Read the full transcript from Head Coach Mike McDaniel's press conference on December 29, 2025.
Q: I know often times you'll look out for players, help protect them from themselves. In a case like with LB Jordyn Brooks, if he wants to play even if it might not be in the best interest with the hamstring because he's a competitor, leads the league in tackles, do you defer more to the player in this case, even if he could be at risk?
"Are you going to tell 'JB' (Jordyn Brooks) no for playing in a football game? I think yeah, every case is different. It's vitally important that you have relationships with each and every one of these guys, so you know when to take charge of protecting people from themselves and when guys have earned the right to speak on their own behalf. There's not a player that's done more, sacrificed more for this team and had a career year that I think a lot of his peers will gain appreciation as they see the tape of just how well he's played and what he's taken his game to. When you have team guys that are a captain, that have their own self-interest but at every turn, exhibit team-first priorities, then I'm confident that he won't put the team in a risky situation simply out of hope. He'll do everything he can, we all know that, and we'll take it day by day because he's earned that."
Q: What has made the QB Quinn Ewers to TE Greg Dulcich connection so deadly over the past couple of weeks?
"Ironically, Quinn (Ewers) would be the authority on throwing to Greg (Dulcich) seeing how they started on scout team together this season. I think Greg was the scout team player of the week maybe Week 2 or 3, I can't remember. That's one thing, consistency and realistically, he has kind of an idea of how Greg is going to react to certain looks based on that rapport to a degree. It's just a credit to leaning into that trust or recognizing that Quinn can trust Greg. Greg keeps coming through for him in situations and proving him right. I think that it doesn't hurt that they had those added reps, even if it was on carded defenses, those count too. It's also just two guys taking advantage of an opportunity that keeps giving us reason to give them more opportunities."
Q: Did you realize in the moment that QB Quinn Ewers's touchdown to WR Theo Wease Jr. was kind of a no-look pass?
"Yeah, I watched his process. That's kind of what helps me call plays to lean into what we're doing well and what we're not doing well. They had disguised, like you'd anticipate them to, on the second play of the game and the first third down. With those disguises, pre-snap I think Quinn (Ewers) had an idea that the zero or single-high they were kind of messing around with could potentially lead to being in two-shell. If they're in two-shell with no reroute, it's probably going to be a read corner that's going to have to read the out and have body presence for the go. It's just Quinn doing something he's adept at in the heat of the moment because the moment's not too big for him. He took his eyes straight at the corner, and it wasn't the first time that he had manipulated the defense. There was a two-minute throw to Theo (Wease Jr.) on the right hash going out of our tunnel against Cincinnati that he looked to the right and displaced the zoning defender. It was a great vision by him, great catch transition by Theo, but yeah, I watched it all live. I've seen him do that a ton in practice but live I was still in the back of my mind saying, 'Don't throw the out. Don't throw the out, he's going to get blown up. Oh sweet, touchdown.'"
Q: Conviction was a word you used a lot when you made the quarterback change. Is it normal for a rookie to kind of let it rip like that? In a situation like this, you would almost think the natural instinct is to be careful, right?
"You're right. I think it speaks to – it's a different level of obligation when you have possession of the ball and you're entrusted with it, particularly on a team that our plus minus is gigantically skewed in favor of us in our wins and the opposite in our losses. I think he has a natural way of playing the position where he understands ripping what he sees is how he got the opportunity in the first place. Easier said than done, but yeah typically you see rookie quarterbacks be a lot later to things just because the moment is significant. But I think that's one of the reasons he's a galvanizer and guys are drawn to him is because he is very calm, cool and collected in the orchestration of the quarterback position from play call to execution of play."
Q: I wanted to ask you about there's a series in the fourth quarter where you ran a few plays from inside your own five-yard line. Second down you threw, third down you threw to TE Julian Hill, the safe thing would have been handoff and punt. You put the ball in QB Quinn Ewers's hands, why?
