Dolphins’ Mike McDaniel excited to ‘assess the state of the union’ | Pro Football Talk | NFL on NBC

you came in here looking like Johnny Miami with great great outfit I just don't see any coaches like that so I was going to go oh man this guy look at him Miami coaches money that's what I was coming in can't hide money that's right not trying to that was great last year you guys have upgraded your tire in year what do you mean upgraded rubbed up this is I'm in the same I'm in the same we're trying to keep up baby we're trying to keep up him yes no there's more starch involved in your shirt righ

t now I cleaned out my closet and I found all the stuff that was buried under all the other clothes that's what he does that's how I go shopping oh dude yeah so you go you get retro looks exactly organically wait like I'm I'm I don't care it's year two you're you're not hiding money still as we see you're three excuse me you're still not hiding money what I I mean your get Up's pretty cool I'm not even going to lie like it's you're definitely the best dressed guy here you got a cool watch and I

want you to lift up your Footwear like your Footwear is pretty special he's got like little gold studs on these things like that's because I'm a part-time bedazzler yeah yeah no they came with the shoes are you like online like shopping or are you going to the store shopping um mostly online online yeah I I don't really you know I don't have social media and I don't really surf the Internet that much right so that's a you knowand that's your one time you go on check that stuff out check out some

clothes film and clothes yeah yeah okay I hear you there I feel like I know you better than I do because I watched every episode of Hard Knocks and I loved it I couldn't get enough of but for you did you love and I like you a lot less now did you love it wait no no I no sound like you were setting it up by way I like you a lot in the show great my question my question is like for you I don't think you really like like how long did it take you to accept that this is your reality from that point

in the season when you come off your bye all the way through to the playoffs well most of that was done before it was announced when I caught when that we were going to do it um but you know I try as a life philosophy I try not to swim against current okay you know pick your battles well things that I can't change like am I just going to um complain about it or you know are we going to do kind of just move forward as best you can well you know obviously it was something that um you know on the o

n the front end of it you're a little nervous about a lot of different things and residuals um but I had time to kind of um internalize some of those issues and then so at some point hey it doesn't matter how we feel we're going to do it well um I did think you know so so it I forced myself to find some positivity even before it started gotcha and what I was excited about yeah um the optimism was that I you know there's a lot of things that are unseen in regard to the organization to what really

goes on how hard um people are working the orchestration of an NFL franchise and in our particular situation I think um we have we're our entire organization's littered with um more than just competency with really really good um people taking their jobs very serious so and and to see the journeys and how tight the team was you know I didn't mind um that being unveiled and so that was a positive it was uh you know it's burdensome on me on me but you know much of uh you know there's so no one ca

res about that so I couldn't either um being miked up all the time is a little weird yeah it's annoying I'm going to say it for you I'd have been annoyed as the quarterback I'd have been annoyed I mean there's nothing he can do but it's just like damn there's a camera in the room they were moving around while you're watching film they're going to play trying to get out of play for 20 years good guy you're trying to speak P I know it you're a football guy well at the same time I I didn't I really

liked that there's people that um you know from our uh our equipment staff all the way up to players and different different personalities on the team that make you know that make the dolphins go I didn't mind having that shown a little and that exposed I was pumped about that it is a weird you know what people don't realize is when you're miked up for an NFL practice right or an NFL game there's like a camera devoted to you to you only right the entire time right which is never expressed yeah

I just kind of pieced it together I was like wait I know they caught you hitting the vape pen and it was all over from there well I mean who knows if I have if I have a booger in my nose cuz I can't pick it you're right you're right there's a lot of tough things there you're right uh you you you were saying before that you're trying to take some time to learn what you can from last season what have you learned all things considered from last season great regular season got to the playoffs we kno

w how it ended open air Subzero in Kansas City what are you learning from that you you learn so much from you know things things that are that are tough in in the present you learn so much from you know that the season did not end the way we envisioned at all our expectations were uh much higher than that um but the same way you wouldn't want to get comfortable if you you you won the Super Bowl when you fall short um I think it's so important to to take a step back and really assess um you know

the State of the Union I think uh it's been a really cool start of 2024 for the Miami Dolphins because you know I'm really confident uh and and excited about that assessment um you know and and taking all the things that that we were successful with identifying those not not really just not really saying oh we're good at something and we're bad at this let's assess everything yeah let's assess on a on a clear platform okay and establish what has worked right what hasn't right um and you get a lo

t of clarity and a lot of um you know motivation to move forward so there there is a uh uh a lot of lessons particularly for me um you know year three starting the year three as a head coach is a is a completely different process than year one or two right um specifically with the off season and and how to go about that so um you know the the excited to press forward um and take the things that we we feel as though we're good at right and improve those things to make him even better and then and

