Speaker 1: Fires touch stop waddle stocked into the end zone of
Speaker 1: Miami type prong type window. They had to get that
Speaker 1: touchdown on that play. They get it. What is up,
Speaker 1: Dolph fans, and welcome to the Drivetime Podcast, part of
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins podcast network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 1: How's it going, everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield,
Speaker 1: And on today's show, we get to know the four
Speaker 1: head coach in the history of the Miami Dolphins. Introducing
Speaker 1: Mike McDaniel. Will tell you about his life and football career,
Speaker 1: facts and accomplishments. We'll look at some systems he's held
Speaker 1: a hand in orchestrating across the NFL over the last
Speaker 1: fifteen years. We'll get some testimonials from those that have
Speaker 1: played with coach from the Baptist Health Studios inside the
Speaker 1: Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drive Time Pod cast.
Speaker 1: So that's right, Mike McDaniel, the eleventh full time head
Speaker 1: coach in Miami Dolphins history. Let's go ahead and get
Speaker 1: started here on the introduction edition of Drive Time with
Speaker 1: his coaching resume, and he began back in two thousand
Speaker 1: five as a coaching intern with the Denver Broncos, and
Speaker 1: you might recall the first game that year for the
Speaker 1: Broncos was in Miami, a Dolphins victory. Two thousand six
Speaker 1: through two thousand eight the Houston Texans, he was an
Speaker 1: offensive assistant for those three years. He then coached in
Speaker 1: the United Football League with the Sacramento Lions as the
Speaker 1: running back coach from O nine to two thousand and ten.
Speaker 1: In twelve, he was with the Washington Commanders as an
Speaker 1: offensive assistant and then was promoted to the receiver's coach
Speaker 1: in there. He held the same position with the Cleveland
Speaker 1: Browns the receiver's coach before a trip to the Atlanta
Speaker 1: Falcons for the twenty sixteen seasons as an offensive assistant,
Speaker 1: and then he followed Kyle Shanahan to the San Francisco
Speaker 1: forty nine is the first four years of his career.
Speaker 1: There he was the run game coordinator and then last
Speaker 1: season he finishes off as the forty nine offensive coordinator
Speaker 1: under Kyle Shanahan as well. Here in a later portion
Speaker 1: of this podcast and a story about Niners tight end
Speaker 1: George Kittle, the Niners for a long time blocked teams
Speaker 1: from interviewing McDaniel and other forty Niners assistants unless their
Speaker 1: coordinator role they were interviewing four was attached to play
Speaker 1: calling duties. They and Kyle Shanahan in the story from
Speaker 1: forty Niners web zone dot Com, is said to have
Speaker 1: had a firm belief in the idea that retaining coaches
Speaker 1: and continuity there was crucial to their operation, and coach
Speaker 1: McDaniel was deemed an essential part of that Niner staff
Speaker 1: to the point that they would exercise their option to
Speaker 1: block those interviews again unless it was for a promotion
Speaker 1: that came with play calling duties. And of course, back
Speaker 1: then you could block any non head coach interview request
Speaker 1: across your entire staff. That rule did change, and just
Speaker 1: last year, McDaniel was one of the names attached to
Speaker 1: the candidates for the Dolphins offensive coordinator job. Last year,
Speaker 1: per reports, He of course returned to San Francisco with
Speaker 1: the promotion to offensive coordinator. But before his fifteen year
Speaker 1: coaching career, McDaniel was a player at Yale, where he
Speaker 1: graduated with a degree in history. But before that, it
Speaker 1: was his childhood experience that opened a door into the
Speaker 1: coaching world. As a youth, McDaniel rode his bike to
Speaker 1: Denver Broncos training camp, which was on the University of
Speaker 1: Northern Colorado campus in Greeley, Colorado, close to where he
Speaker 1: grew up in Aurora. That's where he met Broncos video
Speaker 1: staffer Gary McCune, who then introduced him to Mike Shanahan,
Speaker 1: who would later hire McDaniel as a coaching intern in
Speaker 1: two thousand five. McDaniel said this in a previous story
Speaker 1: written on NBC Sports San Francisco. I didn't go into
Speaker 1: college thinking the endgame was coaching football, but when I
Speaker 1: started investigating other avenues, it was an easy decision and
Speaker 1: something I never looked back on. So what's the old saying,
Speaker 1: do something you'll love and you'll never work a day
Speaker 1: in your life. Here's what mc daniel said. I had
Speaker 1: a summer internship in business. There was some stuff that
Speaker 1: I investigated and I realized for me to ultimately be
Speaker 1: satisfied in my career, I had to be passionate about it.
Speaker 1: And the business stuff he's referring to was investment banking,
Speaker 1: so obviously very passionate about the sport of football. Let's
Speaker 1: go ahead and go back to that resume and take
Speaker 1: a look at what was accomplished in his position rooms
Speaker 1: as a positional assistant. And we start here in with
Speaker 1: the Washington football team Washington Commanders. Pierre Garson led the
Speaker 1: NFL in receptions that year when he was the receiver's
Speaker 1: coach with a hundred thirteen catches and one thousand, three
Speaker 1: hundred forty six yards. As the receiver's coach in Cleveland,
Speaker 1: Andrew Hawkins played six years in his career and team
Speaker 1: was his career high in receptions and yards with sixty
Speaker 1: eight twenty four. And since the theme of those Shanahan
Speaker 1: Tree coaching staffs seems to be a collaboration and kind
Speaker 1: of putting it all together, they also as a team
Speaker 1: that Brown's team rushed for one thousand, seven hundred tw
Speaker 1: of eight yards and seventeen touchdowns with Isaiah Crowel and
Speaker 1: Terence West. As they're want to punch fast forward to
Speaker 1: when he was the run game coordinator between seventy with
Speaker 1: the San Francisco four different leading rushers those four years
Speaker 1: and building that thing up from twenty first ranked rushing
Speaker 1: offense to the second ranked rushing offense in a matter
Speaker 1: of three years with totals of sixteen hundred sixty two yards.
