MIAMI GARDENS -- Standing at a lectern inside Cleveland's Huntington Bank Field, a normally loquacious Mike McDaniel did not mince words.
A 31-6 loss to the Cleveland Browns will do that to a head coach.
The Miami Dolphins looked listless in rainy conditions in Week 7. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw three interceptions before he was pulled in the fourth quarter. Social media activity swirled around the possibility of McDaniel coaching his final game.
McDaniel then promised changes.
"We'll watch the tape and change our style of play if we have to. Everything is on the table, when you go to a game you fully know you have the capability to win and get handed a very, very humbling loss," the Dolphins coach said. "There's no if, and, or buts about it, guys need to be professionals and step up to the plate, and every person on our team, if you're saying, 'It's not me,' it's you. I told the team, that's what I have to subscribe to and we will be diligent in our cleanup of this game and the opponent for next week.
"We say we want to win games, so we have to do the things necessary to win games. Until that happens, we will lose games."
That loss marked Miami's third in a row to drop its record to 1-6 -- its worst start in McDaniel's four seasons in charge. Three of those losses were one-score games in which the Dolphins were in position to win.
But Dolphins players say they haven't quit on the season, or their coach. As they prepare to host a two-win Ravens team Thursday, (8:20 p.m. ET, Prime Video) they've changed personnel groupings and their game-day routine, had "tough love" film sessions between Tagovailoa and McDaniel, and publicly affirmed their commitment to keeping their roster intact.
After blowing late leads in consecutive weeks to the Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Chargers, the blowout in Cleveland felt like a low point that left Miami with two options: bounce back or bottom out. McDaniel said last week he felt confident in the direction his team would choose.
"Any time you have an embarrassing outing in the National Football League as a team, you go one of two ways," he said. "I didn't see the negative way being something that was on the table for our locker room. Generally, if you can sustain through tough times and continue to build momentum in your game without results, the results do come, but easier said than done."
The results came for Miami one week later, with a 34-10 win in Week 8 against the Atlanta Falcons. It was a welcome end to the Dolphins' losing streak but they remain four games below .500 with their next three games coming against playoff teams from a season ago (home games against the Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills and Washington Commanders before their Week 12 bye).
Out of the 215 teams in the Super Bowl era to start a season 2-6, only three have made the playoffs -- the Cincinnati Bengals in 1970, Commanders in 2020 and Jacksonville Jaguars in 2022. ESPN's Football Power Index gives Miami a 1.1% chance at making its third playoff appearance under McDaniel, the fifth-lowest percentage in the league.
Despite chatter on social media and television programs about his job security, McDaniel insists that he doesn't think about it; his focus remains on doing the job rather than whether he'll keep it.
"The way I look at this job is I find it very offensive to all parties involved if I'm thinking about having a job -- I need to be doing my job," he said after the Browns game. "As long as I'm the coach for the Miami Dolphins, they will get everything from me. I refuse to spend my time thinking about [my job security] -- you have your job, you do your job and you do it to the best of your ability, and that's where my concern lies."
MCDANIEL MEETS WITH Dolphins owner Stephen Ross after every game, and McDaniel has acknowledged Ross' frustration after the team's losses.
But a team source said Ross' disappointment with the results doesn't mean he's in any rush to fire McDaniel. The source said Ross is patient and a believer in the process; there's a limit, but Ross will remain tolerant as long as there are clear steps toward improvement.
Multiple players said the team still believes in McDaniel. Cornerback Jack Jones said the team's process is "good."
Their main issue, numerous Dolphins players said, is execution.
"I think we make small changes, but you don't change the whole thing," Jones said. "It's just a situation where you don't overthink it. We've got a good team. I feel like we got good coaches. We calling good plays, we've just got to execute. ... Once the coaches eliminate bad plays and the players eliminate bad plays, then I think it'll be a lot better."
Rumors have circled on social media about Dolphins players being available at the trade deadline, particularly wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, and linebackers Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips. A team source told ESPN the Dolphins aren't looking to offload players, and McDaniel publicly disregarded trade rumors as "baseless."
There's cautious optimism inside the Dolphins' building.
Players who were on the team in 2021 point to their 1-7 start to that season before finishing 9-8, albeit against the second-easiest schedule in the NFL. The Week 8 win against Atlanta was impressive but celebrations were muted by this upcoming game against the Ravens on a short week.
McDaniel and his players say they must approach the remainder of this season one week at a time.
"I feel that our team will be whatever it allows itself to be, and that is 100 percent based on the opponent that we're playing," McDaniel said. "If we start thinking about the big picture, you start losing control of what that big picture is. You have to put one foot in front of the other. ... That has to be a one-week mindset and that's how we got the outcome of that last game.
"The biggest thing is that you have to really lean into the things -- in reality, what was the root of our success? It was sweat equity and focus, commitment, conviction, all those things that are derived through preparation which I will be non-negotiably searching for in all the hours leading up to this next game."
MCDANIEL'S DRY SENSE of humor hasn't appeared much publicly this season, but it slipped out last week.
Following Tagovailoa's second consecutive three-interception game, McDaniel was asked before the Falcons game whether Tagovailoa would continue to be the Dolphins' starter moving forward.
"Yeah, he's going to take the snaps this week and he's going to be our starter this week, and my expectation is that we don't throw 10 picks," McDaniel responded, referencing his quarterback's league-leading 10 interceptions this season.
