As a fan, I’m still grieving and stunned by the way the season ended for the Miami Dolphins. I’ve had a lot going on in my head as far as thoughts for what they should do this off-season. One of the biggest things I feel should happen is head coach Mike McDaniel should give up his play-calling duties and let offensive coordinator Frank Smith take over next year.Â
One sequence that stood out in Saturday night’s playoff loss to the Kansas City Chiefs was late in the first half, and the Dolphins had a 3rd and 1, just past mid-field in Chiefs territory. The Dolphins run the ball well for three straight plays with Raheem Mostert, and yet McDaniel called a passing play on a screen. The pass was off and fell incomplete. The Dolphins then went for it on 4th and 1, and again a pass play that fell incomplete. That sequence, in my mind, sealed the fate of the Dolphins and brought a familiar theme under McDaniel’s play calling: getting away from the running game when it’s working.Â
There have been so many times when the Dolphins have a couple of good runs, and then in the short-yardage situations, McDaniel calls a passing play, and it doesn’t work. Saturday night was a cold, windy game, and outside of the 53-yard touchdown pass to Tyreek Hill that got caught in the wind, nothing was going right in the passing game. Hill and Jaylen Waddle clearly weren’t 100% when they tried to play through their injuries.
The Dolphins needed to keep the drive going and give their defense a rest, and instead of sticking to what was working, McDaniel got away from it. Why not give it to Mostert again? Or give Mostert a breather and hand it to De’Von Achane or Jeff Wilson?
If you get the first down, the Dolphins get a new set of downs and closer to at least a long field goal. McDaniel remained pass-happy, and the passing game wasn’t clicking Saturday night outside the big play.Â
McDaniel vowed to run the ball more this year, and to his credit, he did. However, there were games this year when they didn’t run the ball, and he just outsmarted himself. There were times in the red zone this year when he would pass rather than stick to the run and run a fade pass when the team didn’t have a player to do that play.
The Dolphins were 31st in the league in rushing attempts last year and were 15th this year, which is much better, but in key short-yardage spots, McDaniel must run the ball more, especially late in the season when the weather gets colder. I don’t believe the theory that the Dolphins don’t have the personnel; rather, the coach refuses to do that and gets cute with his play calling. Â
Letting Smith call the plays would take responsibilities off McDaniel’s plate, and he can focus on other areas that he needs to improve on. McDaniel’s communication at times hasn’t been good and has cost the offense, which is something quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said after the game Saturday night. Smith is up for a head coaching job, but I don’t think he is going to get one. I could be wrong on that, but I don’t get that since. McDaniel should let his coaches coach and do their job, and he can oversee.
Don Shula did that, and it worked. McDaniel has brought a good offensive structure to the team, but it’s time for him to reevaluate and hand the play-calling duties to someone else.
We probably lost 3 games by his calling for passes instead of running Mozart.
I agree that the overall offensive communication needs to improve, but I also think McDaniel can and will learn from his mistakes. The biggest strength in McDaniels’ coaching game IS his play calling so I don’t think he should concede that. He improved from year 1 to year 2 in regards to the running game (by basically just doing it more bc he has great run designs and inventive, interwoven schemes tied to his passing game) and I believe year 3 could be even more special if he can iron out the small details like clock management and individual play communication giving Tua opportunity to check at the line or change protections late in the play clock. Given another year to refine his scheme, I suspect this is exactly what he will do and the last tweak to make this offense lethal.