Speaker 1: The first year nineteen o two, the year that Jimmy
Speaker 1: g played just three games. So finding a way to
Speaker 1: run the football when you have injuries at both the
Speaker 1: running back and quarterback position, as that Niners team had
Speaker 1: to find different rushing head rushers or leading rushers, I
Speaker 1: should say over the course of those four seasons. Then
Speaker 1: the next year in nineteen two thousand, three hundred and
Speaker 1: five yards, three players had over five hundred rushing yards
Speaker 1: on that Super Bowl appearing team, and they rushed for
Speaker 1: twenty three touchdowns, and then eighteen hundred eighty nine yards
Speaker 1: and nineteen more touchdowns in that final season. As just
Speaker 1: the run game coordinator over those four years, George Kittle
Speaker 1: five in fifteen yards, one thousand, three hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: seven yards, one thousand, fifty three yards, and then last year,
Speaker 1: I should say, when he missed eight games, six hundred
Speaker 1: thirty four yards, then in one and fourteen games had
Speaker 1: nine hundred ten yards. Receiver Marquis Goodwin, who spent time
Speaker 1: with Buffalo before coming to San Francisco, had a career
Speaker 1: high and receiving end yardage in seventeen as well. How
Speaker 1: about his offensive coordinator season in one the Niners were
Speaker 1: seventh and rushing with two thousand, one hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: six yards in the ground. They were eight and yards
Speaker 1: off play action, and of course they went to the
Speaker 1: NFC Championship Game. Also, Deebo Samuel this year had one thousand,
Speaker 1: four hundred and five receiving yards and three hundred sixty
Speaker 1: five rushing yards. That's seventeen hundred and seventy yards from
Speaker 1: scrimmage with fourteen total touchdowns. Pretty good production there from
Speaker 1: their top playmaker and Mike McDaniels first year as offensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: What about the other stops for posterity? How about two
Speaker 1: thousand five, his first year as an intern with the
Speaker 1: Denver Broncos. They were seventy nine yards away from two
Speaker 1: one thousand yard rushers and Mike Anderson and Tatum Bell
Speaker 1: who had one that year. They rushed for twenty or
Speaker 1: two thousand, rather five hundred thirty nine yards and twenty
Speaker 1: five touchdowns and played in the A s C Title
Speaker 1: game between O six and oh eight with Houston rushed
Speaker 1: for one thousand, six hundred eighty seven yards one thousand,
Speaker 1: five hundred eighty six yards. Then they wind up with
Speaker 1: Steve Slayton in the third round. As a rookie, he
Speaker 1: rushes for one thousand, two hundred eighty two yards and
Speaker 1: nine touchdowns, giving the team one thousand, eight hundred forty
Speaker 1: six yards in the ground and sixteen touchdowns that season.
Speaker 1: They averaged a buck fifteen on the ground that year.
Speaker 1: They also had Andre Johnson to go for fifteen seventy
Speaker 1: five one year as a receiver on that offense, and
Speaker 1: then eight fifty one another year and one thousand, one
Speaker 1: hundred forty seven another year. Lots of offensive production and
Speaker 1: these stops from Mike McDaniel like two thousand eleven two
Speaker 1: thousand twelve with the Washington Commanders, Robert Griffin, the third
Speaker 1: rushes for eight hundred and fifteen yards that rookie season
Speaker 1: and sixth round rookie Alfred Morris runs for one thousand,
Speaker 1: six hundred and thirteen yards. As a team, they rushed
Speaker 1: for two thousand, seven hundred nine yards and twenty two
Speaker 1: touchdowns In two thousand fifteen tw thousand sixteen, he was
Speaker 1: with the Atlanta Falcons one thousand, six hundred and six
Speaker 1: yards and thirteen rushing touchdowns and year one and by
Speaker 1: the way, Julio Jones that year hundred and thirty six grabs,
Speaker 1: one thousand, eight hundred and seventy one yards and eight touchdowns.
Speaker 1: That was the third highest receiving total in NFL history.
Speaker 1: Then in sixteen it got even better. One thousand, nine
Speaker 1: hundred twenty eight rushing yards, twenty touchdowns on the ground
Speaker 1: and a cool eighty three for one thousand, four hundred
Speaker 1: nine yards for Julio Jones. Davonte Freeman had a career
Speaker 1: best one thousand, five hundred and forty one yards from scrimmage,
Speaker 1: but the ball went around the lot and the biggest
Speaker 1: career achievement was from Matt Ryan. More on that in
Speaker 1: just a moment. So plenty of rushing production throughout the
Speaker 1: course of Mike McDaniel's career. Whatever staff he has been on,
Speaker 1: whatever role he's held, the consistency there has been rushing
Speaker 1: and running the football has always been pretty good. He's
Speaker 1: been on staffs to have won four divisions, been to
Speaker 1: the playoffs five times, one seven playoff games, and been
Speaker 1: to four championship games and been to two Super Bowls.
