miami dolphins Coach Mike McDaniel addressed his play calling toward the end of the team’s 34–31 loss to the Buffalo Bills—specifically a fourth-down play in which he was called for delay of game.
Dolphins quarterback Skylar Thompson was trying to lead the team to at least a tie and force overtime in the AFC wild-card matchup against the Bills with 4:13 remaining in the game. Confusion appeared to mount when Thompson and the Dolphins had the ball at the 48-yard line.
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Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott congratulates Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel after an NFL wild-card playoff football game, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023, in Orchard Park, NY
(AP Photo/Adrian Cross)
Miami running back Salvon Ahmed ran the ball on third down for no gain, although it appeared he was at least close to the first-down marker. As the clock on the play began to tick down, Thompson and the team waited long enough to get on the play. Thompson would lead the team, but the game clock was winding down and hit zero before the ball was snapped.
The Dolphins received a delay of game penalty and Thompson’s next play was incomplete to Mike Gesicki. The Bills would take over and end the game on their next possession.
McDaniel’s decision-making was scrutinized on social media and he had the opportunity to address it at the postgame press conference.
Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel looks at his play sheet during the first half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023 in Orchard Park, N.Y.
(AP Photo/Adrian Cross)
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McDaniel said after the game, “There was some crowd noise that was due to some of the wristbands being misread.” “There were some issues within the muddle of communication and getting to the line of scrimmage and there’s excuse you don’t use that you don’t use but there’s a real compounding variable that there was more than one amount of different people congested when You’re in a good routine and you probably have a bunch of offensive linemen that are being communicated by the same person; when you have that kind of flow, it happens. It shouldn’t happen as much as it happened. .
Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel talks to reporters following an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023, in Orchard Park, N.Y.
(AP Photo/Adrian Cross)
“And then the last one especially whether it’s the officials or the coaching, there was some communication that we’d gotten earlier. So then we were fielding a bunch of players for the first and 10 calls and then it was clarified or not, it was fourth down. So this miscommunication — all the stuff that you do in this business, you never stop looking for things that you can improve on and that was one of the reasons that We were unable to come out with a win, but of course that was not the only reason. There were too many people who could find many things they could have done better including ourselves which we will carry forward.
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Miami was 4-for-16 Third place overall. The team had 231 total yards and averaged 3.3 yards per play.