Some outside of the Dolphins' circle saw McDaniel's comment as a fissure in his relationship with Tagovailoa, especially considering the team's 1-6 start to the season.
Tagovailoa saw it as a blunt but necessary assessment of his season to date.
"That's true, no? You don't want anyone that's going in there to hinder the team from being able to win a game," he said when asked about McDaniel's comment. "I go out there with the expectation to help our team win. You turn the ball over -- you turn the ball over the way I've turned the ball over this year -- you can't expect to help the guys win the game. My job as a quarterback is to get our offense going, march down the field, put points on the board, regardless of what that looks like."
While McDaniel has been famously supportive of Tagovailoa in the past and was instrumental in building his confidence over the past three seasons, the quarterback said he appreciated his coach's tough-love approach during the team's recent struggles.
"You've got to have that in a relationship," he said. "It can't always be, 'Man, here's your flowers. Here's roses. Hey man, you had a bad game. It's all right, buddy.' You've got to have those tough conversations and I've had those tough conversations with him this week."
"I think that's where your meetings come from, the leaders. ... I think there's always merit in keeping the structure the same but then if that's not working, I don't think it's unreasonable to revert to change as well."
MCDANIEL TEASED CHANGES after the Cleveland game and delivered in two major ways.
For the first time this season, the Dolphins ran formations with six offensive linemen during Sunday's game against Atlanta, running 13 plays and gaining 5.7 yards per play. Miami's offense also ran the ball 37 times for a season-high 141 yards -- which opened up passing lanes.
Tagovailoa finished with his fastest average time to throw of the season, which was a strength of his game when he led the NFL in passing yards in 2023.
"[The run game] opens everything up based on what the front is trying to do and what the linebackers are seeing as well," he said. "So, with our boot game, it helped with that. With our play-action game, it also helped with that. Then, as much as we ran the ball under center, we also ran it a good amount in the gun or in the pistol. ... I definitely would say that had a big impact in the pass game."
It also impacted the Dolphins' psyche on offense.
"I feel like we ain't got no choice but to dominate [when we run jumbo package]," center Aaron Brewer said Tuesday. "I think I told somebody earlier, if we could play with eight offensive linemen out there, we would. But when we're all out there together, there's no reason we shouldn't dominate."
The other change: Dolphins offensive coordinator Frank Smith spent the game on the sideline instead of the booth, where he sat for the entirety of the season prior to the win at Atlanta.
McDaniel, who calls the team's offensive plays, said moving Smith to the sideline allowed him to be a "problem solver" after seeing how players responded to him throughout the week. Miami emphasized its pre-snap process at practice, which McDaniel said the team "failed" at in previous weeks. Last week, he said he saw players leave the huddle with conviction and sprint to the line of scrimmage -- thanks in part to Smith's help with "some operational stuff" throughout the week, which he described as "challenging guys and communicating."
Smith said he feels like it's their job as coaches to "match or exceed" the speed with which players have to play with; that requires a certain level of energy on the sideline.
Dolphins tight end Darren Waller sent Smith a text after the game saying, "I guess they saw the real you."
"When you're on the sideline, it's just a different feel," Smith said. "When you're in the press box, there's kind of a removal of the emotion from the game. So you get a very clear vantage point of playing the game ... When you're on the field, you feel the emotion, you feel the energy, you feel momentum. You just feel everything that's going on in the game."
Running back De'Von Achane joked that he didn't want to see Smith return to the booth after experiencing the "juice" he brought to the sideline. He'll get his wish, as Smith said he expects to remain on the sideline for the foreseeable future.
"You need someone like that on the sidelines," Tagovailoa said. "I think he helps a lot with the leadership aspect of getting the guys going, keeping the guys in it regardless of the score. Then continuing to play with good operation. I think that's what led to guys not straying from that, with the personnel groupings, operation with the guys up front, all of that."
Another change outside of the public eye: McDaniel said he tried over the past few weeks to adjust his normal daily schedule so that he could be equally present for Miami's offensive, defensive and special teams units -- particularly outside of meetings.
"He just made sure our head was on straight, not worried about anything but the task at hand," Waddle said. "We wanted to stay focused throughout the week. I thought he did a great job and is doing a great job of keeping our team straightforward with the next weekend mindset."
PLAYERS SAID THE message from the coaching staff after the Cleveland game was "supportive," and the sense of urgency didn't change.
Linebacker Chop Robinson said the team is "tired of losing" while Brewer stressed the importance of players continuing to do their job even when the results don't show up.
"It's what we signed up for. It's a full football season and time doesn't stop," Brewer said. "This is our résumé. You have to come out and represent the name on your chest and on your back to the best of your ability each and every week. I feel like that's the motivation to try to keep going, you never know when the page might turn."
The challenge now, Tagovailoa said, is finding consistency after their second win of the season. Following their Week 4 win over the New York Jets, the Dolphins took a 17-0 first-half lead over Carolina before ultimately losing 27-24.
Chubb said after that game that it felt like players got complacent with the three-score lead. Now, the message throughout the building as Miami looks to string together its first winning streak of the season is to continue doing the things that led to its victory in Week 8.
"Just keeping the energy," Chubb said Tuesday. "Keeping the energy, everybody just being consistent with it. Not just have a one-hit wonder like, 'Oh, we did that' and fall off and think we're too good to be on the details. We know what got us there. It's just about continuing to do it."