McDaniel

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

and the team collapsing.  The 16-0 Patriots, with one of the most dominant offensive teams of all time and one of the best head coaches of all time, were not able to make the playoffs after losing their starting QB the next year.

never heard of going 11-5 refereed to as "collapsing" before but okay.   

there is a difference between decline and giving up.  The 2008 Patriots didn't give up.  If the Dolphin's do then you should not just be looking for a new QB this off season but a new head coach. 

[Downunder Dolphan]

They could afford to do it because Wentz was still on a rookie deal.
This is not a unique or unusual circumstance.  We have multiple recent examples of what happened to teams when their big-money starting QB is knocked out for a big chunk of the season; be it Matt Stafford, Kirk Cousins, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Burrow, or Justin Herbert.  

Your choices are to keep drafting rookie QBs or to pay the one you have.  But if you're not going to pay a QB, what sense does it make to pay any top player at all?  Why would you pay big bucks for Tyreek Hill or Jalen Ramsey if you're not going to pay big bucks for a QB?  You might as well just run a perpetual team of rookie contracts and bargain castoffs.

That's all good in theory, until our big bucks guys in Hill and Ramsey give up because they don't give a shit. It all falls to pieces after that... seriously if they stop caring and putting in, why are they being paid the massive $$$?

[Downunder Dolphan]

This week is going to say a lot about this team. Is it a bunch of mercenaries after the $$$ and looking after themselves, with a bunch of misfits lobbed into the mix, or something else? Like a real team.

McDaniel has to get off the high quality weed and put up or shut up right now. I'm not buying his brand of bullshit like many of you.

[Downunder Dolphan]

If we manage to drop this week at home (no matter who is under center) against the Titans, then:

[Spider-Dan]

never heard of going 11-5 refereed to as "collapsing" before but okay.

NE went from "an undefeated regular season and the greatest offense in the history of the sport" to "losing their playoff spot to a team that finished with 1 win the previous year," taking a humiliating blowout home loss to that same team in the process.  That's a collapse.

If MIA goes from 11-6 last year to 6-11 this year (i.e. 5 games worse), you and everyone else will definitely call it a "collapse."  So keep that same energy.

[Spider-Dan]

That's all good in theory, until our big bucks guys in Hill and Ramsey give up because they don't give a shit. It all falls to pieces after that... seriously if they stop caring and putting in, why are they being paid the massive $$$?

What did the elite players on LAR (including, um, Jalen Ramsey) do when Stafford went down?  How about on CIN when Burrow went down, or on MIN when Cousins went down, or on LAC when Herbert went down?

Y'all expect Miami to somehow be exempt from the same conditions that apply to everyone else.

If we manage to drop this week at home (no matter who is under center) against the Titans, then:

Whatever one may believe about Tua's fitness as a franchise QB, the last three years have made it crystal clear that this team has no chance to even be competitive without Tua under center; the idea of even making the playoffs is hopeless.  So if your intent is to evaluate the worthiness of the front office with Skylar Thompson as the starter, I don't know why you even need to watch this game to do so: Skylar has already put more than enough on tape to make that decision.

[Spider-Dan]

One more thing:

It's hard to take McDaniel seriously if he gives up when Tua is hurt.

Pulling Hill and Waddle out of the Bills game was gutless.

There was a LOT of criticism (not necessarily from you) directed at McDaniel when Bradley Chubb got injured in garbage time of a blowout loss.  Personally, I'm of the belief that in a hopeless blowout, starting defense stays in (you can't just let them score every drive) but your star offensive players should come out.  But it seems that you believe that all the stars should stay on the field until the clock hits triple zero?

[Denver2]

One more thing:
There was a LOT of criticism (not necessarily from you) directed at McDaniel when Bradley Chubb got injured in garbage time of a blowout loss.  Personally, I'm of the belief that in a hopeless blowout, starting defense stays in (you can't just let them score every drive) but your star offensive players should come out.  But it seems that you believe that all the stars should stay on the field until the clock hits triple zero?

If we scored on the drive where Tua gets hurt I bet they stay in. It was out of reach and people want it both ways, if they stayed in and Hill blew out his Achilles everyone would say he should have pulled it. It’s damned if to do damned if you don’t in football.

Look, maybe McDaniel isn’t a great coach and won’t cut but clearly some people just have an issue with his demeanor and that he treats his players like humans.

