Welcome to Miami, where the banners are circling overhead and the heat is squarely on head coach Mike McDaniel. Two weeks into the season and already planes are flying messages over South Florida calling for his job. But inside the locker room, players say they're not about to let McDaniel take all the blame.
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"At the end of the day, it's not him out there on the field," linebacker Chop Robinson told the Miami Herald. "It's us out there playing the game, making the mistakes on the field and stuff like that. So at the end of the day, it may look bad for him, but it's really on us. We've got to get it better."
Fellow linebacker Tyrel Dodson echoed the sentiment: "He inspires us. We just have to execute."
The Dolphins haven't made it easy on themselves. They were blown out by the Colts in Week 1, dropped a winnable game against the Patriots in Week 2, and now sit at 0-2 with a Thursday night trip to Buffalo looming. An 0-3 start would be brutal, especially with the Bills looking like juggernauts early on.
McDaniel, for his part, is tuning out the noise — or at least saying he is.
"I think if I worry about my job security, I won't be doing my job," he told NFL reporters Monday. "I won't spend one moment thinking about all the things that people — whatever people want me to think about. I'm thinking about this team and the Buffalo Bills here after I get done with this podium."
Still, outside the building, the speculation is relentless. According to Polymarket, McDaniel is the betting favorite to be the first NFL coach fired this season, with a staggering 76 percent chance.
The banners may be flying, but his players are standing firm.
