Mike McDaniel – September 4, 2023
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Monday, September 4, 2023
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(The Chargers probably were the first team to have a good deal of success against QB Tua Tagovailoa in your offense in terms of stopping him in the middle of the field. He was 10-for-28 as you know in that game. How much have you thought about that game over the last nine months? And without obviously revealing any game plan things are there things that you feel confident about that you can go do to sort of counter that Chargers Head Coach Brandon Stanley plan that had some success last year?) – “It definitely comes up over the course of the offseason at least one-seventeenth of the time, divvied up amongst the other games, but there’s things you learn. You always have to be careful about making too many absolutes. A lot of times those are game-specific situations whether it’s your health, the opponents’ health, where you’re at the in the season, what you’re good at, what you’re bad at. Bottom line was I thought they did a great job last year in those two teams – last year’s teams. They did one of the better jobs all season, but this is a new year really is the way I kind of look at it. You do learn certain things about individual players, maybe play calling, degree of tendences. But Week 1 has a great way of kind of equalizing that because you have all these things on your side of the ball whether you’re offense, defense or special teams that you’ve been working on to unveil. So there’s a little balance of that. We will be watching last year’s game, but not with too much weight relative to the guys we have now and what we’ve been emphasizing this offseason.”
(Maybe Passing Game Coordinator/Secondary Renaldo Hill can tell you everything.) – “I’m going through the motions this week. (laughter) No, we obviously have Renaldo (Hill) on staff so I think he’s quick to jump on the sword and say all of the bad ideas were his and all the good ones were Brandon Staley’s. Or maybe it’s the opposite, who knows. It’s another connectivity spot that we have so many of them week-by-week in this league, but it was good information from last year. I thought they did a good job last year and excited for this year.”
(Who is your backup quarterback and why?) – “This was a difficult one. Informed him late last week – we’ll be going with Mike White as the backup to start the season. I feel super fortunate in our situation. It was kind of what we were hoping for as we’ve learned the hard way that you need available players on your roster just in general and I thought Mike White and Skylar (Thompson) competed all the way until the last rep and when it really came down to it I thought they both made just cases, but for our football team and really adhering to what a backup quarterback needs to do, they’ll all be active each day, but to be able understand our system in such a short period of time that Mike White did and the command that he exudes in the huddle and you’re solving an imperfect puzzle as a backup quarterback where you don’t get any of the reps during week and have to master your situation, your craft rep-less. So I think relying on Mike White’s veteran experience and really all the growth that he did this offseason made me feel pretty comfortable with that.”
(I wanted to clarify. You said all three will be active. Do you mean on game day or just on the active roster?) – “They are on the active roster and there is a new rule where – so I guess I’m saying both. Am I?”
(Yeah, because they put a new rule, I guess the quarterback doesn’t necessarily have to be on the game day roster.) – “I guess I was saying both, but in light of the new rule, it definitely makes it certain of it. But yes, I was saying all of the above and neither at the same time.”
(How were they successful at taking away the middle of the field last year? I remember at the end of the game you seemed to have a real respectful conversation with Chargers Head Coach Brandon Staley. I don’t know whether that was about anything about the game or…?) – “It wasn’t like they reinvented defense; it was more that their guys understood their issues in each individual coverage and really played in a competitive spirit. I thought there were a lot of 50/50 balls that went the way of the Chargers last year and I just really thought overall that the team itself took that game with seriousness and you could see a unit that was well-coached and well-schooled at the opposing team’s offense in this case. So I just thought they were very competitive and did a very good job challenging things that we were trying to do that particular game.”
(You have three starters and one key contributor that are dealing with injuries. I’m wondering if we could cross off that T Terron Armstead, WR Jaylen Waddle, S Brandon Jones and RB De’Von Achane?) – “Expecting to see Brandon (Jones) and De’Von (Achane) today, as well as (Jaylen) Waddle. He got him some reps that last practice. And then don’t expect to see (Terron) Armstead today, but he’s progressing well.”
(I’m just curious with S Brandon Jones it’s kind of a process where it’s kind of shelf for a little bit to bumps and bruises. Do you feel comfortable if he gets a week of practice that he’s able to play and contribute in Week 1?) – “Yeah, I think I’ll feel comfortable after today’s practice being able to assess Wednesday’s and you really have to go day-by-day with guys that are coming back from injury so you don’t get ahead of yourself and start pushing them in adherence to a schedule that you made, like, last week. It’s that much more important that you assess it each and every day, but I think the reps in practice are all that Brandon (Jones) has had the opportunity to take and in those situations he’s gotten better and at some point he’s going to have to play in the game and we have no preseason games left, so at some point he will be playing fresh off of practicing and we’ll assess how much that is later in the week.”
