While the Tyreek Hill injury impacted the Miami Dolphins during a 27-21 win over the New York Jets on Monday, the team finally experienced the relief of getting into the win column.
“Yeah. I think we’ve gotten better, and we had to. You always have to. We’ve had several instances of winning football,” McDaniel told reporters after the game.
The Dolphins built a 17-3 lead through the early portion of the third quarter on Monday before staving off a Jets rally. Before Monday, the Dolphins fell short in a one-score game against the New England Patriots and lost by 10 to the Buffalo Bills — both an improvement over the blowout Week 1 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
“Winning football to me is complementary three-phase football where sometimes the momentum starts with a punt,” McDaniel said. “That’s what our team has to understand. Sometimes the momentum starts and you have several explosives given up on the ground, but you stay with it, make them earn every yard, then you get a takeaway.”
Miami has four takeaways this season, and three of those occurred on Monday. Conversely, the Dolphins have 10 turnovers this season, and penalties haven’t been a pretty site either with 25 committed thus far.
Mike McDaniel Sees Dolphins’ Improvement
McDaniel sees the development in his squad over the past three games now. Miami has scored in the 20s for each of the past three games, and the Dolphins have quarterback Tua Tagovailoa going over at least 145 yards in a game, and running back De’Von Achane has gone over 60 yards in each of the past two games.
“We’ve had six quarters where complementary football has existed, and as a result, it’s been a much tighter game against our opponents and we’re finding ways to clean up our game while continuing to improve,” McDaniel said. “That’s just paramount. That’s paramount in this league.”
“As soon as you start to feel comfortable, you get humbled and the biggest thing is in moments where it’s a one-game loss, two-game losing streak, a three-game losing streak, it can make or break you,” he added.
Dolphins Facing Long Odds
Miami faces the long odds of being a team that started 0-3 and trying to make the playoffs. It has occurred only six other times in the modern game.
“The biggest thing is that you want guys to come together and really thrive when the odds are against you. Generally for a season, that’s the formula,” McDaniel said. “But the biggest thing for us is to file that away. They’ll get tonight to appreciate the win, then we’ll have one day off tomorrow for the guys, and then we’ll be back at it Wednesday.”
“You have to go at it again with as much fervor as you had when you had zero wins if you want to have two wins,” McDaniel added. “So I’m excited to do that. Getting in the win column took longer than we wanted, but it is satisfying, and I was happy for the team to get that feeling. And also, how to approach a work week after a win, which we’ll get to tomorrow or the next day.”
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