"You're recognizing that I had trust that he'd do the right thing. Again, I respond to how people are playing. I kind of take myself through what he's seeing each and every play just by nature. I know he has the ability to get out of trouble with a quick release and I figured based on the last time that we ran 21-personnel, they went to nickel. It was a second-and-15 and we got an 18-yard run. On the third-and-11, you anticipated that they'd go base defense and if they do that, they're probably going to be in quarters, so hopefully you can get that look but if it's a blitz look, I think he can get us out of trouble. That's a call you only make if you're trusting the player at that given time, in that given moment for sure."
Q: I have a question about this team's personality. I know every team is different. I know this is a run first team, but this seems to be a little more up from the mud, a little grittier, a little more LB Jordyn Brooks and OL Aaron Brewer than WR Tyreek Hill and Jalen Ramsey. I'm not asking you to talk about their personalities, but would you agree with that, and if so why? Tell me about this team's personality.
"I would say this team's personality is easily summed up by they were able to get their seventh win, and I think we had one win after seven games. The last six wins in particular were earned in situations where you're not earning those wins if you're splintering, if you don't believe in each other and if you don't have the relentless competitors. I think ultimately the blend of veterans that we've had on the team that have been steadfast in how they have approached things, I think that their leadership down to the rookie class and those types of individuals, and the younger players that are in Year 2, you have the right football mindset for what it takes to succeed in this league. There has never been anyone that has won anything in this league avoiding adversity. That's why I talk about it so much because I just see it as that rep. You only see people in their truest light when you got the pressure cooker on them. I think that with all the things that have gone in a way that you hopefully wouldn't forecast, the one thing that I've seen is there is a strong number of players and coaches that are built of the right things that succeed in this league because it is a hundred-percenter; every team that ends up having success in this league is going through something and responding appropriately. There are elements of the things that I think that are monumental in a organization and we're seeing the colors of what I think we're looking for in adverse situations such as you have two games that you are not happy with; what do you do about that? You don't like your second or third quarter point differential? What do you do about that? That's what we're looking for so that was encouraging to see people respond in a way that I truly believe they were capable of."
Q: Is S Minkah Fitzpatrick out for the year and what happened with LB Derrick McDlendon with the elevation but not the activation?
"I'm going to do right by Minkah (Fitzpatrick) and take that day by day. I think that's important and he's earned the right to continue to work as he is. To his credit he doesn't want to be shut down or anything like that. With the amount of elevations available to us with the things that could or couldn't happen on gameday with regard to who was going to be up or not just solving the formulas, we thought that it was low risk, high reward to fulfill a game day active scenario that didn't occur ultimately. As you know, there were several things, one including Aaron Brewer and those types of management things. The reason we took that risk was because we thought we were afforded that liberty with the amount that he has left and there was a scenario that he could possibly help us."
Q: The rookies surpassed 3,000 snaps for the season yesterday. I'm wondering what you think the residuals for their careers individually as well as the team going forward will get from that?
"It's all about the standard with which those incur. I think so many of them are such meaningful snaps, so many of them aren't void of turbulence. The best way to learn is hands-on and if you can grow your game while still being corrected, I think it gives you a chance to – we say this team has a little bit of an edge to it or is thicker-skinned or however you want to cut it, they don't blink when some teams would. I think those snaps incurring on a team like that, you have the potential of solidifying that type of culture over time when guys are introduced into the NFL in a nature such as that. I think it's been important because guys have responded and because of that, there's been development. You have development during your rookie season, that's a tall task but it's important and that gives you a good opportunity to set your career off the right way under the right standards which is assumed continued growth. It's been good. I think there's still some significant opportunity left in this last one so I'm excited to see again what guys in the football process take their game and grow and impact a division opponent who's won more than they've lost."
Q: What do you hope is the lasting impression the 2025 Miami Dolphins leave behind when they walk off the field at Gillette Stadium Sunday?
