Mike McDaniel hasn’t been capable of finding the solutions.
He hasn’t discovered the solutions to what defenses are doing to his offense, he hasn’t discovered the solutions for why his protection permits 28 factors per sport on the street and 16 factors per sport at dwelling, and he hasn’t discovered the solutions to his crew’s five-game dropping streak heading into Sunday’s finale towards the New York Jets and getting older quarterback Joe Flacco.
Right here’s hoping McDaniel, the Dolphins’ rookie head coach, can discover solutions to those issues Sunday, and proceed discovering the solutions to comparable issues subsequent season.
One reality is rising concerning the Dolphins this yr — a big a part of what we’ve witnessed throughout the disastrous second half of the Dolphins’ season is the educational curve of a rookie head coach.
Truly, McDaniel’s studying curve is a big a part of what we witnessed throughout the first a part of the season, too. The distinction is the Dolphins had been profitable whereas taking part in inferior opponents.
Look, it’s nice that McDaniel is totally different, that he cracks jokes often, that he believes in optimistic reinforcement as a substitute of cursing and tearing down, that he shook up the standard locker room seating chart (offensive line sits on this space as a bunch, defensive traces sits on this space as a bunch, and so forth) and has gamers from all items mixing and mingling and attending to know one another. That’s all refreshing.
Nonetheless, none of that helps you win video games.
Expertise helps you win video games. Teaching helps you win video games. Good well being helps you win video games. And to a lesser extent, a mix of intangibles comparable to luck and emotion helps you win video games.
McDaniel should discover a method to enhance on every of the primary three subsequent season.
As for bettering the teaching, the point of interest for this function, this begins on the prime with McDaniel. He should be higher Sunday, the ultimate common season sport of his rookie yr with playoffs hopes on the road, and he particularly should be higher subsequent season.
To a big extent, it seems McDaniel’s artistic offense devolved right into a easy pattern of passing to large receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle late this season. That turns into predictable and one-dimensional, and simpler to cease by issues comparable to dropping your linebackers deeper or difficult the receivers on the line of scrimmage to disrupt the timing of the passing sport. Ask San Francisco, the Los Angeles Chargers, Buffalo, Inexperienced Bay and New England. All of them succeeded towards a beforehand troublesome Dolphins passing sport.
A veteran coach has a number of methods to handle such issues (extra run sport, diversify the passing sport, and so on…); a rookie coach struggles with such issues.
Defensively, the Dolphins haven’t made the large performs the previous few weeks that they made earlier within the season. That’s additionally an enormous drawback. And whereas it may not be McDaniel’s fault, it’s his accountability. Once more, a (good) veteran coach finds different methods to be efficient whereas a rookie coach struggles.
Maybe subsequent season’s defensive enchancment comes by a training change, that means defensive coordinator Josh Boyer, and maybe others, will get changed.
No matter. It’s on McDaniel to get it proper.
These are the on-field worries for McDaniel.
Off the sphere, McDaniel has to have the ability to squeeze another victory out of his crew, which has been in a funk for the previous few weeks. Whether or not this comes all the way down to concrete issues comparable to fundamentals/technique or summary issues comparable to motivation, McDaniel should discover a approach to get this crew to carry out higher. That’s his job.
As for bettering the expertise, that’s not solely on McDaniel. Common supervisor Chris Grier and others additionally come into play on that one.
However know this: The Dolphins are 2-5 towards groups higher than .500, and 6-3 towards groups .500 or worse. That tells a narrative whether or not it’s expertise, teaching, or a mixture of each.
The Dolphins went 2-4 towards groups with a profitable document in video games quarterback Tua Tagovailoa began, together with an 0-3 mark in December.
I’m within the minority that thinks the Dolphins are just about taking part in to their expertise degree, that the offense has under-achieved and the protection isn’t essentially talent-rich. For probably the most half, I imagine the previous saying, “You're who your document says you're.” However that’s one other dialogue for one more day.
The rapid problem is McDaniel discovering a approach to scratch out another victory this yr, and at the least 10 victories subsequent yr.
It’s powerful being a head coach. Points you didn’t need to take care of as a coordinator abruptly turn into your concern, and typically main considerations. Press conferences. Accidents. The entrance workplace. Followers. Optics. You’re not free to do or say what you need, as you would as an assistant coach. Your phrases matter. Your look issues. Your demeanor issues. Everybody feedback in your actions and judges you whether or not they’re on social media or nationwide TV.
It may be a troublesome stability to take care of, and typically it’s overwhelming.
McDaniel shall be higher at dealing with all of those conditions subsequent yr. However proper now, as a rookie head coach, it’s his yr to study.
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