He left the game, the kind of game he was brought here to win, the kind of the game he helped revive a 2-6 season to have, still talking how he wanted this team to be. And it isn’t. It never has been under him.
“Tough-minded individuals can learn from the things that kept us from the victory column this game and utilize it in the last five games,” Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Thursday’s after the 30-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
Over in the losing locker room, linebacker Jordyn Brooks said too many players around him weren’t tough-minded in a way that keeps echoing around this team. Pittsburgh Steeler DeSean Elliott, who played for the Dolphins last year, said the same recently. Dolphins safety Jordan Poyer said it when he arrived last summer.
Former defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said it when he left last winter. So many guys inside the locker room stood where Brooks did in calling his teammates, “soft” — soft tacklers, soft in the cold, soft, soft, soft — it reads like an epitaph more than a label.
“McDaniel is 1-14 against teams with a winning record in his 3 seasons,” former Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “This tells me they have a bit of a front runner mentality and when things get tough they don’t have it in their DNA to handle adversity as well as some of the top tier teams.
“Maybe there is a different explanation but they usually play very well against opponents that are under .500.”
There are other perplexing strategic issues with the Dolphins (5-7). Why can’t they get the ball to Tyreek Hill and, often, Jaylen Waddle? They’re paying a collective $60 million for them to be decoys? And don’t say Hill’s final of 83 receiving yards and a deflected touchdown reception in Green Bay (9-3) reflected an impactful night.
He had 16 yards receiving in the three quarters the game was decided. All the offensive stats were inflated at the end, including quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s 365 yards passing. Tua wasn’t the reason the Dolphins lost Thursday. Not even close. But also ask this: Doesn’t a franchise quarterback sometimes have to be the reason you win a game like this? Or even compete in it?
The Dolphins were down 27-3 in the third quarter before the offense showed any life. They then couldn’t score from second-and-goal at the Green Bay 1-yard line to give a 27-11 game a flicker of hope.
That failed series wasn’t just about this game. It was about this era. Again, too soft. There’s a place for strategically creative in football like these Dolphins have shown. There’s a foundational place for closed-fist toughness, too. The Dolphins lack that violent edge in a violent game.
Does this mentality go back to training camps when Dolphins players were regularly rotated through days off like no other team? When the Atlanta Falcons ran sprints after their joint workout while the Dolphins walked off the field?
Does that stuff even matter months later?
If it was a surprise the Dolphins missed so many tackles Thursday it spawned Amazon Prime TV graphics, the Dolphins not scoring on three plays from the 1-yard line wasn’t a shocker. They’re among the worst short-yardage teams in each of McDaniel’s three years.
So, this wasn’t just an isolated stanza in Thursday’s game. It stood for something larger in this era.
First, dynamic but small running back De’Von Achane was stuffed. Then came two incomplete passes. The Dolphins lack that big back to pound the ball — maybe he was on the other sideline in former Dolphin Chris Brooks.
They also lack an option there many teams have. Tua’s size and health concerns mean he shouldn’t run. Buffalo’s Josh Allen ran in a 26-yard touchdown on fourth down a couple of weeks ago to beat Kansas City. Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson ran from 10 yards last Monday night to help beat the Los Angeles Chargers. Jalen Hurts is the passenger on Philadelphia’s Tush Push.
Do the Dolphins need to find a running quarterback for these situations like Taysom Hill or Justin Fields? Of course they do. But Thursday night in Green Bay isn’t the time to address such issues — or any larger, cultural issues of toughness.
Teams often reflect their coaches. The Miami Heat’s Erik Spoelstra created a team that could lose Game 6 on a last-second tip-in and rout Boston in Game 7 to reach the NBA Finals. Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice has a new-school personality, but remains an old-school tough guy with a system to match.
McDaniel’s predecessor, Brian Flores, created such a tough team that he went over the line in unnecessarily belittling players and staff to create it.
He’ll try to correct that if given a second chance. Just as McDaniel will likely try to correct his team’s problem next year if he gets the chance.
That’s for owner Steve Ross to decide. It’s on the upcoming schedule, a much tougher date than the one for the Dolphins next Sunday against the New York Jets. The Jets enter their game against Seattle at 3-8. The Dolphins whip those teams. It’s games like Green Bay that define them, though. Too soft.