Speaker 1: He's coached with a hundred and eighteen coaches in his
Speaker 1: fifteen year career. That list includes Mike Shanahan, Gary Kubiak,
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan, Matt Lafleur, Robert Sala, Jim has Let, Keenan
Speaker 1: McCardell Raheem Morris, Mike Petton, Dan Quinn, Terry, Robiskie, Keith Armstrong,
Speaker 1: Chris Casserk, John Embry To Miko Ryan's, Wes Welker, Mike Lafleur,
Speaker 1: Richard high Tower, Shane Day. How about quarterbacks who have
Speaker 1: played on the same squad as Mike McDaniel coaching and
Speaker 1: the results. Jake Plumber in two thousand and five had
Speaker 1: the second best passer rating of his ten year career
Speaker 1: at ninety point to Matt Shaw between oh seven and
Speaker 1: oh eight, a ninety point three passer rating, a slight
Speaker 1: jump over his career average. Robert Griffin the third rookie
Speaker 1: of the year, one and two point four passer rating,
Speaker 1: the best of his career and fifteen point nine points
Speaker 1: higher than his career average. Brian Hoyer in four teen,
Speaker 1: with seven and six as a starter he was nine
Speaker 1: and seventeen otherwise, had a career best thirteen point seven
Speaker 1: yards per completion and his second best yards per game
Speaker 1: of his career with two thirty seven point six and
Speaker 1: his twelve touchdown passes that year with a second most
Speaker 1: of his entire career. Matt Ryan sixteen won the m
Speaker 1: v P Award and had career best across the board,
Speaker 1: including a one seven teen point one passer rating, seventh
Speaker 1: best all time. By the way, it was the second
Speaker 1: time in his career with the passer writing better than
Speaker 1: one hundred. The other was one oh eight point once
Speaker 1: almost ten points better in his best year from his
Speaker 1: second best year, and the solid twenty two point nine
Speaker 1: points better than his career average of ninety four point two.
Speaker 1: He had career highs in every major category that season.
Speaker 1: Nick Mullins in team started eight games as an undrafted
Speaker 1: free agent and had ninety point eight passer rating Under
Speaker 1: the same coaching tree, C J. Bethred has a one
Speaker 1: oh five point seven passer rating and two starts in
Speaker 1: and Jimmy Garoppolo's absent, they found a way to get
Speaker 1: each of three different quarterbacks to play pretty good football
Speaker 1: at three different times since Kyle Shanahan's arrival there and
Speaker 1: the last of course being Jimmy Garoppolo, who was a
Speaker 1: Super Bowl appearance in a Championship Game appearance, a passer
Speaker 1: rating of nine point oh upon his arrival. That was
Speaker 1: his first stretch of really starting in the NFL and
Speaker 1: a record of five and oh after that nine. Our
Speaker 1: team began that year one and ten, and that one
Speaker 1: o two passer rating in their Super Bowl season in
Speaker 1: nineteen was a career best. He's thirty one and fourteen
Speaker 1: as the Niner starter. So you look down that list,
Speaker 1: Jake Plumber, Matt Shob r G three, Brian Jyer, Matt Ryan,
Speaker 1: Nick Bole and C. J. Bethart, Jimmy Garoppolo. All those
Speaker 1: guys really had their games elevated under these coaching staffs
Speaker 1: that Mike McDaniel was a part of. And we can't
Speaker 1: sit here and say all the credit goes to one
Speaker 1: guy or this guy or the other. But it's a
Speaker 1: nice trend to look at in terms of maximizing the
Speaker 1: quarterback that you have and getting the best play out
Speaker 1: of them you possibly can. How about the league wide
Speaker 1: rushing ranks among all the teams that he has been
Speaker 1: a coach on. We mentioned the Niners ranks and rushing
Speaker 1: since two thousand seventeen, ranking seventh and second in that stretch.
Speaker 1: He was also a part of coaching staffs to have
Speaker 1: ranked second best in the NFL and oh five with
Speaker 1: the Denver Broncos, first inelve with Washington Commanders, and then
Speaker 1: fifth with Atlanta Falcons in sixteen. I think it's also
Speaker 1: impressive that they were able to do in San Francisco
Speaker 1: with the running game and the commitment to it, especially
Speaker 1: when you consider the company they kept in that regard
Speaker 1: and the quarterbacks of those teams in their similar category.
Speaker 1: You know, overseeing an offense that led the league in
Speaker 1: two back personnel and posted the third highest rushing attempt
Speaker 1: rate last season at forty seven point seven percent runs.
Speaker 1: The company McDaniels Niners kept at the top of the
Speaker 1: rushing charts were not like the team in Red and
Speaker 1: Gold that did just that. Philadelphia and Baltimore paced the
Speaker 1: NFL and run past balance, but both those teams combined
Speaker 1: for three and thirty three quarterback carries. Jimmy Garoppolo carried
Speaker 1: the ball thirty eight times this year, and Trey Lance
Speaker 1: also carried it thirty eight times in his limited action.
Speaker 1: But that's a third of the quarterback rushing. So the
Speaker 1: Niners found a way to get to that balance without
Speaker 1: having a quarterback factor in major into the running game.
