Read the full transcript from Head Coach Mike McDaniel's Postgame press conference on September 14, 2025.
Q: Both QB Tua Tagovailoa and WR Tyreek Hill talked about the final drive and the penalties, the miscommunication. How much does that fall on you and the communication with them and vice versa? What is that process like that led to that?
"Yeah, I think that ultimately, I look at absolutely everything falling on me. That's the responsibility of a head coach that you go into knowing that. That being said, I'm very frustrated with the collective – basically, (there were) coaches and players that did not execute communication in a very dire period of the game. With the game on the line, our communication and our substitution was not up to par, and ultimately I hold all responsibility for all things. I will make sure that things that should already be ironed out moving forward, we will not fall victim to the same thing again, (and) we'll put the appropriate emphasis on that because it was not acceptable. We had the opportunity to win the game and we robbed it from ourselves."
Q: Specifically the penultimate 4th down, was there a delay in deciding to go for it, getting the play called?
"That's kind of where the frustration lies for me is it wasn't deciding that cost us, or a late play call, which that happens at times. But this was not one of those times. I got the play call in, but I need to do a better job supervising the orchestration within our multiple personnel groups. To win games, you have to win the game and not lose the game, honestly. And that is how you lose the game. You're moving the ball down the field, you're first-and-10 and then you find yourself at second-and-20. That was critical."
Q: As you guys try to figure this thing out, do you think there's anything on the field that can anchor you – pass rush, run defense, run game, anything like that?
"Yeah, I think not turning the ball over and having a significant – I don't know what our yards per play was, but I think it was pretty good, and executing offensive football. We found a little bit of juice there. But in this game, that same unit didn't come through, including myself, down the stretch, so I think we just have to tighten up our football entirely. We can't wait until the second half to get a stop. We can't have a monumental special teams play negated by a monumental special teams (play). It's collective. Guys are very frustrated. However, I will say that what I told the team is it makes me even more venomous, I think, with the way the team responded to a start that we absolutely did not want again. Having sat on the previous week's performance for an entire week, I did find out what type of team I'm coaching because the weaker mind goes, 'here we go again,' and that was not the case today. All that being said, it's super frustrating because we had control of an ability to win the football game and we didn't. We came up short. That is what it is. Fortunately, the bad taste in our mouth continues but we get another opportunity to play Thursday night against an opponent that will not care about any of our hardships. At least we get to try to get back out there and make some things right here in a couple days."
Q: How do you prevent urgency from turning into desperation in the locker room, especially in such a short turnaround?
"Well, I think it's important that guys have perspective in the National Football League, and over the many years that I've been doing this, there is not a team that is – the Super Bowl champion, the 1 seed, all the way through the 7th seed, it does not happen in two weeks. I think that's the biggest thing is I think the perspective is of the entirety of the season. I wanted to see the effort and mindset of the guys that I saw after getting hit in the mouth down 12-0, and now we have to do the little things to win football games or we're going to lose them, and losing is not fun at all. Guys are tired of it. Just like there shouldn't be desperation week 2, after the first quarter, I felt good about the lack of desperation in our team, more focus on doing their jobs, and that's what it takes because each week you have an opportunity to have collective job responsibilities executed so that you can go achieve a victory. We're 0-2, but there are teams that are 2-0, and generally there's a 2-0 team that doesn't make the playoffs, and generally there's teams that – that's the way you have to look at it is it's a long season. You have to continue to develop, and you can't fall victim to the same failures or the season will end up not being the one you want. We have some work to do, a short week against a division opponent, that last time we went up there, we fell short at the end of regulation. We know that we have to exceed that performance, and that's what we'll be focused on."
Q: Obviously it's not the start you want. As you said, it's a long season. Do you worry about your job security?
"I think if I worry about my job security, I won't be doing my job, and I think that inherently is against all things that I believe in. I've never felt entitled to any sort of – I've never felt entitled to this position, and it's very important for me to spend all of my waking hours worrying about exactly how to do my job and all the residual effects of that are there's a lot of people affected. Yeah, 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."
Q: Are you aware that a group of fans organized a banner to fly over the stadium calling for your job and General Manager Chris Grier's? And if so, how do you set that aside and go coach an NFL game?
"No, I was coaching and calling a football game. I wasn't spending my time considering what the fans were doing at all. Fans want their team to win, so I figure that if we win football games – I don't think it's personal. I think they want to win, and so do I."
Q: You guys seem to have come out of this game fairly healthy. Can you give us an update on S Ifeatu Melifonwu and LB Chop Robinson?
"Chop went back into the game and there was no structural – I think it was pretty painful and he was pretty scared. Then Iffy (Ifeatu Melifonwu), I'll find out more tomorrow. Lower body soft tissue."
Q: Did S Ifeatu Melifonwu get replaced by S Dante Trader early in the game?
"There was a rotation. There's also several defensive packages that we're trying to utilize to get our young players involved in the game and have an assortment of playmakers, so that was as planned."
Q: "*You talked about the first two weeks, players making self-inflicted mistakes. Is there confidence that you can fix those and that whatever message can get through, that we don't see those same mistakes twice?"*
"Yeah, I think my confidence level is based upon the response of this particular team and how they've responded to things thus far. I have a high confidence level that they will do the work, and if I establish the exact things that they need to work on, I'm confident that they'll work on it. And then I believe in the players and coaches on this team, and so with that, yeah, I think that that's what we signed up for. Regardless, I can say it time and time again, but don't get it twisted, the NFL is about progressing growth in the course of the season through noise – good or bad. People fall victim either way to Week 2 Super Bowl champions or you're out. That's not how the NFL works. You have to continue to progress, and the teams that are able to do that and find ways to not fall victim to the same things over and over are the teams that end up playing into the tournament and beyond. But first and foremost, we just have to clean our game up and get a win against a divisional opponent and do so on the road. That will be our focus, and you do one game at a time or you end up paying by results that you don't like if you try to skip any sort of step. We have one game in front of us and that's the way we'll continue to operate."
Q: Not including kneel-downs, this defense has allowed points on 13 of its first 15 drives this season. It was a top 10 unit a season ago. Where has the disconnect been through two games this year?
"Yeah, I think that last year, early in the season, we found ways to get off the field a little bit more, but the strength of the defense – I think statistically, we finished the season better than we started. We grew as a unit and grew together. We have to get off the field – 13 out of 15 is not good enough and we all know that. We've got to contest some things. We have to be tighter in our zones that we've been working on, and yeah, when we're not getting home, we have to find different ways to get home. I think that's the biggest thing is there's been too much time of possession, or lack thereof, as a team. The opponents had the ball more than us by a wide margin and we need to fix that, for sure."
