The Miami Dolphins and head coach Mike McDaniel held a joint practice on Wednesday with the Detroit Lions. The results weren’t good, but they definitely could have been worse. If edge rusher Chop Robinson had suffered a serious injury when he went down, that would have been an entirely different set of headaches (he says it’s not serious).
The practice didn’t go well for the Dolphins and further highlighted the need for a better backup quarterback situation for sure. McDaniel is hoping for better outcomes on Thursday and acknowledged that on Wednesday they got “punched.”
“It will be tricky. Results do help, for sure,” McDaniel said. “I’m hoping for better results. Honestly, it’s like, I don’t really care about results that aren’t measured in some sort of challenge.
“So, like if we’re getting completions because of a drop coverage or we’re getting a tackle for loss because of a busted blocking assignment, that doesn’t matter to me. I want to see either contested wins or losses. I want to see guys improve on specifically the things that we’ve been focusing on.”
Mike McDaniel focused on individual effort and performance
McDaniel noted that the team results were poor, but he wants to see more out of individual player performances.
“And I wanna see our individuals be highly motivated,” McDaniel said. “And then I wanna see that application in team periods. And to me, the more I see that, results will definitely be more positive. How positive? Again, the results of a score that doesn’t matter don’t drive and motivate me ever.”
The head coach couldn’t have been thrilled about Jared Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown playing pitch-and-catch up and down the field. They are a high-flying offense for sure, but what types of teams do you think you have to beat to win in the playoffs? You only get to play the New York Jets twice in a season.
“I didn’t like practice because there were a lot of negative results tied to things that we’ve been working on in our process,” McDaniel said. “So, I’m cool with contested losses. I’m not cool with busts. I’m cool with DB making a great play. I’m not cool with a receiver running the wrong route — those types of things.”
“Everybody has plans until they get hit for the first time”
Ah, the famous quote from Mike Tyson before a 1987 fight with Tyrell Biggs. When Tyson was asked about Biggs’ plan for fighting him, he dismissively replied, “everybody has plans until they get hit for the first time.”
The Dolphins had a plan for their beleaguered secondary at Wednesday’s practice, and then they got hit for the first time.
“I got to learn so much about the cornerback unit because I challenged a lot of guys to do semi-uncomfortable things against super good receivers and one-on-ones,” McDaniel said. “You learn, okay, what type of boldness that person has, or are they just going to rely on stuff that’s worked before. Having said that, what a great rep of seeing how people respond after they get punched. And that’s all that matters.”
Maybe they should bring in Tyson as some sort of consultant. It’s just a joint practice, but the Dolphins absolutely took one on the chin. Hopefully in Thursday’s rematch the referee won’t stop the fight.
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