Speaker 1: And I want to come back to personnel usage here
Speaker 1: in just a second, But first I would like to
Speaker 1: look at some of the trends around the National Football
Speaker 1: League and what these other coaches off the Shanahan coaching
Speaker 1: tree and the peers of Mike McDaniel have done with
Speaker 1: their opportunities. But first, real quick, before we do that,
Speaker 1: a short break back here on the Drive Time podcast,
Speaker 1: taking a look at the fourteenth head coach in the
Speaker 1: history of the Miami Dolphins. He is Mike McDaniel, formerly
Speaker 1: of the San Francisco forty Niners, where he was the
Speaker 1: offensive coordina there last season and the run game coordinator
Speaker 1: over the previous four years there under Kyle Shanahan, and
Speaker 1: the success of that Niners team and of that Niners
Speaker 1: running game. And I want to go ahead and look
Speaker 1: around the league at recent hiring trends in terms of
Speaker 1: offensive versus defense and the success of the coach with
Speaker 1: their backgrounds and where they have come from in their careers.
Speaker 1: And we do that here, beginning with this season, this
Speaker 1: hiring cycle, and taking a look at the coaches hired
Speaker 1: and where their background was offensively and defensively. So far
Speaker 1: this year with six hires, five offensively, one defensively in
Speaker 1: terms of O C versus d C. In it was
Speaker 1: five offensive, too defensive. In nineteen it was six offensive
Speaker 1: and too defensive. How about the teams that played in
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl and the Final Four and division winners
Speaker 1: over the last couple of years and where their coaching
Speaker 1: background came from this last season? Both Super Bowl teams,
Speaker 1: the Rams and the Bengals are offensive coaches, Zach Taylor
Speaker 1: and Sean McVeigh, the Final four all of them more
Speaker 1: offensive coaches as well with with Andy Reid and Kyle Shanahan,
Speaker 1: and the Super Bowl both offensive coaches. The final four
Speaker 1: the championship games three offensive, one defensive, and that was
Speaker 1: the same numbers in twenty nineteen Super Bowl, both coaches
Speaker 1: offensive backgrounds and the final four teams remaining three offensive
Speaker 1: and one defensive. What about division winners? In six of
Speaker 1: the eight head coaches that won their division this last
Speaker 1: season had an offensive background. And the Kyle Shanahan, or
Speaker 1: rather the Mike Shanahan coaching tree that produced Kyle Shanahan,
Speaker 1: produces more and more coaches here as we go along
Speaker 1: that are having success all across the National Football League.
Speaker 1: Sean McVeigh two Super Bowl appearances, five playoff wins, four
Speaker 1: appearances and five seasons in the playoffs as a head coach,
Speaker 1: he could be a champion by the next by next
Speaker 1: week as well. How about Matt Lafleur blessed winning percentage
Speaker 1: of all coaches and minimum three seasons coached, three division
Speaker 1: titles in those three years. Two championship game appearances to
Speaker 1: playoff wins. How about Kyle Shanahan super Bowl appearance to
Speaker 1: championship game appearances, one division title to playoff appearances, four
Speaker 1: playoff wins. How about Sean Taylor broke a thirty plus
Speaker 1: year playoff drout, playoff win drout the Cincinnati Bengals won
Speaker 1: division title and has three playoff wins. This coaching tree
Speaker 1: has had a lot of success, and I think you
Speaker 1: see a lot of similarities there too. None of these
Speaker 1: guys are your classic big intimidating football coaches, their communicators
Speaker 1: and their player and powers. In fact, there was a
Speaker 1: great clip of McDaniel talking about providing value to his
Speaker 1: players and kind of the need to prove himself as
Speaker 1: providing value because he didn't have that traditional playing background
Speaker 1: that provided him with an inherent resume that players could say, yeah,
Speaker 1: that guy did it and did this and this and that,
Speaker 1: of course, so of course I'm going to trust him.
Speaker 1: So here's coach McDaniel on finding what fits his players
Speaker 1: skill sets and going ahead with that challenge yourself to
Speaker 1: do what to do things that fit your players skill
Speaker 1: sets and what makes them most comfortable You try to
Speaker 1: avoid well, we've always done it this way. UM, So
Speaker 1: you're so you're evolving to UM whatever your players skill
Speaker 1: sets are. And as you spend more time with them
Speaker 1: and UM learn the ins and outs of how they play,
Speaker 1: you recognize, well, this is UM. You know, Jimmy's a
Speaker 1: lot more decisive UM in the gun. He likes to
Speaker 1: see it. He's delivering tight window throws. How do we
Speaker 1: implement that more without losing the greatest advantage you have offensively,
Speaker 1: which is you know the play and they don't minimizing
Speaker 1: past exclusive UH situations which on first and second down
Speaker 1: you can do if you have the threat of run
Speaker 1: out of gun. UM. And we've just kind of evolved,
Speaker 1: you know, Kyle in two thousand nineteen, really UM started
Speaker 1: noticing that and put pressure on us to evolve our UM,
Speaker 1: our gun run package, and UM. Every week you you
Speaker 1: figure out different ways to do um some of the
Speaker 1: same things, maybe a couple of wrinkles UM, but keep
Speaker 1: that keep the defense on ut with without being past
Speaker 1: exclusive in any situation other than third six plus or whatever.
Speaker 1: That's a common theme there, and there's another common theme
Speaker 1: for those teams, really, every single one of them. And
Speaker 1: we've been on the idea of the run game, and
Speaker 1: we'll dive into that more as we paint the future
Speaker 1: of the league as an offensive one, and I think
Speaker 1: that would include more of a passing league, right, but
Speaker 1: also the strength of having the running game, and I
Speaker 1: like the idea of sort of zigging when the rest
Speaker 1: of the league zags. And that's not to say there
Speaker 1: isn't a passing game. That wouldn't be factual at all.
