe the run plays you can call, the blocking, the pass plays with regards to blocking schemes? How much does that change what you envision doing?) – “It’s definitely not absolute. It speaks to the group of guys we have here and speaks to Offensive Coordinator Frank Smith and (Offensive Line Coach) Butch Barry that – and really the whole personnel staff – in lining these guys up. But this particular year, with these particular players, doesn’t really affect me at all. There’s certain strengths that you play to in game planning and certainly you try to feature strengths of individuals at every turn across every position. That’s kind of the job of coaches assembling a game plan. But with regard to – we’re very fortunate here. That hasn’t always been the case in terms of my career and how you have to kind of adjust, but here it doesn’t really affect it that much at all, just because of the quality, technique and refinement that we are pretty steadfast in. So everybody has their strengths and weaknesses and you try to fit the plan to that, but fortunately for us, we have more than five guys who are playing at once. We have more than capable NFL football players, so we get the opportunity of playing our style of game with the guys we have, for sure.”
(When CB Jalen Ramsey does return whether this week or the weeks ahead, do you anticipate him having a snap count, easing him back in? Or is he going to be full go to start?) – “That changes on a case-by-case basis depending on who the player is, their experience level and their exact injury. I think that would be – I’m more curious to acquire more information from Jalen (Ramsey) specifically that only comes from post-exertion and to see where he’s at. What’s fortunate for us is that although he’s new to this team, the crossover in scheme is huge for him. He’s actually the most experienced player in this defense that we really have from his years from L.A. with Coach (Brandon) Staley and Raheem Morris running the same system that Staley obviously worked with Vic (Fangio) in Chicago. So for him, it’s kind of a different formula. It’s kind of adhering to where he’s at when he’s ready to play and if there’s any sort of sustain issues that he’ll encounter, which this guy has been amazing his teammates left and right. It’s rare in professional sports that you have someone earning – like, who is this guy? How does he do this? And the only way you do that is have a special human being and special support staff around him so that he diligently prepares for the moment that he does go on the field. So we’ll cater to where his body is at, but that’s more stuff that we’re prepared to make decisions on once we get to that point, which we still have the most important day of our lives in front of us.”
(Did the league communicate information to the Miami Dolphins in general, no specifics, about the officiating from the previous game?) – “There’s a due process that every team has that you submit to get clarification on for each individual either penalty or maybe non-penalty – something that wasn’t called that maybe you’re trying to get more information on. Every week we submit a report and they bring us back their ‘upon further review, X, Y or Z.’”
(Were you pleased with the “upon further review?”) – “I never attach any emotion to it because it already happened. Like, ‘hey man, our bad’ or ‘yeah, we were right.’ Like, okay. You’re just trying to be as well-versed as possible in the rules of engagement and I have a hard time even factoring officiating into any sort of emotion that I have because you control what you can control. So I might as well get mad at thunder. (laughter)”
(How long do you allow yourself to even feel any sort of emotion after the game if there’s a blown call, if there is a penalty discrepancy, if there is something that is humanly frustrating? How long do you give yourself to feel that?) – “I think the only way that you have a chance to maximize your daily output is you allow that to live ‘rent-free’ – is that the saying? It’s frustrating at the moment that there’s any discrepancy in personal opinion versus what happens. And I try to minimize how long that is to the nth degree, just because emotions factor into decisions, and I feel like personally, that’s irresponsible of me as a decision-maker to have all these people, including you guys, be affected by decisions that I make. ‘Well, it’s because I was mad,’ like what? So I try to minimize that. I’m sure there would be a scenario that other coaches have experienced where maybe the work of an entirety of a season, something falls short, and it’s in the moment of truth when the game’s on the line, something doesn’t go your way; I’ll leave room for that scenario, but that hasn’t happened to me, really. And I’ll try as hard as humanly possible for that never to be – I try to avoid outs and say, well, it’s not fair. If you operate in life trying to keep score of what’s fair, you’ve already lost.”
(Just wanted to ask about Patriots. How have they evolved since Week 2?) – “It’s so funny, I feel like everyone invests so much emotion and attention. It’s all so important to everybody, NFL football in general, fan bases, coaches, players. But it almost makes me feel like the human population is senile, because it’s like every single year, every single year – it’s one of the things that I’d be so proud if I was a part of the organization and what we’re trying to do here that you earn every day – but every single year, they get better during the course of the season. I can’t remember how many times since Coach Belichick has been there since I think he got his start when I was going to prom, right? And like how many of the scenarios have been like what’s happening here with the team after four weeks or whatever, and it’s like a created adversity. And sure enough, they get better as the season progresses. I think that is the formula. I think that’s the end-all for NFL football and I see a better version of themselves as I would expect – because my eyes and ears are wide open – as I would expect from historical, just my observations since I’ve been an adult. They focus on fundamentals. They do a good job tuning out the noise. I see a team that just last week was an example. I’m sure there were some people that lost money but not anybody within the team. (laughter) I’ve learned not to be surprised at their team development and growth during the course of the season.”
(I wanted to ask you about the three-safety defense to defend your speed. Are you surprised that teams haven’t tried or adapted? Because usually when Bill Belichick shows something, everybody is like, ‘ok, that’s the way.’ Nobody has tried to replicate that.) – “I think it will make most people nervous. I think they don’t feel comfortable doing that because their front and how they are as good at defeating blocks as there is. I think you have to be very confident and comfortable because you’re giving up space, and generally people worry about the run game. It’s not just that they deploy that, but it’s also a lifetime of calling plays and you don’t know when it’s coming. You’re kind of left at a spot where you have to prepare for it but it’s not something that he’s going to do every play. I think they do a wonderful job teaching, which is very difficult, so that it fits within the realm of what they already do. The way I see it from my vantage point, I’m not there, but I see it as just a different deployment of defenses that they already have. That comes with a huge amount of diligent, deliberate practice and experience so that your system in training camp is built to functionally evolve or have answers for different problems. It wasn’t something that completely surprised me when they deployed it because I figured, just like this game, we try to do similar things and have different tools in our toolbox to handle whatever is coming. But I think it’s because how they do everything, they are able to be a little more varied. There are just a lot of people cross-training over there, and a lot of different positions doing the same thing, which gives you the chance to do something unique like that.”
(Sunday marks 42 days since you played the Patriots, and the defense you were just talking about, I think they held WR Tyreek Hill to I think his lowest mark of the season. I’m curious your thought process of trying to figure out a way to get him more active instead of just taking what the defense gives you?) – “That’s the fun part of football. You’re trying to cost analysis. If they are taking away one thing, you’re giving up another thing. If people are going to overplay one thing, you have to be able to execute another. I think if you really commit, you can put 11 players on one guy. But that leaves other players available, and the structure of the defense a little vulnerable. We’ll always have a feature player in our scheme. We’ll always have him involved in some way, shape or form. But when people overcommit to something, other guys have to make plays, and other parts of your offense has to go. That’s the cool balancing act of NFL gameday, which is one of the reasons why it’s so fun.”
