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Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel was very blunt when asked about his team’s 27-24 loss to the Carolina Panthers. His team fell to 1-4 after squandering a chance at a game-winning drive with two minutes to go in the fourth quarter. The Dolphins went three-and-out after Tua Tagovailoa threw two incompletions and was sacked on third down. McDaniel opted to punt, and his decision ended up costing the Dolphins any further opportunity to come back.
He did not hold back when the media asked him how he and his team felt about the loss.
“Losses are tough, but who really cares? We deserve for it to feel terrible,” McDaniel said, according to Sun Sentinel beat writer David Furones. “No one cares about our feelings.”
With the team sitting at 1-4, he makes a good point that both McDaniel and starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa are under fire for the team’s poor performance through the first five weeks of the season.
The Dolphins have been in playoff contention for most of his tenure as head coach and had lofty expectations going into the season. They have not been living up to them after losing three games where they had opportunities to win or tie in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter through Week 5.
When it comes to Miami’s collapse against the Panthers, there is not one person to point the finger at.
The Dolphins had a good handle on the Panthers early in the second quarter, holding a 17-0 lead. They were stifled for much of the game from that point on. Miami punted the ball on the subsequent six possessions that followed, only advancing more than 10 yards on two of those six drives.
In the meantime, Carolina racked up 239 total yards on the ground to Miami’s 19 total rushing yards while Bryce Young rebounded nicely from his early-game struggles with a 179-yard, two-touchdown performance.
Tua Tagovailoa threw a touchdown pass to Jaylen Waddle to give Miami a brief lead with 4:42 to go, but Carolina answered back with an eight-play, 83-yard drive to take it back.
Tagovailoa had a solid game through the air, throwing 256 passing yards and three touchdowns without throwing an interception, but the Dolphins lacked creativity when it came to play calling on the ground, and they suffered mightily.
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