(The list of the team captains came out. Was that a player decision, your decision with the rest of the coaches, and how did you guys come up with the seven names that are now the captains for this season?) – “So that’s something that we do – a player-driven vote that the locker room really comes up with, which is one of the reasons it’s such a special honor to each and every one of those guys because it’s voted on the most important person of opinion in the building and that’s their peers in the locker room.”
(It’s been a while since the AFC Championship Game has been hosted on these grounds. I’d say about like 1992. If you think about it, football is starting to be played back all over America and especially here in South Florida. The Canes (Miami Hurricanes) kicked things off Friday. The Orange Blossom Classic was Sunday. You think about starting the season on the road, how much emphasis would that give you all to protect home field so when it comes to that time to have the opportunity to host..?) – “I think it’s a good reminder because our first game is not on our home surface and there’s things that are residuals because of that. You’re talking about owning the snap count and having to go on silent offensively and vice versa for the defense. I think, inherent, I didn’t really think of it that way. But inherently that is, if you don’t like this scenario, not being able to hear offensively and it being quiet as a mouse defensively, then you do have the opportunity to change it with regard to postseason play referencing. But that’s way down the road. We’re just trying to orchestrate ourself for Week 1 against a team that’s going to be very much prepared and so we better be prepared ourselves.”
(Going back to last year’s Chargers game, that was kind of the start of a skid for this offense that you guys never really got to work out of before QB Tua Tagovailoa was hurt in the Packers game. I’m just wondering how much of a motivator that stretch was for you guys this offseason as you get everybody back to full health?) – “I think the season in its entirety was motivating enough. Not just one particular game. I’m sure from an individual standpoint, players often harbor those individual matchups, those ‘hey, it’s man-to-man coverage and I’m covering you and you’re running this route.’ Those types of things you develop, you kind of have a memory of. But overall, as a team, we’ve been focused on the Miami Dolphins every day since we’ve gotten back together in 2023. I’m pretty positive that up until this game, then after this game, most of the guys are going to be focused on the Miami Dolphins as well. Not making more of one individual opponent. It’s more about us and how it relates to us. I’m sure there’ll be a couple, ‘hey, I’m going to get you this time, you got me last time.’ That’s kind of the case with all these NFL football games.”
(Is T Isaiah Wynn left guard one this week?) – “He will be getting reps this practice week and he may or may not be getting reps in the game.”
(Week 1 is kind of a chaotic week around the NFL in terms of not having a film to go off of. How much do you have to lean on the rest of your staff to be able to kind of make those in-game adjustments?) – “I think the best the best staffs are the ones that, it’s not just one voice and the more we’re around each other, the more we understand what each one of our pros and cons, skills and maybe things that we can help each other out with. That’s an ever-moving piece. The strongest ones are the ones that can really utilize each other for the benefit of the whole group and not just each and every entity. So I look forward to that. I could feel it in the preseason. It was one of the better orchestrating coaching staffs that I had been on in the preseason, so I’m excited for the residuals of that moving forward this year.”
(Since you open against the Chargers and since they put out a video in the offseason, and I don’t think you’ve been asked about it. What was your reaction to that video?) – “Huh? I don’t know what you speak of. The schedule release? A lot of creative people doing creative things in 2023 which is pretty creative.”
(I know you’re from Colorado and there’s been a lot of movement in college football. Big weekend of college football, too, as well. What are your thoughts on…?) – “The Colorado State Rams? (laughter) No? Prime? You can’t say it’s not entertaining. Any time that you – I have a lot of respect and regard for people that knowingly have no problem putting a bull’s eye on their back and then following through. As a competitor and in the coaching profession, I appreciated that win for the Colorado Buffaloes and Boulder. It was a rough year they went through last year. So if there’s another team that deserves a win, that’s the Colorado Buffaloes, so that was good for them.”
(Week 1 is unique and that you’re not coming off a game, you have a practice on a Monday, generally you don’t do that during the season. So when are you giving the players – I know you’ve been working on the Chargers for a while, but the game plan? Is it still the normal Wednesday or is this week a little different?) – “You try to get guys into a routine as soon as possible. They’ll get their in-season Wednesday on Wednesday, and you try to make that as consistent for all the guys which you find benefits over the course of the season. So when you do have an extra day, you try to make sure that you’re operating on full cylinders, offensively defensively and special teams. That means your timing’s right, your communication is right and your executions fast. You try not to get too ahead of yourself because for us it’s still about our game and where we’re taking it and kind of holding off to do the full Wednesday prep for Wednesday.”