"I think you want to see guys that take pride in their football and take pride in not being able to control what's in the past but moving forward and putting forth their best ball at the end of the season because that's what you're trying to do every year. You're trying to grow and be able to play your best when your best is required. I think you have the opportunity, you have a platform to define who you want to be; whether people define you as that in the immediate is irrelevant. If you want to be a team that plays football the right way and has the ability to perform regardless of circumstance, you have a tremendous opportunity against an opponent that you were one score away from beating that has had the best record in football for a good amount of the year. I think it says a lot. Your lasting impression is your strongest impression in the National Football League, whether that's for our team or everyone else watching our film. I'll take that seriously and I'm very confident that our team will, too, because it's important enough that they improved their game quickly in a short amount of time this past week, so I'm looking to double down on that this week."
Q: I wanted to ask you about QB Quinn Ewers. You talked about his quick release, which is something that definitely has been evident. Does that open up opportunities for different or unique play calling when you know a quarterback has a quick release and a quick throwing motion?
"Yeah, I think case in point what Hal was referring to, that was a play call backed up thrown to Julian (Hill) that was a result of his skill set. I'm always tailoring everything we do to the players that we have, and there are certain situations where you can create a break-the-pocket play that you might have to hang onto the ball but you might have something in your face and you have to have an on-schedule play that doesn't set you back or you can't take a sack. Situationally you call things a little bit different. You do put in different concepts that – there was an explosive to Greg (Dulcich) that we created a launch point that was pretty deep and we had a protection that had a little leakiness in the C-gap, but that protection I felt pretty comfortable putting in because if he could get back to the launch point, if there was any trouble in the C-gap which there ended up being, he could get rid of it as he exemplified. I think it does change not only the concepts you put in because you're tailoring it to his skill set, but it changes to a degree how you call things as well."
Q: I want to point out that you called that TE Julian Hill play probably about five, six times in training camp and it always worked. First play you called to him generally worked.
"I must have been calling them at the right time, huh? A hundred percent success rate? That's choosy play calling or I should just call it more. One or the other."
Q: With his arm strength, does that change play calling or primary reads?
"No, I think realistically with arm strength, I look at it from a quarterback's perspective. You have to have a threshold where in a rhythm you can get the ball, it's really just like 50 yards down the field and then I'm coaching timing and how you see things so you can be appropriate in that timing. I wouldn't say – I think there's strong distance arms by all three of our quarterbacks, I don't really adjust. You only, for me, adjust if they can't get it to that threshold, which it's like 45 to 50 yards is how fast receivers generally are for you to get to the back of your drop and take one hitch. So as long as they can play within that, it's more about what he sees and types of footballs that he likes throwing with conviction that are accurate. It's a slight adjustment, but I wouldn't say the concepts we're putting in have changed due to his arm strength or I think that he fits the preconceived bottom line that you have to have and then everything up from that is how you play the game, how fast you play it and how you're able to react to looks, which is why it's been encouraging to see his comfort in the pocket."
Q: What was your assessment of the OL Andrew Meyer tape that he put together in his first regular season action?
"I think a lot of people assumed there was a lot of young guys playing at the end of the year because of this, that, or the other, and realistically he exemplifies what we're trying to build with our coaching staff. We have this developmental plan for all practice squad or non-active players that he's been really – (Offensive Line Coach) Butch (Barry) every day after practice with 'Lem' (Assistant Offensive Line Coach Lemuel Jeanpierre) and 'Rome' (Offensive Assistant Roman Sapolu), his center play was built after practice and on Mondays during the season, and I think he really exemplified how prepared he was in a challenging situation. I was very confident in him making his first start and executing at a high level against a very good defensive line so I think it speaks to him. I saw a guy that the game is not too big for. I saw him make some difficult blocks in scenarios that I've had starting centers not make. It was kind of what I expected, but I've come to expect from him his best play in games. I think this past training camp was an example. I thought his best blocks occurred in preseason games, even better than in practice. He kind of flashed in the game, so very happy for him and I think he did a great job orchestrating the offensive line from start to finish."
