McDaniel explains, laments another Dolphins loss. And an injury update
Embattled Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel had a simple explanation for Thursday’s 28-6 home loss to Baltimore:
“We were minus three [in turnovers], they were three for three in the red zone and we didn’t score a touchdown. You have to cross your Ts and dot your Is in the National Football League. It’s very disappointing. Unfortunately, we will have to sit on the disappointment for 10 days.”
And what about the whole experience of a night that included fans wearing bags over their heads?
“Personally you want to dictate the terms,” McDaniel said. “You want to fix stuff. That sucks. All of that sucks. Fans enjoy winning. We have to go back to work to give them something to cheer about.”
He said the mistake-filled start on offense, which included a Tahj Washington fumble deep in Dolphins territory, was an ominous harbinger.
“It’s pretty simple. You’ve got a red zone turnover, you have a red zone turnover on downs,... you have a missed field goal. It’s a bad omen to be very capable of having the lead and being behind. That’s setting up for failure.
“We couldn’t [overcome] self-inflicted stuff offensively and didn’t have the game we were expecting on [special teams].”
How could the Dolphins be blown out just five days after routing the Falcons?
“Million dollar question,” he said.
Why did McDaniel go for it on fourth down late in the second quarter when trailing 14-6? (Tagovailoa threw the ball out of the end zone on a miscommunication with De’von Achane.)
“We had a concept that we felt pretty good about,” McDaniel said. “Our primary didn’t quite go in the area we expected to. Miscommunication so to speak. We had an eligible [receiver] to make a conversion [but didn’t see that]. There were a multitude of failures in that situation. I was super confident that wouldn’t be the case.”
McDaniel was visibly angry after right tackle Larry Borom had an illegal motion, which turned a fourth and one into a fourth and sixth. Was he irate at Borom?
“Self-inflicted wound. In a critical fourth and one; we were pretty fired up about the defensive looks,” McDaniel answered. “It’s what we were calling the play for. That’s flat out a controllable that our team knows that keeps you from winning. I was irate at nothing but our self-inflicted wound.”
McDaniel was blunt about his view of the tripping call against Ollie Gordon that negated a long completion to Jaylen Waddle.
“I saw a guy slip or trip and he was called for intentionally tripping somebody,” McDaniel said.
Amazon Prime’s officiating expert said it was a bad call.
In injury news, McDaniel said linebacker Chop Robinson is in concussion protocol and Gordon II was cleared to return from an ankle injury. He said he had no information on the toe injuries to defensive backs Rasul Douglas and Ifeatu Melifonwu.
Why was Jaylen Wright inactive for the third time in four games?
“It was a tough one,” McDaniel said. “Special teams and offensively, we had some guys that were nicked. De’Von and Ollie have pretty much been able to stay healthy.
“I like having a three-back rotation but it was something we were a little nervous about with special teams and offensive skill. It’s a numbe’s game.”
Asked about Tuesday’s trade deadline, McDaniel said he has conversations with general manager Chris Grier and “we will probably have more conversations [Friday]. For right now, I’m more digesting the loss.”
McDaniel had one positive takeaway: “We came to play. It was obvious in the first half that our team could play toe to toe and we felt very good about our plan going in and the way guys came out.”
Here’s my piece on major decisions facing the Dolphins and what they should do.
This story was originally published October 31, 2025 at 12:02 AM.