Speaker 1: But the ability to run the football just creates a
Speaker 1: way to win that not every team has, not even
Speaker 1: every top offense has. And we saw it really compliments
Speaker 1: some teams in their post season pushes, like the forty niners.
Speaker 1: We saw the Bengals get really to the running game
Speaker 1: in the a f C Championship game when they were
Speaker 1: getting enough stops to continue running the football, even trelling
Speaker 1: on the scoreboard. And Joe Mix and got things going down,
Speaker 1: multiple scores in that game. Game the more ways you
Speaker 1: have to win in a league where the running game is,
Speaker 1: you know, not bordering on extinct, but definitely becoming less
Speaker 1: of a priority to the passing game. Having that ability
Speaker 1: is one way you often see those big time quarterbacks
Speaker 1: toppled late in January. What about personnel usage? For the
Speaker 1: history of Mike McDaniel and National Football League, we continue
Speaker 1: to look at what he's done in his coaching career.
Speaker 1: And none of this is to say to say that
Speaker 1: the Dolphins offense will be designed exactly like this, but
Speaker 1: these are just for information sake, the styles of offenses
Speaker 1: that Mike McDaniel has been a part of. And you
Speaker 1: look over the last five years with San Francisco forty niners,
Speaker 1: it's been primarily in the thirty nine to forty eight
Speaker 1: percent range for eleven personnel, that's typically one of the
Speaker 1: lowest uses in the National Football League. Those are three
Speaker 1: receiver sets, eleven personnel, now twelve personnel. It ranges between
Speaker 1: ten and eighteen percent over those four years, but it's
Speaker 1: consistently around ten twelve percent, and then twenty one personnel's
Speaker 1: where you get a big jump it's two backs, and
Speaker 1: of as we know about Kyle. You check there in
Speaker 1: San Francisco signed the first year with my with Kyle Shanahan,
Speaker 1: and it's ranging between twenty percent and forty one percent
Speaker 1: of one personnel, and then you have between seven and
Speaker 1: eleven percent out of two personnel. That's two backs, two
Speaker 1: tight ends. I don't have the complete numbers before those years,
Speaker 1: but I did find a story from Football Outsiders that
Speaker 1: detailed that from seventeen Kyle Shanahan led offenses the same
Speaker 1: Falcons and forty Niners teams that McDaniel was with lad
Speaker 1: the National Football League in twenty one personnel. Which is interesting, however,
Speaker 1: is that in seventeen the Niners went from twenty six
Speaker 1: percent one personnelity when using Brian Hoyer and c. J.
Speaker 1: Bethor to quarterback that year, then after training Jimmy Garoppolo,
Speaker 1: that number jumped up sixteen percentage points to forty two percent.
Speaker 1: So again going back to the idea what Mike McDonald
Speaker 1: just told us on that press conference previously with the
Speaker 1: forty Niners, that you want to put the offense in
Speaker 1: position to do what they do best to get the
Speaker 1: ultimate success. So around the fifteen year coaching career, variety,
Speaker 1: good knowledge base of multiple systems and concepts and ideas
Speaker 1: makes it coach more adaptable tourist players like they were
Speaker 1: with Deebo Samuel In. More on that in just one moment.
Speaker 1: But to round out what I do, have access to
Speaker 1: the Falcons in number one offense eleven personnel of the
Speaker 1: time that was third lowest in the National Football League,
Speaker 1: and the Dolphins this last year had the lowest eleven
Speaker 1: personnel usage in the NFL. Just an interesting fact to me.
Speaker 1: How about some further notes on this offense or the
Speaker 1: offenses ran rather in McDaniels past. We'll do that next
Speaker 1: and hear some testimonials from those players that ran those systems.
Speaker 1: But real quick, how about a little bit of personality
Speaker 1: from coach. Let's go ahead and hear from Mike McDaniel
Speaker 1: earlier this year in a press conference as a member
Speaker 1: of the forty niners. Excited to be here, Uh, equally
Speaker 1: excited for you guys to truly take in how physically
Speaker 1: imposing I am so little? Self deprecating humor goes a
Speaker 1: long way, alright, testimonies next Drivetime podcast, Travis Winfeld. This
Speaker 1: is the Mike McDaniel intro episode, We're back here on
Speaker 1: the Drivetime podcast getting to know new Dolphins head coach
Speaker 1: Mike McDaniel and picking up where he left off. I
Speaker 1: thought it was nice to see the forty Niners offense
Speaker 1: get some serious postseason run against some of the best
Speaker 1: teams in the National Football League to help us get
Speaker 1: that first hand look at some game plans, the focuses
Speaker 1: of that offense and just the way they game planned,
Speaker 1: adjusted and called their games under offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel.
Speaker 1: And then that first playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1: Former Dallas quarterback Troy Aikman made a point after the
Speaker 1: game about the Cowboys and this observation that he had
Speaker 1: that he thinks a lot of NFL teams will go
Speaker 1: to this idea that sometimes they want to play more
Speaker 1: to their scheme, and he thinks that you should sometimes
Speaker 1: go more towards taking advantage of one on one matchups
Speaker 1: against your best players on offense. And he said that
Speaker 1: in his experience, most of the young offensive minds that
Speaker 1: go and there a lot of praise across the league,
Speaker 1: that they can be insistent that their scheme works. It
Speaker 1: can make any player play like a pro bowler because
Speaker 1: nobody can stop the system. How this ties back to
Speaker 1: the Dolphins and what we just talked about with empowering
Speaker 1: your players to do what they do best. After a
Speaker 1: fifth loss in the niners first eight games this season,
Speaker 1: the offense pivoted around their most explosive offensive weapon, all
Speaker 1: Pro receiver Deebo Samuel. Entering a Week ten game versus
Speaker 1: the Rams, Samuel had six rushing attempts on the season.
