Read the full transcript from Head Coach Mike McDaniel's Postgame press conference on September 18, 2025.
Q: What was the feel overall coming in on a short week? Obviously a lot of adversity competing with a team, then obviously just coming up just short?
"It feels like we lost a game. Our expectation was to come in here and win the game. We knew we had to not turn the ball over and we knew we had to try to get at least plus or at least even with them in the takeaway department. We had to play good football, make some plays. We had a turnover in a critical situation. We had a critical penalty on a punt and those types of things – that's how these types of games are decided. It feels like a loss and it feels like we have a lot of motivation to get back to work for our next opponent."
Q: Looked like the game plan was to try to run the football, pound the football, but you did a pretty good job of that. Did you feel that way?
"Yeah, there was some good moments. I think the guys ran hard. I think De'Von (Achane) and Ollie (Gordon II) and guys were connected against a high-strained team which leads to some extra yardage. You worry when, I think it was the second quarter, you get a couple three-and-outs and you get a little frustrated not being able to get the opportunities, but guys made the most of them. We've got to improve to get this in the right direction."
Q: The late interception, anything that you wanted to do differently, anything you wanted QB Tua Tagovailoa to do differently?
"Yeah, I wanted to protect the ball. I wish I could – I think the quarterback has to be responsible for it, however, I wish I could just put it on him, but it's a tough job to do when there's someone in your face. Everybody needs to do better and we can't if – you've got to ditch the ball to the flat in moments like that and that's what we have to learn from."
Q: What's your frustration after three games of not having a win? You feel like you're getting better every week but it's just not turning out your way.
"I would say it's frustration that turns to focus. I would say that I'm very focused and motivated to continue eliminating things that cost us games. You have a young team, a lot of people that you're counting on and you need them to not be young for very much longer and continue to grow, but I would say focus because I know I have a locker room that is all in to growth through the process. There's some tough, tough lessons or tough things you have to deal with in the National Football League, and to be successful in it, you have to not have things, I say it all the time, but you can't have things cause you failure and it be in vain. You have to have consistent growth and you have to be able to go through tough times and not splinter. The team has shown me that and we'll need that to get the results that we want. I think that's the biggest thing is a collective focus on our game to continue to improve it so that we can be on the right side of the win column."
Q: You got a guy like DT Zach Sieler, team captain, obviously knows he messed up right away when it happened. What do you say to a guy like that who, again, probably knows the extent of what he just did?
"I think for me I'm always starting top down with myself, I'm very critical on myself and I hold all the coaches accountable for putting players in situations. That particular one was unfortunate because the intent of the play was not to get Zach Sieler to block the punt; he was trying to speed up the process of the punter by a bull rush on the long snapper and he was a little too successful on that so he was kind of scot-free staring at the punter. I don't need to say anything in the moment to make him worse, it's not like I'm worried about him doing it again, but you're as good as your leaders allow you to be with things of their own failure. What do I mean by that? I'm going to have to teach off of that when we watch film together as a team. The way he conducts himself and the type of player and leader he is, he'll have no problem with that because he knows ultimately that if you're doing it right, you have coaches saying you shouldn't have put him in that situation and you have players saying, 'Well, if I'm in that situation, I need to avoid the non-negotiable.' The defense worked hard to get that stop, Sieler was a part of that. It's unfortunate we have to learn from it and that's the nature of the NFL."
Q: You talked about the young players. You played a lot of young players and you're going to have growing pains with those young players. Do you see the value of those guys that are week-by-week getting more stable in doing what you want them to do and getting them to where they want to be at?
