McDaniel Explains Conservative Approach Late in First Half

Mike McDaniel traditionally has been known as being aggressive in his decision-making, and it showed again in the late stages of the Miami Dolphins' Week 13 victory against the New Orleans Saints.

But the Miami head coach went the other route at the end of the first half when he went conservative and happily settled for a 48-yard field goal attempt after Rasul Douglas' 38-yard interception return gave the Dolphins the ball at the New Orleans 42-yard line with 1:08 left.

When De'Von Achane gained 9 yards on a run, the Dolphins called their final timeout with 1:01 left in the half.

Achane then lost 2 yards on second down before Tua Tagovailoa completed a 6-yard pass to Malik Washington for the first down at the New Orleans 29-yard line.

There were 23 seconds left after that play, but the Dolphins let the clock run down before a snap and spike with 2 seconds left, setting the stage for Riley Patterson's 48-yard field goal for a 16-0 halftime lead.

The move didn't please fans at Hard Rock Stadium, with some boos heard as the clock was winding down, and McDaniel was asked about his decision Monday.

"A lot of you have noticed a lot of teams defer the decision so that they could get the ball after the half," McDaniel explained. "Well, that's under the pretense that you end the half with the ball or points, because you you keep a team from a possession. We started with the ball, but the same the same ideas. You try to end the half with points or the ball so that they don't get the opportunity. That decision was a lot easier for me when the ball was on the 30-yard line because of Riley pregame. But on top of that, you look at the National Football League, I think there's about 18 seconds. And there's been two times this year that a team has with no timeouts, been able to have a running clock situation 18 seconds or less, have a play, run the field goal team on and get the points. So then at the 30 yard line, I'm looking at like, all right, do we need the 5, 6, 7 yards, or we take an unnecessary risk?

"In my opinion, I thought another snap was an unnecessary risk, based upon Riley's pregame and the conviction he gave me through (special teams coordinator Craig) Aukerman and (holder) Jake (Bailey) to get points at the half. We're on the 30-yard line with no timeouts and high risk with a little reward. That's what I thought."

CONSERVATIVE CALL

While McDaniel succeeded in getting the three points and not giving New Orleans any time to get a late field goal, it says here there was room for more aggressiveness.

And we've also seen him be a lot more bold at other times, such as going for it instead of kicking a go-ahead field goal late in the Washington game or even going for the first down on fourth-and-1 from the New Orleans 43 up by eight points late in the game Sunday.

It also should be noted again that there was 1:01 left after Achane's run got the ball to the New Orleans 33-yard line, plenty of time to attempt a few passes — even one or two in the middle of the field.

The pitch to Achane on second-and-1 from the 33 was the signal McDaniel was playing for a field goal because after the 2-yard loss the next snap was taken with only 29 seconds left.

Perhaps McDaniel was swayed by the fact that Tagovailoa wasn't particularly sharp on this day — he was 6-for-13 for 87 yards before that drive.

Still, this wasn't the go-for-it style we've seen from McDaniel over the past four seasons.

In the end, the conservative decision didn't cost the Dolphins, but it seemed a little bit out of character for McDaniel.

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