The Miami Dolphins found a way to lose a winnable game at home to the New England Patriots on Sunday, 33-27. The loss drops them to 0-2 on the season and the Miami fans were restless even before this game.
Apparently, some of the fans crowdsourced a banner to be flown over the stadium that read “FIRE GRIER. FIRE MCDANIEL.”
As you may have guessed, they were referencing general manager Chris Grier and head coach Mike McDaniel. The latter said in his post-game press conference that he didn’t see the sign, but that he didn’t take it personally.
“Fans want their team to win…I don’t think it’s personal,” he said. “I think they want to win. And so do I.”
Of course there are questions about Mike McDaniel’s job security
How long of a leash does McDaniel have with the Dolphins? The team has enough talent to be an above-average team and they showed flashes of it on Sunday. However, the result was the same and McDaniel said he doesn’t think about losing his job.
“I think if I worry about my job security, I won’t be doing my job and I think that inherently is against all things that I believe in,” McDaniel said. “I’ve never felt entitled to this position and it’s very important for me to spend all my waking hours worrying about exactly how to do my job and all the residual effects of that are — there’s a lot of people affected.
“I won’t spend one moment thinking about all the things that, whatever people want me to think about. I’m thinking about this team and the Buffalo Bills here after I get done with this podium.”
Mike McDaniel frustrated with end of the game
With just more than a minute remaining in the game, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw an 18-yard strike to get the Dolphins to the New England 26-yard line. Great!
They then proceeded to have a false-start penalty and a delay of game to move them back to the 36-yard line with a 1st and 20. Seriously. The drive – and the game – ended when Tua took a sack on 4th down.
McDaniel was asked for his reaction to how the game concluded.
“I’m very frustrated — there’s some coaches and players that did not execute communication in a very dire period of the game,” McDaniel said. “With the game on the line, our communication and substitution was not up to par — and ultimately I hold responsibility for all things, so I will make sure that things that should already be ironed out moving forward, we will not fall victim to the same thing again … we’ll put the appropriate emphasis on that.
“It was not acceptable. We had the opportunity to win the game, and we robbed it from ourselves.”
I think he’s definitely sharing the blame with others, but it seems like he may be starting to get a little finger pointy-y. It’s fairly subtle, but it’s the kind of thing that happens when the ship starts taking on water.
For what it’s worth, Tua doesn’t see the offense as a well-oiled machine either.
“I was frustrated with the communication with the guys inside the huddle and then what the personnel is, then the play,” he said. “Do we have too many guys in? Why do we have another guy running in? Just the whole operation of that was not up to standard, was not up to par. I got to do a better job with our guys in that sense.”
This sounds a lot like systemic failure. From management to coaches to personnel, this is a team in disarray.
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