Speaker 1: He nearly matched that total with five attempts for thirty
Speaker 1: six yards and a touchdown, just starting to scratch the
Speaker 1: surface on his ability as a ball carrier. From Week
Speaker 1: ten through the Niners Championship Game exit against the Rams,
Speaker 1: Samuel carried the ball eight times for four hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty yards at six yards per rush, and seven touchdowns.
Speaker 1: Here's what McDaniel had to say about that, the evolution
Speaker 1: of how we use Debo. That's a product of two things,
Speaker 1: him being a really good football player, and I think
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan does an outstanding job of really pushing his
Speaker 1: staff to open their minds and see what's there maybe
Speaker 1: that we haven't done, or really think through the wise
Speaker 1: of everything that we do. So that combination of a
Speaker 1: skill set with a particular player and the drive that
Speaker 1: Kyle has been pushing on me since the day I
Speaker 1: started working with him. Those type of things end up
Speaker 1: rendering the results that you guys are seeing. From a
Speaker 1: whole staff perspective, we're all committed to utilizing our players
Speaker 1: the best way we can, and it wasn't so much
Speaker 1: a position change for Samuel, but rather an approach that
Speaker 1: would create more opportunities for the Niners offense to get
Speaker 1: the ball in the hands of its best player. Samuel
Speaker 1: also added thirty eight catches for six hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: seven yards and three more touchdowns in those final eleven games,
Speaker 1: giving him one thousand, one hundred fifty seven yards from
Speaker 1: scrimmage and ten total touchdowns during San Francisco's nine and
Speaker 1: three march to the conference championship games, so just about
Speaker 1: a hundred yards from scrimmage and a touchdown per game
Speaker 1: for their best player. Mike McDaniel and his coaching clinics
Speaker 1: and clips you've seen online by now always makes it
Speaker 1: about the player, how to provide value to the player,
Speaker 1: and how to create opportunities for that player to excel,
Speaker 1: just like they're with Deebo Samuel, And that's not plugging
Speaker 1: Samuel into whatever role you think the scheme provides him
Speaker 1: the best chance. It's maximizing what he does well and
Speaker 1: adapting it to fit accordingly. Let's go back to Coach
Speaker 1: and hear from him when he was at a round
Speaker 1: table with Coach McVeigh and La Fleura talking about what
Speaker 1: players want from their coaches. A players want is for
Speaker 1: someone to be doing their best to maximize them as
Speaker 1: players and people. And if they can see that you're
Speaker 1: doing that in an honest way and you're in you're
Speaker 1: very passionate committed to it. But early on in the week,
Speaker 1: the first thing he'll end up telling me is how
Speaker 1: does this player play combinations? So backside of three technique,
Speaker 1: backside B and this play is awesome because of his
Speaker 1: technique and what he's probably your problem solving all that
Speaker 1: stuff with how they're defending and how they can possibly
Speaker 1: one hitch to the high cross, second hitch to the flat.
Speaker 1: Then once guys get comfortable with that, we're gonna make
Speaker 1: you read the seven and the high cross both on
Speaker 1: one and see if you can make the throw a
Speaker 1: rip it on one hitch. If you can't second and
Speaker 1: everything we build, our whole protection scheme is for linemen
Speaker 1: to protect second hitches. Okay, you should get two hitches
Speaker 1: in our offense anything that we do unless you're hot
Speaker 1: and you have a hot answer, okay, so you don't
Speaker 1: want to speed through that process. That's why all that
Speaker 1: detail is important. Think of progressions as quarterbacks. Is that
Speaker 1: someone says it's one to two. We just said that's
Speaker 1: one and that's two. The defense has to take one away.
Speaker 1: If he's in between and you say, oh, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be and you want to check it down, well, now
Speaker 1: he's gonna be all over your checkdown. Your checkdown is
Speaker 1: not gonna be open. Make them take away one before
Speaker 1: you got to miss people's reps. Okay, you gotta see
Speaker 1: other people do it. You gotta steal extra reps and
Speaker 1: you gotta hear what say sage says to people. So
Speaker 1: make sure and you're off rep to locky dialogue. Hey man,
Speaker 1: you weren't at seven, you weren't five, but never misreps
Speaker 1: at quarterback, I have to take it away, make me
Speaker 1: take it away, or make me pay. So that was
Speaker 1: a mash up there of coach McDaniel talking about his
Speaker 1: philosophy a little bit, coaching some high school quarterbacks at
Speaker 1: a quarterback camp there as well, and talking about what
Speaker 1: he wants to see out of practice reps. Plenty of
Speaker 1: good stuff there from coach, and I want to go
Speaker 1: ahead and now play a clip where he was asked
Speaker 1: about a little bit of a unique thing the forty's
Speaker 1: offense did this year in terms of pitching the ball
Speaker 1: on these inside runs opposed the traditional handoff. Here's coach
Speaker 1: McDaniel answering reporter's question as a member of the forty
Speaker 1: coaching staff. Not a dumb question. The value is what
Speaker 1: you just said is the you you do that when
Speaker 1: you feel like the uh, there's something that the defense
Speaker 1: is keyed on, and when you when the quarterback reverses
Speaker 1: out and tosses the ball that you might get overplay
Speaker 1: um or you know, there's there's a ton of different variables,
Speaker 1: but that would be it in itself. It's the usual.
