Dolphins’ McDaniel addresses four key injuries, Belichick, offensive issues, more
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said he remains optimistic that Raheem Mostert and Jaylen Waddle will play in Saturday’s playoff game at Kansas City (8 p.m., NBC 6, Peacock), but that decisions on the availability of safeties Jevon Holland and DeShon Elliott will not be made until Saturday.
Mostert and Waddle have missed the past two games with ankle injuries. They would have been limited on Wednesday if the team had done more than a walk-through.
“You have to take it up to the end of the week clock,” McDaniel said.
Then he made a key point: Before deciding whether Waddle and Mostert will play, McDaniel wants the medical staff to estimate the likelihood of them being able to play the whole game. The reason: Miami doesn’t want to be short-handed if they leave the game early.
Holland and Elliott will be questionable for the Chiefs game, McDaniel said.
Elliott won’t be able to practice this week because of a calf injury sustained in pregame warmups against Buffalo.
“He seems to be of the stubborn quality; I’m optimistic about him [playing] but still don’t know,” McDaniel said of Elliott.
Holland said he is still dealing with pain and mobility issues from sprained MCLs sustained Nov. 24 against the Jets. Like Elliott, he was not seen during media viewing of practice on Thursday.
McDaniel said whether Holland and Elliott play in Kansas City will be Saturday decisions, not Thursday or Friday decisions.
OFFENSIVE ISSUES
The Dolphins have averaged 16.5 points offensively against the six playoff opponents with winning records they faced this season, compared with 36.1 in other games.
The Dolphins scored only 14 points in their first game against Kansas City (a 21-14 Miami loss), but four other plays could have easily gone for touchdowns, as Dan Orlovsky pointed out, with video, on ESPN this week.
So McDaniel was asked if the Dolphins simply need to do what they’re doing better or do they need to do something somewhat different on Saturday - whether it’s plays they haven’t gotten to in the playbook, more hurry-up offense or something else?
McDaniel suggested the former is the answer.
“You don’t necessarily have to change your identity as much as you have to learn lessons on every level,” he said. “Each player has to look a their failures, the same way I look at my failures. We have a confident group that will be in position to make some plays. i feel pretty good about this game.”
McDaniel addressed other issues during his Thursday news conference:
▪ On the Patriots and Bill Belichick parting ways, a day after the Seahawks moved on from Pete Carroll and Alabama’s Nick Saban retired:
“Mixed emotions. I can’t say enough positive words about coach Belichick. And coach Carroll and Saban the same way. The leadership of coach Belichick has been really, really cool to watch. I’m mourning the loss of those three.”
McDaniel went 3-1 against Belichick and the Patriots in his two seasons as Dolphins coach.
▪ McDaniel said: “I’m more confident with the team going into Arrowhead than I did going into Germany [Nov. 5]. We’re a closer team than has weathered life’s lessons. They’re excited for the opportunity to play a team that deserves all the accolades.”
▪ McDaniel said winning the Dolphins’ first playoff game in nearly “a quarter century” would “mean a lot” and is something he started discussing his first day on the job.
“What it would feel like to bring people that joy, rooting for a team for that long and to not be able to experience at least one postseason win, that is rough,” he said. “That’s something that [McDaniel] and the whole organization want to deliver on. How great it would be to end that drought for a fan base that is steadfast.”
