Dolphins' McDaniel answers about job security, 'fire' banner, late-game errors

Barry Jackson, Miami Herald on Sep 14, 2025

Published in Football

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MIAMI — In the wake of his team falling to 0-2, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Sunday that he holds some of the blame for late-game mistakes and operational issues but isn’t worried about his job security.

The Dolphins’ final two possessions were foiled by four penalties, three sacks, a Tua Tagovailoa interception, multiple penalties, miscommunication and confusion.

“I’m very frustrated,” McDaniel said. “There’s coaches and players that did not execute communication with the game on the line. Our communication and substitution were not up to par. But ultimately I hold responsibility for all things. I will make sure that things that should be ironed out [will be] so that we won’t fall victim to the same thing again.”

The late-game performance in the 33-27 loss to New England “was not acceptable,” he said. “We had an opportunity to win the game.”

The Dolphins are now 6-10 in the last 16 games that Tagovailoa has started a game in the McDaniel era.

Asked if he’s worried about keeping his job, McDaniel said: “If I worry about my job security, I won’t be doing my job. I’ve never felt entitled to this position. It’s important for me to spend all of my waking hours worrying about how to do my job. I won’t spend one moment thinking about [job security].”

And what about the banner that flew over the stadium before the game, the one calling for the firing of McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier?

“I was coaching and calling a game,” McDaniel said. “I wasn’t spending my time considering what the fans were doing at all. Fans want their team to win. I don’t think it’s personal. They want to win and so do I.”

Though Tagovailoa expressed frustration about operational issues, McDaniel said that did not “cost us” on the final few plays.

Getting plays midway through the play clock “happens all the time. This was not one of those times. I got the play call in but I’ve got to do a better job of supervising orchestration without our multiple personnel [sets] ...

“That’s how you lose the game. You’re moving the ball down the field. First-and-10 and then you find yourself second-and-20. That was critical.”

He said the offense “including myself, didn’t come through down the stretch.”

McDaniel said: “We have to tighten up our football entirely. We can’t wait until the second half to get a stop. We can’t have a monumental special teams play negated by a monumental special teams play.

“Guys are very frustrated. Like I told the team, it makes me even more venomous for the way the team responded to a start we didn’t want again. I did find out what type of team I’m coaching. The weaker mind goes, ‘here we go again’ and that was not the case again [after falling behind 12-0 early]. It’s super frustrating.

“Fortunately, the bad taste in our mouth continues but we have another opportunity to play Thursday night against an opponent [Buffalo] that won’t care about any of our hardships.

“It’s important guys have perspective. Over the many years I’ve been doing this, there is not a team — the Super Bowl champion, the seventh seed — [whose season is determined] in two weeks.”

McDaniel said when his team fell behind 12-0, “I felt good about the lack of desperation in our team.”

Asked about the defense, which has given up points on 13 of 15 possessions in two games (excluding kneel downs), McDaniel said: “Last year, we found ways to get off the field. The strength of the defense was we grew as a unit. We have to get off the field; 13 of 15 is not good enough. We have to be tighter in our zones. We have to find ways to get [to the quarterback]. Too much time of possession by the opponent. We have to fix that for sure.”

Injury update

Linebacker Chop Robinson returned to the game after sustaining a lower body injury. “It was painful and he was pretty scared. It wasn’t structural,” McDaniel said.

Safety Ifeatu Melifonwu left with a leg injury and McDaniel said it was a “soft tissue” issue. Melifonwu shared snaps with rookie Dante Trader Jr., and McDaniel said that was by design.

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