What the Dolphins said – 2024 Week 3: Seahawks vs. Dolphins

MIKE MCDANIEL: It’s unfortunate, but that’s the nature of the National Football League, and I’m not making excuses, I don’t think anyone in the locker room is either. But it’s tough. The National Football League is tough.

About the positive aspects of the game.

MIKE MCDANIEL: I thought the positive was we took care of the ball. I thought Skylar (Thompson) ran the offense well. I think I should have prepared a lot better. 11 penalties is not good enough, but we took care of the ball. I think (Tim) Boyle came in and did a great job of leading the guys, was very good in the huddle and communicated the things that needed to be communicated from the sideline very well. And I think the bottom line is, I see the quarterback as an extension of the offense and the offense as an extension of me. And three points, I’ve never won a game by scoring three points. So I think collectively, starting with me, it just has to get better and we’ve got to get that done quickly.

MIKE MCDANIEL: I didn’t talk to Skylar (Thompson) again until the end of the game. It was a pretty painful rib injury. And half the pain or frustration for him, I think, was him trying to find a way not to give up on the game. And ultimately, it was pretty painful. He battled through it, but we’ll have a chance to look at him more closely tomorrow.

After the absences of Tua Tagovailoa and Skylar Thompson in the last two weeks, what is your next step in planning for the next few weeks? What is the plan?

MIKE MCDANIEL: I think you have to look at everything. And you have to find a way to give your team the best chance to win. That’s what happened to us in 2022. And ultimately, the rest of the league doesn’t care and it shouldn’t. We have to find a way to get better together. And that’s going to take a bigger effort from everybody, including me, or at least myself.

What was the reason for the move shortly before the end of the half?

MIKE MCDANIEL: The approach was the same as Week 1 last year against the Chargers, where you try to make a throw and force the defense to defend. In the same situation last year, we had defensive pass interference that led to a field goal that ended up being a two-point play. We tried the same thing and it didn’t work out that way. But that was the thought process.

What about the breakdown of DK Metcalf’s touchdown?

MIKE MCDANIEL: Yeah, there’s a couple things from the beginning of the game that I know the good news is we found our rhythm on defense as the game went on, I thought. And the good news is we have the right people on this team, I think, and particularly the right people on defense, to not worry about the overall result, but more about how we can prevent self-inflicted wounds from hurting us. And as frustrating as that was, given that it was a focus before the game, I think overall I was happy with the determination to put up a better defense afterward and respond.

With the self-inflicted injuries, many penalties, before the snap on offense, also on special teams. Simply the purpose of –

MIKE MCDANIEL: No, I think we have to handle the road better, and that starts with me. But then it carries on to everybody. I think the crowd rocked and we looked like we were playing in a hostile environment for the first time. And that’s a quick lesson that you have to learn from and get better or you can’t expect different results in the future. But yeah, I think it was 11 penalties for 85 yards. And especially when you’re having trouble in the red zone and you’re not scoring touchdowns and you’re down there multiple times, you can’t afford that to win the football game.

MIKE MCDANIEL: Terron (Armstead) got poked in the eye. And then UNC cleared him during the game and re-evaluated him after the game. He and (Kendall) Fuller are in the protocol now and we’ll evaluate them tomorrow.

How can we get Tyreek Hill more involved in the offense? He only had one goal in the first half and he seemed to get better in the second half. But with all these injuries, where do you see him getting more involved in the offense in the future?

MIKE MCDANIEL: Absolutely. As a captain and a leader, Tyreek (Hill) has done a great job all week of trying to do his part, not only in the passing game but in the running game. And to the Seahawks’ credit, they’ve done some work to neutralize him. I think some of the things we expected to be cleaner in the running game ultimately lead to longer drives and more opportunities for him. But this team needs him. He was prepared. He was ready. He had the energy. So we’ve got to do a better job of getting the ball to him. And we’ve got to do a better job of staying on the field so we can get the ball to our playmakers. I think we only had three three-and-outs, but I think there were a lot of four- or five-play drives where we were able to get a first down and then we couldn’t get out of our own way. So it’s got to get better for everybody.

Let’s also talk about offense, since you’re currently experiencing a rollercoaster ride at the quarterback position. How do you manage to perform as well as possible despite all the changes at center? What do they need to do to be ready?

MIKE MCDANIEL: I think consistency has to come from the core of the group. The guys that really know the offense have to be in it. And we just have to keep chopping wood and get better fast. That stuff happens, too. And every season there are teams that find a way to win football games when their starter or even their backup is out. So that’s what we’ve prepared ourselves for in this situation this year. And I think it’s also important — as I told the team — we’ve had two consecutive seasons where we’ve won football games. And I think we’ve been 3-0 in both scenarios. And it’s a long season. It’s Week 3 and we have to — the idea is you keep getting better so you’re at your best at the end of the season. That was our main focus at the beginning of this year. It hasn’t changed. It’s just gotten bigger. But that’s the National Football League. You have to do what you have to do. And to get better, everyone has to focus on the right things.

When you look at the inconsistency on offense today, how much of that can you attribute, relatively speaking, to uncertainty at the quarterback position with an unknown face coming in? And how much of that is due to Seattle’s defense or penalties or anything like that?

MIKE MCDANIEL: I think as competitors we look at ourselves first. But it would be foolish not to recognize the very good planning, effort and effort that the Seattle Seahawks put in. I don’t think it was as much the quarterback as one could easily say. I think it was the overall orchestration and execution of the plays. And I have to look at that closely in terms of what we do, what we’re good at and how to play clean football. And then I think there’s also going to be a lot of guys who are looking at their nuances and whether they’re up to the standard of their work. The bottom line is that it’s got to get better. So that’s our job and we’ve got to do it right now and not waste any time.

(Question about the fourth and first attempt and how to do it)

MIKE MCDANIEL: It was a combination of the work week that Jason Sanders was on before the game. And I thought points were especially valuable because of the battle with the defense. Even though there were 17 points in the first half and they came early, I kind of played the way I thought our defense was. And those are things you always debate – had it been three yards back or four yards back, I might have made a different decision. But basically, on the first try, I think about where the field position is, and I thought it was close enough that he would have a good shot and a good performance.

FastScripts transcript from ASAP Sports