Dolphins’ McDaniel addresses Green Bay fallout, injuries and the Shaq Barrett decision
The Dolphins’ secondary, diminished by injuries, could be getting a player back for their next game.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Friday that he’s hopeful that starting cornerback Kendall Fuller will be able to play on Dec. 8 against the Jets. Fuller has missed the past three games with a concussion.
McDaniel said that cornerback Kader Kohou’s back injury, which sidelined him in the second half of Thursday’s 30-17 loss to Green Bay, does not appear serious, but more tests will be taken.
Kohou sustained his injury while colliding with a Packers player after trying to dive for a pass that was deflected. He was checked for a concussion, but was cleared for any head injury.
Another cornerback, Cam Smith, left Thursday’s game for good with a dislocated shoulder.
Also, right tackle Kendall Lamm --who left Thursday’s game and returned and left again-- is dealing with back and elbow injuries.
“I’ll get more information later this afternoon, but nothing indicating it’s super severe,” McDaniel said. “What that means for this [next] game, I’ll have to find more stuff out.”
Defensive tackle Benito Jones returned to the game after leaving with a back injury.
McDaniel addressed other issues:
▪ Late Thursday night, he explained why he and general manager Chris Grier declined Shaq Barrett’s offer to come out of retirement and play for the Dolphins:
“In just talking with Chris, where our roster is at, and the players that have earned the right to be on it, it’s just a numbers game in the NFL, so the timing, I don’t think, was necessarily ideal.”
McDaniel suggested he did not believe Barrett was angling to play elsewhere. “We knew we had his contractual rights,” McDaniel said, “So it was more of where we are at, and let’s look at our roster. It wasn’t any measured situation like that posturing one way or the other.”
Miami will own his rights in 2025, as well, because his one-year contract tolls.
▪ On Friday morning, McDaniel said if he had it to do over, he would have called a different play on the fourth and goal from the 1 yard line in the fourth quarter. Tua Tagovailoa was sacked by Quay Walker on that play, leaving Green Bay ahead 27-11.
McDaniel recounted that drive, which included an unsuccessful run play on 2nd and goal from 1 (De’Von Achane gained no yards) and the two subsequent unsuccessful plays, including an incomplete third down pass to Jonnu Smith.
On the run play, “We had a critical assignment mistake that got us stuffed at the 1. Then we had a bootleg we needed an extra tick to layer the ball out there a little further. That was a huge opportunity to score. Defense did a good job on the edge. I thought the defender got to Jonnu; it was a bang, bang [play]. You hope for a call there; it’s 50-50 when those happen.
“The fourth down call I was disappointed in. It’s important I give the players the opportunity to make plays in the moment of truth. The defensive presentation was difficult for the play. I put Alec Ingold in a reallly tough spot. He got caught up in foot traffic. There wasn’t really a play to be made.”
▪ Asked to respond to linebacker Jordyn Brooks’ comment that the Dolphins were “soft” on Thursday, McDaniel said what Brooks was referring to “has to do with the tackling or lack thereof. I saw a consistent failure of tacklers to bring their feet through the tackle. “
▪ Does McDaniel address the team’s playoff outlook with the players? “It’s an understated thing I bring up from time to time,” he said.
Here’s how Miami can get in the playoffs.
▪ On Miami’s 10 penalties on Thursday: “To the [players’] credit, he had played really clean football [before Thursday].”
▪ The Dolphins have lost by 21 (to Buffalo) and 13 (to Green Bay) in Thursday night games this season.
“Taking a hard look at short weeks and how we can get that done. Why are some of our fundamental, foundational principles regressing in short weeks? That’s part of my job to figure out.”
This story was originally published November 29, 2024 at 11:26 AM.
