{"id":28350,"date":"2025-02-24T03:48:06","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T03:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=28350"},"modified":"2025-02-24T03:48:06","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T03:48:06","slug":"nfl-analyst-ranks-mike-mcdaniel-as-8th-best-playcaller-in-league-last-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=28350","title":{"rendered":"NFL analyst ranks Mike McDaniel as 8th-best playcaller in league last season"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Miami Dolphins\u00a0head 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.<\/p>\n

During that season, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa started all 17 games that campaign and Miami averaged the second-most points per game behind the\u00a0Dallas Cowboys\u00a0with 29.2.<\/p>\n

So, fans of the Dolphins shouldn\u2019t be shocked regarding where McDaniel was placed in a recent ranking of the playcallers in the NFL. The 33rd Team\u2019s Dan Pizzuta ranked McDaniel as the eighth-best playcaller in the NFL last season.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s hard to completely grasp McDaniel and the\u00a0Miami Dolphins\u00a0offense from this past season,\u201d Pizzuta\u00a0wrote. \u201cMiami\u2019s 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\u2019t work quite as well with the backup quarterbacks on the roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cMcDaniel was able to throw a changeup every year but didn\u2019t really have one this year. Tua Tagovailoa was better out of structure, but that wasn\u2019t so much on the play calling.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 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\u2019Von Achane in space in the passing game to counter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn games that Tagovailoa was on the field, the Dolphins averaged 0.08 EPA per play, which would have tied with the\u00a0Philadelphia Eagles\u00a0at eighth during the regular season.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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The Dolphins\u2019 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\u00a0Seattle Seahawks\u00a0in Tagovailoa\u2019s first absence of the season.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s best offensive outputs of the season came with Tagovailoa on the field, as the Dolphins dropped 34 points against the\u00a0Las Vegas Raiders\u00a0on Nov. 17 and finished with the same number of points versus the\u00a0New England Patriots\u00a0on Nov. 24.<\/p>\n

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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\u2019s the right head coach for the Dolphins to soon win their first playoff game in more than 20 years isn\u2019t clear.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins have a playoff record of 0-2 ever since McDaniel took over as the team\u2019s head coach. Miami has dropped playoff games to the\u00a0Buffalo Bills\u00a0and\u00a0Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>\u00a0in that time.<\/p>\n

Hopefully, Miami will be able to shake its playoff demons sooner rather than later, whether it be with McDaniel as the team\u2019s head coach or somebody else.<\/p>\n

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Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images Miami Dolphins\u00a0head coach Mike McDaniel has built a reputation for himself in the NFL as a talented offensive mind. As recently as the 2023… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\nNFL analyst ranks Mike McDaniel as 8th-best playcaller in league last season - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=28350\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NFL analyst ranks Mike McDaniel as 8th-best playcaller in league last season - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images Miami Dolphins\u00a0head coach Mike McDaniel has built a reputation for himself in the NFL as a talented offensive mind. 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