Is it Time for the Miami Dolphins to Make an Offensive Coordinator Change?
When considering Mike McDaniel’s first two years, the idea of making an offensive coordinator change might sound like hyperbole. However, it deserves serious consideration—especially given our consistent struggles against good teams.
We can admire the finesse of McDaniel’s play calls, but we must also evaluate his shortcomings honestly. One clear pattern over his tenure is that he often gets out-coached by veteran head coaches, except Bill Belichick. While this might have been somewhat expected early in his career as a first-time head coach, I would have hoped for more growth by now.
He tends to overthink situations and takes too long to get a play call in, often shying away from fundamental football. Instead, he relies on trickery—trickery that opposing teams have now caught onto. He also seems to struggle with understanding when and how to best utilize the talent at his disposal. Is this ignorance or arrogance, or does he just have “-ance” in his pants?
All jokes aside, McDaniel has undoubtedly done some good for the team, the organization, and the fans. But at the same time, we continue to fall into the same old narrative— amounting to nothing more than a flash in the pan. We need more. I want to hear accountability, not the same old rhetoric about adversity being an opportunity.
We’ve faced plenty of both over the last three seasons under McDaniel, yet we continue to disappoint—usually in primetime and often in embarrassing fashion. In fact, over the past three seasons, the Dolphins are 3-14 against teams with a winning record, highlighting their struggles when it matters most.
To his credit, we saw dominance at our peak last year, particularly during the historic game against the Denver Broncos. But since then, with the offensive line depleted last season and now, we’ve struggled to impose our will. One could argue that we’d see more success with more talent up front. But would that solve McDaniel’s personnel issues or his tendency to overthink the opponent?
I wanted McDaniel to relinquish play-calling duties earlier this year when we couldn’t win without Tua, especially when opposing defenses were virtually begging us to score—and we simply couldn’t do it. He seemed unable to adjust his scheme to fit his talent, which was a major red flag. While he has earned back some respect in recent weeks, we just saw him revert to his old ways on Thanksgiving night in a big game.
Despite all this, I do think McDaniel deserves a little more time. He has shown promise, and if he can somehow lead this team to a wildcard spot, he deserves another season. However, if we lose three or more of the next five games, all cards should be on the table.