um hitting Right Between the Eyes um the things that we weren't good at and um fixing that so that's that's uh a a a a healthy a healthy way to live a healthy way to attack a job and I and I feel like we have the people and place to go do that okay all right I'm glad you went that way cuz I'm I mean we talked about you all the time we the greatest all the time all the all the time never about you all the time you know me all the time we talk about you all the time and especially when it comes t

o offense you're you're arguably the most Innovative offensive coach in football right now he's never said that before a all right but all right either way yes right I want to like where do you what do you want to say what do you want to say assessing honesty and transparency with these I'm I'm taking the time to believe you know me long enough to know I appreciate that thank you but where do you learn new things where do you reinvent where do you look to to add ideas like where does it come fro

m because I I I I love watching your offense and what you do you know I think I think you're you're hitting on an important point that for me I'm not I'm trying to do my job to the best of my ability at all times and I think part of doing your job is to never have any sort of complacency whatsoever in any facet of it to always assess and always you know to to embrace the fact that you're fallible and the the enjoyment of identifying and correcting and improving um that's the name of the game so

for me you know I'm not looking as a self-serving entity to have new ideas so that um these guys that like me will talk even more about me I know you're not I know you're not I know you however the you always have different problems to solve for me I'm never closing my mind off to to to new ideas and and new directions I'm more are you a stealer or do you come up with it right like that's where cuz I see you do a lot of stuff and I go oh well inherently MC Daniel is the first one saw do that and

then people steal your stuff I know you steal some from I have a tough time saying I've invented anything inherently because um the uh forward pass the handoff these are all things that were inherited right so any anything that we come up with um is a is a a a derivative of of that so for me I have a tough time not acknowledging you know everything that's put me my understanding of the of football that puts me in a position to possibly do something that's a part of it maybe a a uh the the forma

tion maybe the Motions unique but you know I did not invent um timing motions at the snap I did not invent motions in general um and I did not invent the forward pass so like you know I it to me I don't look at it that way it's like trying to trying to you're ultimately trying to put the opponent at a disadvantage through uncertainty in football yeah yeah so like maybe and you're trying to take and master and execution of certain fundamentals and techniques in a collaborative way um but you're t

rying to gain that Advantage so new things doing things in a in a different manner that's inherent to to what you know I've the lens that I've always looked at things through something that you know all the guys that I've worked with we've all done together at one one point in time um but you know I don't I don't see that Evolution ever stopping I think the second that uh you stop evolving um You've Lost Your competitive advantage and you're like everybody else so it comes from evaluation someti

mes you're watching um a jet motion on run Place yeah okay 2018 right um watching um Rashard Penny was San Diego State okay playing Air Force running back first rounder and and for the first time we saw kind of a fake Jet Sweep motion for a receiver pass be snapped on one side of the uh let's say on the Right Guard right and then with the flow of the Jet Sweep we saw outside Zone that San Diego State was running against the Air Force which to us planted a seed of influencing second level defense

gotta um and then 2018 against the um Detroit Lions we came out in week one or two first home game right and first had a a run whether it was to the right or to the left go to the same direction as the fake Jet Sweep that was out of doing doing evalu for college dra you know so that happens you're doing the same thing in free agency that can occur um you're practicing in in phase two or phase three of off seon and something happens yeah it's crazy you know the somebody makes a mistake and you g

o wait that actually was open like let me figure that out the the outward motion that um was something that we utilize this year that's a derivative of um a guy moving late in the Snap On One play and then just kind of thinking through what what if we time that up you know those types of things so it's a you know I think um you have to have a situation where you have like-minded individuals thirsting um from a CO coaching staff perspective of chasing the new um and you have to have players that

are and trusting uh in their coaches to try stuff that inherently will fail the first time you try right right what are you challenging yourself to do as a coach this year entering year three to get farther than you have the first two years um to you know I think the first challenge is to truly identify with a removing emotion trying to identify variables that contributed to what would be called the pattern um in terms of two years in a row we I think we started out 7 and three three and we're 9

and three uh year one 9 and three this year and the end of the season ended in a loss um like everybody that isn't the Super Bowl champions however what what is what can we learn from that not an overreaction okay well you know we're getting to really assess and you you learn a lot of things that are good and bad about your program when you do that I think that healthy assessment is so vital whether you win lose or draw but doing it in the scope of you know it it there's a lot of people that th

at really were were hurt by the unmet expectations that we all had okay well that doesn't mean it's a waste it means it's a how can you take last season and the season before and take what you've learned and make sure you're not falling short in the same manner make sure if there is a pattern and what what you learn it is to be even even more convicted in the things that you were previously convicted on and then different ways that we can kind of um you know really really prepare ourselves for t