"It's critical that in those types of situations that you have the right people that learn from things and are the right tough-minded individuals. I'm frustrated in the moment and mad about an illegal man down the field with Jonah (Savaiinaea), but I know that he's a tough-minded individual that holds himself extremely accountable so when your young guys are like that, you have a chance to improve although it's frustrating in the moment. I think the guys we are playing are extremely tough-minded, that's why they're here and that's why they are getting those opportunities. I think the veteran players know that they're worth the growing pains, but at some point, you have to stop that if you're trying to win football games, specifically in a road environment like Buffalo provides and the division leader. They've held the division for a while and to beat them, you have to do sound good football things. It's not a coincidence they have NFL record for plus-minus, consecutively, I think it's 25 games now in a row and that's a hard lesson but a real lesson. If you want a different outcome particularly the next game or the next time you play those guys, you have to learn from it. I've got to make sure that we have very beneficial couple extra days between our Monday night. We're going to have to get back in the meeting room and start the process again in terms of how we take the lessons from the last game and utilize them. Realistically, you've got to do that win or loss because the only teams that you want to be a part of are the ones that continue to improve as the seasons progresses. So not good enough as it stands, but we have a ton of season left and every opportunity is not one to take for granted."
Q: Is there, I know it's everybody's job to come out and coach, come out and play, so you can't get too high or low. But after a week with all the outside noise that there was about your job security and their toughness and they're quit, is there any point of personal pride from you when you come out and you see your team fight like that?
"I'm never proud of a loss. We came here to win and I refuse to take moral victories as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. It wasn't good enough, so that's where I'm at."
Q: The opening drive, just setting the tone of the game, RB Ollie Gordon II getting involved in the run game. What went into scripting that first drive, I assume it was scripted, and just setting the tone early?
"I think there was an effort to try to distribute the ball and get some of our guys involved. They put a lot of attention on and pretty much doubled Tyreek (Hill) and Jaylen (Waddle) all game, so you have to have some people to step up and inflict their will. I thought Ollie (Gordon II) did a really good job. It's kind of what I expected; he's really worked hard at being able to be out there by knowing his assignments and all his off-ball stuff. I think it was an effort to get numerous players involved and I think they took advantage of that and it was why we were able to have success on that drive."
Q: How is CB Jason Marshall Jr. doing?
"I'll find out more tomorrow. I don't know too much, I think it's soft tissue and that's all I got."
Q: Replacing OL Kion Smith with OL Daniel Brunskill, what were you seeing to make that call?
"It was an in-game situation where we felt like we had a guy in Dan Brunskill that simply in this game, against this opponent on this day, we thought he gave us a better shot, so we made the move without hesitation. That happens from time to time. I expect Kion (Smith) to rebound from that, as I know it's very important to him and he knows he can play better."
Q: I wanted to ask about opening up the playbook with that lateral play. Kirk Herbstreit was talking about it's not a stat play but how it opens up the next one, which we saw was successful fourth down. What lead to going that deep into the playbook in that moment?
"It was third-and-16, I believe, and I figured if we needed a play to get at least 10 yards, hopefully 11 to get it in a third down or a fourth down situation where I thought we had a good call for the various defenses they play. It was just a matter of needing the yards, knowing they were going to be super soft and it was going to be difficult to get those, so we had to utilize all of our preparation."
Q: How do you feel about the production that you're getting out of your tight end group through three games?
"I think there's different roles for players. All productivity with all 11 has to do with all 11, so the jobs that I've asked them to do, I think they've done a good job. There's been situations, Julian Hill had a major play that was called back. They did a good job in protection in the run game. There's a lot of mouths to feed in terms of ball distribution, so I think they've done a good job with what they've been asked, but those are kind of the roles that I envisioned for them and they'll get more production as we go and as we develop. But I'm not looking at straight numbers, I'm looking at play-for-play, how they're impacting stuff. I feel all right with – we need to get better across the board, so I'm not really going to sit here and say anything is really good. We haven't won a game yet, so we've got work to do to get one of those."
Q: What can you say about what it's like to face QB Josh Allen on the other side?
"You're very pumped when you're able to get a stop. He makes you defend the entire field almost on every play because he can throw it as far as anybody, but you have to be very sound in your rush lanes otherwise he'll run for it too. He's a really good player and a part of a really good team. You've got to bring your best to beat him, and today we didn't have quite our best, so we'll go back to the drawing board and hopefully our best shows out next week against the Jets."
