Out of Timeouts, Out of Chances: Why McDaniel Has to Go

Out of Timeouts, Out of Chances: Why McDaniel Has to Go

At some point, results matter more than vibes, clever press conferences, or offensive ingenuity. That point has arrived for Mike McDaniel. And even if he somehow manages to drag this inconsistent Miami Dolphins team into the postseason — which, being just one loss away from elimination, is unlikely — the franchise would still be making a mistake by keeping him beyond this year.

In McDaniel’s first two seasons, one of his defining traits was reliability against inferior competition. Miami didn’t always beat the league’s elite, but it consistently handled the bottom feeders. That reliability is gone. This season, the Dolphins have suffered multiple embarrassing losses to bad teams — the kind of opponents McDaniel used to dominate.

They nearly added another disaster in Madrid, where they escaped with a win that felt more like a sigh of relief than a sign of progress. When a coach loses his grip on beating the teams he’s supposed to beat, the entire foundation cracks.

Then there are the recurring mistakes — errors that should’ve been solved years ago. McDaniel’s issues with getting plays in on time have become routine. Tua Tagovailoa is left rushing to the line, wasting timeouts, or settling for hurried looks because a call arrives too late.

Just two weeks ago, McDaniel had quite the mishap against the Buffalo Bills. He literally called a timeout at 15:00 in the first quarter — before a single second had ticked off the clock. He explained it as part of an “information-gathering session” with the refs, but that’s not veteran head coach material. That’s carelessness.

And the situational management still isn’t getting better. Against the Commanders, with the game tied and less than two minutes remaining, Washington out of timeouts, and a chance to take the lead, McDaniel chose bravado over logic.