Speaker 1: So you try to be sound. But also, you know,
Speaker 1: just get defenses a hair off, um, because if they're
Speaker 1: a hair off, that gives us an advantage. And with
Speaker 1: a lot of players that were very confident in that,
Speaker 1: that can be the difference in three yards or fifteen yards.
Speaker 1: So there's some philosophies and ideas that we're gonna do
Speaker 1: more later on the Drivetime podcast about what the offense
Speaker 1: and defense has looked like, and more of a film
Speaker 1: deep dive kind of an All twenty two review offseason
Speaker 1: edition here of the forty Niners offense. But I want
Speaker 1: to continue this podcast by going around and getting some
Speaker 1: testimonials from those that have worked with new Dolphins head
Speaker 1: coach Mike McDaniel. And the best part about the testimonials
Speaker 1: here is that they come from every stop of his career,
Speaker 1: and there have been a lot as we previously demonstrated.
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan for instance, quote, Mike's a good dude. He's
Speaker 1: really good at what he does, and he's himself. He's
Speaker 1: one of the smartest coaches I've ever been around, and
Speaker 1: he's been huge to our team and huge for me
Speaker 1: throughout my entire career. End quote. Some quotes here from
Speaker 1: Joe Shadow the Palm Beach Post talking to some former players.
Speaker 1: Pierre garconon, first, I think he would do very well,
Speaker 1: and I would love for him to be the head
Speaker 1: coach of the Miami Dolphins. That was a previous quote.
Speaker 1: He's very innovative. He can communicate. Offense is obviously his thing.
Speaker 1: He creates high expectations for his players. He will put
Speaker 1: his players in the right position. I know he can
Speaker 1: communicate well, so the players understand what he's asking them
Speaker 1: to do. He's a very smart guy. He went to Yale.
Speaker 1: He's a great football mine. He can figure anything out
Speaker 1: and learn how to communicate it with the players. The
Speaker 1: key in football is communicating with the players and to
Speaker 1: be smart. And he's very savvy, very down to earth.
Speaker 1: He's a players coach. The players actually like him. Also
Speaker 1: from that same article, Matt Brita, a former Niners running back,
Speaker 1: says quote, he understands formations and motions. We had a
Speaker 1: lot of formations but ran the same runs out of them.
Speaker 1: He just looks at things differently. It's not always so complicated.
Speaker 1: It's the players and how they use them. Look at
Speaker 1: Deebo Samuel. He had been there for two years, but
Speaker 1: they found a way to get him involved in the
Speaker 1: running game. It's about how you use your players. They
Speaker 1: know the players strengths, get them in space with power,
Speaker 1: being able to motion or move your guys around. How
Speaker 1: many times have you seen an offensive tackle like Trent
Speaker 1: Williams go in motion? How many times that's causes a
Speaker 1: lot of problems for opposing defenses. Kyle us check on
Speaker 1: Twitter when they found out that he was coming back
Speaker 1: a couple of years back. Absolute best in the game.
Speaker 1: Nobody gets more out of his players than coach McDaniel,
Speaker 1: most creative run scheme out there, So deserving of this
Speaker 1: promotion to O C for the Niners last year. How
Speaker 1: about George Kittle talking about joking about rather putting it
Speaker 1: in his contract that Mike McDaniel can't leave the forty
Speaker 1: niner because he was so value valuable to their offense
Speaker 1: in the running game. Andrew Hawkins, who played with McDaniel
Speaker 1: in Cleveland. Hawkins said that he would put up anything
Speaker 1: that no other candidate understands offensive football the way McDaniel does.
Speaker 1: How about some audio testimonials here, going back to legendary
Speaker 1: forty Niners offensive tackle Joe Staley talking about Mike McDaniel.
Speaker 1: I think it's surprising that people are just figuring it out.
Speaker 1: You know how much he really does have behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: You know, Kyle gets a lot of the attention because
Speaker 1: he has the offensive mastermind and he kind of pieces
Speaker 1: everything together, but the construction of a lot of the plays,
Speaker 1: especially the run game, is through Mike McDaniels and it
Speaker 1: has been for a long time. Um, he is a
Speaker 1: wizard when it comes up to different personnel, groupings, formations,
Speaker 1: how to utilize people, put it in a position to succeed,
Speaker 1: and that's what you want as a coach, you know.
Speaker 1: I think it's not surprising to me now that he's
Speaker 1: getting a chance, and I think he will get that chance,
Speaker 1: whether it's this year, next year, down the line. He
Speaker 1: definitely deserves it. And he's a great leader, communicator, effective,
Speaker 1: all the things you look as in a head coach.
