Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel has built a reputation for himself in the NFL as a talented offensive mind. As recently as the 2023 season, he coached a Dolphins team that was among the most productive in the league on that side of the ball.
During that season, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa started all 17 games that campaign and Miami averaged the second-most points per game behind the Dallas Cowboys with 29.2.
So, fans of the Dolphins shouldn’t be shocked regarding where McDaniel was placed in a recent ranking of the playcallers in the NFL. The 33rd Team’s Dan Pizzuta ranked McDaniel as the eighth-best playcaller in the NFL last season.
“It’s hard to completely grasp McDaniel and the Miami Dolphins offense from this past season,” Pizzuta wrote. “Miami’s offense is unique in the way it asks the quarterback to get rid of the ball quickly and the receivers to get down the field faster than any other offense in the league. We saw how that doesn’t work quite as well with the backup quarterbacks on the roster.
“McDaniel was able to throw a changeup every year but didn’t really have one this year. Tua Tagovailoa was better out of structure, but that wasn’t so much on the play calling.
“After designing the best run game in the league last season, the Dolphins managed one of the least efficient in the league this year. Still, Miami got the ball to De’Von Achane in space in the passing game to counter.
“In games that Tagovailoa was on the field, the Dolphins averaged 0.08 EPA per play, which would have tied with the Philadelphia Eagles at eighth during the regular season.”
The Dolphins’ offensive effectiveness in the 2024 campaign was a tale of starting quarterbacks. Without Tagovailoa in the lineup, points were incredibly hard to come by, as Miami averaged just 13.3 points per game across six contests. Miami also mustered a season-low three points in a blowout loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Tagovailoa’s first absence of the season.
But in the 11 games Tagovailoa played in and led the offense, the Dolphins were a force to be reckoned with on that side of the ball. They averaged a whopping 24.1 points per game in that span. Both of Miami’s best offensive outputs of the season came with Tagovailoa on the field, as the Dolphins dropped 34 points against the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 17 and finished with the same number of points versus the New England Patriots on Nov. 24.
When working with a healthy roster, McDaniel has proven that his teams can produce at a high level on offense. However, whether or not he’s the right head coach for the Dolphins to soon win their first playoff game in more than 20 years isn’t clear.
The Dolphins have a playoff record of 0-2 ever since McDaniel took over as the team’s head coach. Miami has dropped playoff games to the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs in that time.
Hopefully, Miami will be able to shake its playoff demons sooner rather than later, whether it be with McDaniel as the team’s head coach or somebody else.
