Mike McDaniel and the Miami Dolphins suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Wildcard Game.

Despite a valiant effort in his team’s 34-31 loss to the Bills on Super Wild Card Weekend on Sunday, Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel left with a clear understanding of what Miami needs to work on this offseason.

Clock management, penalties, wide receiver drops, and late turnovers doomed the Dolphins’ offense, which had to start third-string rookie quarterback Skylar Thompson. The Dolphins’ four delay-of-game penalties on the day were a glaring sanction to their execution issues, right up until the game’s final drive.

Mike McDaniel blamed the late blunder on Miami’s poor communication on the sideline, saying the Dolphins thought they had a first down on Salvon Ahmed’s run for no gain on third-and-1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC4zDze-ylw

McDaniel said, “It shouldn’t happen as much as it did, And then the last one, in particular, had to do with, whether it was officials or coaching, there was some communication that we had gotten a first down. So, we were deploying a group of players for the first-and-10 call, then it was articulated that no, it’s fourth down.“

McDaniel admitted that “compounding variables” throughout the game caused consistent miscommunication, which sometimes caused the timing of his play-calling to be later than he would normally prefer in certain situations.

Despite the consistent mistakes, the Dolphins proved their mettle by rallying from a 17-point deficit early in the first half to produce a tense game in Buffalo. McDaniel, a rookie coach himself, has plenty to look back on and learn from as he continues on what should be a successful start to his tenure.

The amount of criticism being levied at Mike McDaniel right now, whose team was 14 point dogs, on its 3rd string QB, and started the game down 17-0, is simply astounding to me.

— nick wright (@getnickwright) January 15, 2023

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