‘The NFL will teach you.’ Why the Dolphins can’t afford to overlook the Saints
The New Orleans Saints likely want the No. 1 overall pick. They can’t say that. Nor will they admit it. Still, at 2-8 and rookie signal caller Tyler Shough still adjusting to the NFL with limited weapons, the writing is on the wall.
That makes the Miami Dolphins’ matchup with the Saints a potential trap game. The key: not to overlook the opponent. “Football, if you haven’t noticed, the ball is oblong,” coach Mike McDaniel said. “I don’t know where that is bouncing.
The NFL will teach you the hardest lessons that will have you lose sleep at night if you make the mistake of taking anybody lightly.” McDaniel has already lived through that. In fact, it happened with the Saints in 2020 when the then-San Francisco 49ers run coordinator tried to figure out how to limit linebacker Demario Davis.
It didn’t work. Davis racked up a game-high 12 tackles, three of which were for loss, a sack, pass deflection and two quarterback hits in the 27-13 victory against the 49ers. “Him and Cam Jordan are unicorns in this league,” McDaniel said, calling that 2020 game “a professional scar” in that the Niners only finished with 49 yards rushing.
“They make us all feel old with elite athletic production for decades on decades. I think it’s hard for me to not think of those two in particular when the Saints’ name comes up. They’re impactful defensive players that you have to be very prepared for, or they physically make you pay for that.”
Throw in two-time Super Bowl champion safety Justin Reid as well as second-year cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry, who leads the team in interceptions, and it’s not difficult to see why the Dolphins won’t take the Saints lightly. They have at least one impactful player at every level of the defense.
“They have a lot of veterans on that side of the ball,” Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said. “Having a lot of veterans, having guys that have seen a lot of football, that have played a lot of football, you’ve got guys that have played together for some time as well. They know how to operate. They kind of know, ‘OK, if I go here, I know I’m going to trust that you’re going to be there.’”
It also helps that the Dolphins have been in a similar position. At 1-6 and on the road against Bijan Robinson, one of the best running backs in football, the Dolphins spanked the Atlanta Falcons 34-10. Two weeks later, the Dolphins routed the reigning MVP Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills 30-13.
“We’ve benefitted from being on the other side of that recently, meaning it’s probably what the last four teams that have had to play us have been battling,” McDaniel said, later adding that “whether people have taken our team lightly, that’s not really important debate to me. However, I think it makes our team a little more aware of the negative effects of thinking that your nameplate or your team logo earns a win because it does not.”
The Dolphins do deserve credit for their back-to-back wins that now currently has them, according to a CBS Football graphic, squarely “in the hunt” for the playoffs. But as fullback Alec Ingold so eloquently put it when asked how not to overlook a team that’s 2-9, the Dolphins, quite frankly, could’ve been in the same position.
“We’re 4-7, right, so we have all this confidence internally that we’re turning the page, we’re playing good ball,” Ingold said, emphasizing that “every single team in the NFL can do that.”
Added Ingold: “Games are won and lost by fractions and margins and inches; and if you don’t show up prepared to absolutely be in a dogfight, you’re going to lose in this league. I think that’s the mentality you have to have. You’ve got to look for the fight, you’ve got to want the fight, and the Saints are going to bring it.”
This story was originally published November 28, 2025 at 2:52 PM.
