Miami Dolphins Head Coach Mike McDaniel January 4 Takeaways
Head coach Mike McDaniel addressed the media before the Miami Dolphins’ Wednesday before practice at the Baptist Health Training Complex.
Here were the highlights from McDaniel’s press conference:
— To start off his media session, McDaniel discusses the events of Monday night involving Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin. McDaniel says it’s “hard to see all that hurt.” Adds his heart just breaks for everyone involved.
— This was the first day McDaniel has seen his players since the incident happened, and he said he couldn’t pretend to know what was going on in the minds of the players. Said it was OK for anybody to feel how they would feel, point being that there’s no right or wrong way to feel about what happened. “You just try to support, you try to not fix but listen and adjust as people need.”
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— With the NFL schedule uncertain because no final decision has been made regarding the completion of the Buffalo-Cincinnati game, McDaniel says he’s not focused on anything beyond today and the game against the Jets on Sunday.
— McDaniel said he was asleep when Hamlin was injured before his wife woke him up. Said he was brought back to an incident on a soccer pitch a few years ago when Christian Eriksen suffered cardiac arrest during Euro 2020 (he later returned to playing soccer) and is visibly emotional discussing this. It’s the human side of McDaniel we’ve seen before this season.
— Regarding the addition of Mike Glennon, McDaniel calls him “a quarterback through and through.” That was before joking that what he likes about him was his first name and the fact he and Glennon have similar builds — Glennon is 6-7.
— McDaniel said adding Glennon was the best course because he can’t really forecast the availability of Teddy Bridgewater. Bridgewater will be doing ball-handling stuff right now but can’t throw a football.
— McDaniel points out that the Dolphins haven’t had a game this season that wasn’t started by Tua that was finished by the quarterback who started.
— Tua Tagovailoa will not be on the practice field Wednesday and McDaniel says that’s the only day that he knows.
— Bradley Chubb, Terron Armstead and Xavien Howard aren’t expected to practice Wednesday, but McDaniel says that doesn’t necessarily provide any indication as to their status for the Jets game.
— The Dolphins need for New England to lose along with defeating the Jets to make the playoffs, but McDaniel says he doesn’t want to concern himself with the score in Buffalo in the Pats game while the Dolphins are playing the Jets.
— Regarding Skylar, McDaniel says that for a rookie QB he’s seen very good examples of him maintaining his poise. Says Thompson really benefits from having starter reps if he’s asked to play. Calls Thompson “sneaky athletic” and “fearless.”
— If Thompson is the guy against the Jets, McDaniel says he’s very confident in him based on what he sees, that he can play NFL-caliber football and whose teammates believe in him. Emphasizes it’s not all on Thompson, but on everybody on offense and on the defense as well.
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