Don Shula didn’t let the players have water breaks in practice for years, that’s psychotic and I’m glad that’s not acceptable anymore.

[Spider-Dan]

Look, maybe McDaniel isn’t a great coach and won’t cut but clearly some people just have an issue with his demeanor and that he treats his players like humans.

Don Shula didn’t let the players have water breaks in practice for years, that’s psychotic and I’m glad that’s not acceptable anymore.

Our society, and particularly the segment of society that watches football, is largely of the belief that the worse you treat your players, the "tougher" it makes them, which leads to better results. Hell, it's the foundational belief of every coach from the Belichick tree!  One would think that the complete and total failure of their collective head coaching careers would be some sort of indication as to the flaws of this approach.

It's funny, though: I don't hear any of this talk about Dan Campbell out in Detroit, for some reason.  I'm sure it must be that, despite outward appearances, Campbell is actually much sterner with his players than McDaniel, and he has created an unspoken foundation of accountability that doesn't exist in Miami.  It's certainly not that the Lions simply won more games than the Dolphins and we're backsplaining it; no, it's definitely a difference in culture.  It's the same way we know Kansas City has the best "culture" in the league: they keep winning titles.  (Maybe Miami should poach a team captain from them!)

This is why the team probably performed so well in clutch games under stern, no-nonsense head coach Brian Flores.   The defense, in particular, must have been amazing in those games.

[masterfins]

I'm fine with McDaniel being head coach; although I'm getting sick of him sinking lower and lower into a stoner character.  But what I can't abide is his miserable offensive play calling, IT SUCKS and has sucked since the beginning.

[Pappy13]

Defenses have figured out his offense. It hasn't looked good in 6 or 7 games now and that includes when Tua has been at QB and he's not changing anything. He's just throwing the same shit out there that worked great the first 6 weeks of last year, but isn't working anymore. Show me you have something else in your playbook, if not your a joke.

[hordman]

McDaniel is a beta-male like Adam Gase

[Dave Gray]

I am super worried that McDaniels is getting scapegoated here.  I think he's one of the best young coaches in the league and we're on pace to run him out on a rail.

We were the best offense in the league not long ago and we looked pretty good offensively in week 1.

We are now on our 3rd QB -- on top of that, McDaniels has been calling plays that are frustrating, but they've opened up the big play opportunities and the guys haven't capitalized.  He ran Hill for a bunch of small plays, but eventually got him open down the sideline left that was dropped and deep down the right side, which was underrun/overthrown.

Waddle dropped an easy catch for more than 10 yards and then McDaniel got booed for calling a dump off on 3rd and 10.  ...but he called the play to extend the drive and the players didn't execute for him.

We need to improve some things, chief among them for me is the ability to run North/South for 1-3 yards reliably.

[Dolfanalyst]

I'm fine with McDaniel being head coach; although I'm getting sick of him sinking lower and lower into a stoner character.  But what I can't abide is his miserable offensive play calling, IT SUCKS and has sucked since the beginning.

If it's true that a team takes on the personality of its coach, then a team coached by McDaniel won't have a personality consistent with winning at a high level in the game of professional football.  If the game were pickleball or cornhole that might work, but not professional football.

[Dolfanalyst]

I am super worried that McDaniels is getting scapegoated here.  I think he's one of the best young coaches in the league and we're on pace to run him out on a rail.

We were the best offense in the league not long ago and we looked pretty good offensively in week 1.

We are now on our 3rd QB -- on top of that, McDaniels has been calling plays that are frustrating, but they've opened up the big play opportunities and the guys haven't capitalized.  He ran Hill for a bunch of small plays, but eventually got him open down the sideline left that was dropped and deep down the right side, which was underrun/overthrown.

Waddle dropped an easy catch for more than 10 yards and then McDaniel got booed for calling a dump off on 3rd and 10.  ...but he called the play to extend the drive and the players didn't execute for him.

We need to improve some things, chief among them for me is the ability to run North/South for 1-3 yards reliably.

It's entirely possible that McDaniel would make a great offensive coordinator and has been promoted to his level of incompetence as a head coach.  That's the norm in the NFL.  For every highly successful head coach there are a great many more who were promoted to their level of incompetence in that capacity.  Brian Flores is doing a great job right now as the Vikings' defensive coordinator.  A great head coach he was not, but he's a great coordinator.