Speaker 1: And I always thought that about Sala in his first
Speaker 1: couple of years, that he was gonna eventually be a
Speaker 1: head coach, and it just took a couple of years
Speaker 1: further on than what I thought. But it's great that
Speaker 1: he's getting these interviews now and you know, hopefully that
Speaker 1: the Niners are able to keep him for another year
Speaker 1: or two. So you heard Josie, they're talking about New
Speaker 1: Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel. He also mentioned Robert Salo,
Speaker 1: the head coach of the New York Jets who said
Speaker 1: maybe McDaniel coming to the ANFC East might not be
Speaker 1: the best thing for him. You know, Mike is a
Speaker 1: He is phenomenal, his absolute, his mindset, the way he
Speaker 1: creates things, his creativity, his outside the box thinking, his
Speaker 1: ability to communicate with people. Um, he's as he's as
Speaker 1: good as they did. And uh, you know he's been
Speaker 1: with Kyle for longer than any of us have. He's
Speaker 1: been there since he and I were qc is sitting
Speaker 1: across from each other with Houston Texans back in oh six. So, uh,
Speaker 1: he's brilliant and he's he's every bit as deserving to
Speaker 1: be a head coach, and uh would not like him
Speaker 1: to come to the division, but if it, if it happens,
Speaker 1: so be it. So plenty of good stuff from those
Speaker 1: that have worked with coach. Let's go back to some
Speaker 1: previous content and previous interviews with Mike McDaniel. Here he
Speaker 1: is talking about the things he learned from the coaches
Speaker 1: he's been around, plenty of good ones and really accomplished
Speaker 1: ones in his career. They're detailed, and they are very
Speaker 1: particular and reasoned right wrong or in different They have
Speaker 1: a reason for everything. They're doing. You treat people as
Speaker 1: our own men and give them liberties, but also um
Speaker 1: make them very accountable for everything that they do. Go
Speaker 1: ahead and finish up here with two more clips about
Speaker 1: coach talking about the why behind certain things and how
Speaker 1: to explain that to your players. One thing that we
Speaker 1: need to our process and it started um with him
Speaker 1: in Washington on Friday's is we watched Thursday's first period
Speaker 1: of team which we call team run, which is all
Speaker 1: run emphasis UM and a team. We watched that period
Speaker 1: intercut with the wise of what we're running on Friday
Speaker 1: in front of the whole team off for the whole offense,
Speaker 1: with the reason being that you get what you emphasize
Speaker 1: if you devote an entire meeting simply on the plan
Speaker 1: of attack in the run game and then involved and
Speaker 1: show how this is not a touchdown if the receiver.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not like we're a bunch of coaches.
Speaker 1: I'm definitely not, and Kyle Shane it's not. We don't.
Speaker 1: We We show people and give reason as to why
Speaker 1: we're doing stuff and get them to buy in. Not
Speaker 1: necessarily for us, maybe it is, but it's for the teammates.
Speaker 1: So we have this clinic, tape wide and push crack.
Speaker 1: And people have always commented on Shanahan's receivers and the
Speaker 1: way they block. It's because he takes the time to
Speaker 1: emphasize it, and you get what you emphasized. And the
Speaker 1: way you emphasize it is you hold everyone accountable to
Speaker 1: each other, say do you want to run four hard plays?
Speaker 1: Because we can, but I promise you. So we're trying
Speaker 1: to get explosive runs. Receivers have to block safeties and
Speaker 1: corners with proper technique, And then coaches comments about teaching
Speaker 1: the player the why, and so when he starts hit
Speaker 1: tackling us in the ear, we should be saying we
Speaker 1: need keepers. And we tell our quarterbacks to think that way.
Speaker 1: Um and the running backs. We try to commune that
Speaker 1: communicate that as best as possible so everyone knows at
Speaker 1: the end of the day. Players may never not know
Speaker 1: exactly why we're running anything, but they know we're running
Speaker 1: it for a purpose, and they share the vision with us,
Speaker 1: and we're always are articulating that because they in a
Speaker 1: perfect world, they'll tell you what plays we should run
Speaker 1: and uh not us tell them. Alright, I feel like
Speaker 1: I've given you a pretty good idea of who the
Speaker 1: new four head coach and the history of the Miami
Speaker 1: Dolphins Mike McDaniel Who he is. We have plenty more
Speaker 1: content coming your way this week, including an interview with
Speaker 1: the newest head coach of the Miami Dolphins. Mike McDaniel
Speaker 1: is going to join me here on a future edition
Speaker 1: of the Drivetime podcast. Will also break down all kinds
Speaker 1: of fun stuff, taking a look at who rounds out
Speaker 1: the coaching staff under McDaniel. We'll take a look at
Speaker 1: the tape, talk about prototypes, all that fun stuff, how
Speaker 1: our potential resources could go into building this football team
Speaker 1: around Mike McDaniel's vision for this club. Plenty of fun
Speaker 1: stuff coming your way here on Drivetime, on Miami Dolphins
Speaker 1: dot com, everywhere we are. Go ahead and keep it
Speaker 1: locked right there and get the latest on the newest
Speaker 1: head coach of the Miami Dolphins. All right, let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and get out of here for this edition of
Speaker 1: the Drivetime Podcast. You all please be sure to subscribe
Speaker 1: to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Leave us a rating,
Speaker 1: leave us a review. You can follow me on Twitter
Speaker 1: at Wingfield NFL, follow the team at Miami Dolphins across
Speaker 1: all social media accounts for all the coverage of the coaching,
Speaker 1: higher the staff, the way it rounds out all that stuff,
Speaker 1: plus the fish tank. Don't forget to check out Seth
Speaker 1: and o J on the fish tank. And of course
Speaker 1: our YouTube channel will have the media availability of Mike
Speaker 1: McDaniel When we have that will be up there for
Speaker 1: you guys on the YouTube channel as well as Dolphins
Speaker 1: Today and last but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com.
Speaker 1: Until next time, fins up Caroline Daddy's coming over