MIAMI GARDENS — Sunday’s result of a 31-16 win for the Miami Dolphins over the New York Giants had to leave coach Mike McDaniel pleased from two standpoints.
First, of course, the Dolphins came away victorious, but maybe what has him rubbing his palms together is that his team still has much to correct. There will be plenty for McDaniel to harp on after a game where his team lost the turnover battle, 3-0, and lost time of possession by more than 10 minutes to keep New York in the game longer than it should have been.
“I think the coaching staff is ready to be extra particular,” McDaniel said Monday, “and I don’t think the players would have it any other way. I think the players are ready to understand that, if we continue to improve, we have a lot of good things ahead of us.
“But any positive result that we’ve had thus far in the season can be directly attributed to handling business that day. So, if we take things one Monday at a time, game review and be critical of ourselves there, once Wednesday hits, each step of our process and our approach to our opponent, we are our best selves. I am expecting, really, internal motivation from both sides — both players and coaches — at the highest level starting Wednesday, for sure.”
In between two home games against teams with a combined 1-9 record — the Giants are now 1-4 and the incoming Carolina Panthers are 0-5 — McDaniel will have ample material to drill home to quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and others to keep them grounded.
He’s also making sure, again, not to take his opponent lightly after approaching the Giants the same way in the past week.
“Teams that have been losing for a while, have a lot to play for, if nothing else,” McDaniel said. “Having gone through a losing streak ourselves just last year on a couple occasions, you know how hungry you are for a win. And it’s a talented team.”
Tagovailoa had to rebound off two interceptions that were truly inexcusable. Leading, 14-3, late in the first half, he threw a pass into coverage that was deflected and then returned 102 yards for a touchdown. His second interception was on the Miami side of the field on a poor mechanical throw just flipping it over the helmet of a lineman. Both times, he and the offense came back to score.
The same goes for running back De’Von Achane. After his fumble lost, he scored his blazing 76-yard touchdown run the following series.
“Sometimes, the messy games are my favorite with regard to that stuff,” McDaniel said Sunday after the game. “You turn the ball over, that’s hard. But the best way to separate yourself is to be able to come back from that and progress forward and not let other plays linger, and there’s very few guys that could pull it off.”
The Dolphins racked up 524 yards of total offense, the third time in their first five games of the 2023 season they eclipsed 500 yards. Three of the franchise’s all-time top 10 yardage outputs have come in the first five games this season as Miami has an NFL record for yards through five games (2,568).
What’s also encouraging is that three turnovers didn’t lead to the game spiraling out of control.
Achane fumbles? No worries. The defense forced a three-and-out to give the offense the ball right back.
Tagovailoa throws a bad interception in the third quarter deep in Miami territory? Defense holds New York to a field goal. The earlier interception, of course, was returned for a touchdown, so the defense didn’t get a chance following the turnover.
“It was a tremendous job by our defense to handle a three-turnover output by our offense,” McDaniel said.
It was a needed recovery after the Dolphins defense gave up 48 points against the Buffalo Bills in the previous week’s loss. No, the Giants aren’t the Bills — not even close — but it was encouraging that defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s unit at least did what it was supposed to do against a putrid New York offense.
The Dolphins, while they didn’t come up with a takeaway, had seven sacks against an offensive line with only one player starting at his preseason projected position. They held the Saquon Barkley-less Giants to 268 total yards — 169 through three quarters with some empty yardage added in the final period.