he Long Haul and continue that state of evolution that you need to be your best um when your best is required down the stretch yeah um I think there is a process of for all teams that ultimately accomplish the the goal that everyone has Super Bowl champions have to learn the the hard way generally right where you're you think you're capable of accomplishing it you you have everything what you think to be everything on the line and you fall short that is an inherent thing that is shared for all c

hampionship teams and um that's something that and that's something that we have have gone through where our expectations weren't met what are you going to do about it well I'm I'm very happy with the core of uh of individuals in the locker room and the coaching staff that we have um in place to uh be able to take the journey take the all that hardship and utilize it for future goals and gains um and that's that's kind of where I see us at because I think we have the people with the um the menta

l fortitude to take those lessons and and make sure they are done not in vain I got a lot of questions I want to ask you I don't know how much time we have for you right so that's where I'm a little um I know I know you got a busy guy you probably you know got to get a new pair of shoes or something but like that's the only thing I got going on defense like what do what do defenses do to mess you up with all your emotions and like I feel like when I watch you guys defenses try things that they d

on't do on other offenses CU they're like wait we can't stop all the things that McDaniels does so we got to try some things that are outside the box like right there was things when I played for guden where they did certain things on defense I was like man this isn't good for our system right what did defenses do to kind of screw with you well you know it's um it's something that's an evolving process cuz you're you're forcasting the unknown that's what I've learned specifically with forecastin

g the unknown that's a good phrase yeah because we you know this was not um you know the elements that teams most fear um from a defensive perspective when playing us those elements weren't something that I I was NE necessarily anybody was vers in I didn't have experience having a uh uh Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Wadd on the same offense so you don't really know well how they're going to play the pattern is that um you know that seems to move the needle and their preparation the most that speed on t

he outside and that you have to be prepared to have a different presentation on game day yeah then that defense has done um you know up until that point in the season right and being able to problem solve that getting used to the way guys kind of um uh direct that week of practice um get having players get used to um executing a game plan that's kind of um blind to a degree that you find out in the first quarter that's what we've gotten comfortable with and the different manifestations you know

there's been people that put pre- snap and post Snap guys in different positions that we haven't seen you know Defenders going five across the board pre- snap and stuff right um the ultimately or or they've just played a a version of maybe their two shell defense that they minor in that they major in with us regardless bottom line is teams will do whatever they have to do to uh whatever they're doing they're trying to force execution yeah right trying to Force less big plays you to execute more

often so you're you're you're finding different ways that you're stressed in in execution points and trying to make sure that uh that okay the the Unseen version of Tampa 2 is a new rep for us how do we coach through that so everybody can see it the same way oh the the um emphasis on extra reroutes is new for us all these things um it will always be a new version of it but you're just learning how to play a little blind so to speak and rely on on your known of your scheme which is something that

you have to do in the offseason this is great insight and when you said forecasting the unknown it made me think of the old Mike Tyson quote Everybody's Got A Plan until they get hit in the mouth do you think that your team needs a little bit more of that hit in the mouth a little bit more of that physicality that toughness that that grit that stuff that Dan Campbell talks about is there a marriage maybe of what you do with a little bit more just badass in your face do you feel like you need so

me of that I I think that's part of the growth of a football team you know I think on the pr on the door to the practice field um you know we have three phrases that kind of um smizes what we want done out on the practice field fast physical Elite technique okay how how to play Fast how to play physical and how to play with Elite technique I see is the way we play football I see what you're you're talking about there's always room to grow in a in this physical sport that you're literally just tr

ying to move uh oddly shaped ball down the field in a collective manner or prevent it to be moved down the field all that I do think to answer your question that is something that um I don't think we're necessarily void of but can we get better at that absolutely I think that's something that you're always trying to um Empower your players um and emphasize and the better you get the more convicted you get in whatever scheme you're running the more you're able to employ that CU by Nature players

want to be physical at this more often than not there's more physical players than there are not physical players in this um State of the Union which is the National Football League the guys that are have gotten good in football are aren't adverse to contact rather they flourish in it so um I I think that's a Natural Evolution um that I would expect to to happen to take place this year well this has been excellent we appreciate you visiting with us every year here at the combine you have to go y

ou to go to the POI we can answer you we could go instead tell the podium I don't think they'd like our answers on yourf about over time kick off I mean we let's shut the program down you guys can go front row we'll just continue this over time overtime postseason you win the toss do you kick do you receive do you defer what do you do man there whoa okay we don't have enough time bro I know I mean I would probably do the thing that would best give us a chance to win the game what is that yeah th

ere's there's compounding variables there is compounding variables there is thank you so much we'll be back with more from the cine he is Mike McDaniel uh we'll be right back hi it's Mike Florio thanks for watching PFT on YouTube hit subscribe for the latest news and Analysis from pro football talk