The Miami Dolphins are off to a hot start, losing their first two games of the 2025 NFL season in tough fashion. The Dolphins didn’t score until there was 6:21 left in the 33-8 pasting to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1. In Week 2, they dropped to 0-2 with a 33-27 loss to the New England Patriots that they bungled at the end.
So, things don’t look too good for the Dolphins in the W-L column and it’s also not a great thing that the team held a players-only meeting following the first loss.
Linebacker Jordyn Brooks said it was a good meeting about sticking together or something.
“Just staying locked in,” Brooks said of the meeting. “Losing the way we did Week 1, it can be discouraging. Outside noise. People talking. Fans talking. Family talking. … Just kind of making sure that everybody’s together.”
Albert Breer says players-only meeting was bad news for Mike McDaniel
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer said recently that the meeting was actually more about players showing unity and personal responsibility in what kind of sounds like an “us against them” mentality.
“My understanding is that there was a message from the captains to the rest of the team (during the players-only meeting) about accountability, and it was about accountability to each other and accountability to yourself,” Breer said. “More or less, it was ‘the NFL is going to judge you regardless of your circumstances, regardless of your coaching — the NFL is going to judge you in a vacuum’. And (that) it’s on everybody to take personal responsibility, and more or less closing ranks and saying, ‘This isn’t about anybody else but the players.’ And sometimes that happens at the end for coaches, you know.
“So I think, you know, that message was received by…the players in that building.”
The Dolphins have a short week this week as they travel to Buffalo to face the Bills on Thursday Night Football. If that doesn’t go well – and it shouldn’t – the Dolphins could have a new coach by Week 4.
Breer doesn’t think McDaniel will get fired right away
For what it’s worth, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel doesn’t seem overly concerned with his job security. Either that or he’s resigned himself to the whatever-will-happen-will-happen category.
“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.”
Dolphins’ owner Stephen Ross could be thinking about other things, like finding a new head coach. Breer thinks he probably is, but that he doesn’t think a change would come in the next week or so.
“Could Stephen Ross say ‘I want to take a look at Anthony Weaver’ as my head coach? I think you could eventually get there — I don’t think it will be after Thursday night, but I think they could eventually get there,” said Breer.
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