When cameras pan on the sideline during an NFL game, dollars to donuts it's going to be someone chewing someone else out. Oftentimes, that's going to be NFL coaches upset with a player. But the NFL world was treated to something it doesn't see often from the Dolphins' Mike McDaniel after a first half timeout against the 49ers: A coach admitting a mistake.
With 3:40 left in the first half ahead of a third-and-8, the Dolphins were forced to burn their first timeout of the game. While seemingly a relatively inconsequential moment in the grand scheme of the game, Tua Tagovailoa looked like he started to say something on the sideline.
McDaniel seemed to quickly cut off Tagovailoa and take ownership of the moment, simply shaking it off and going, "No, I f—d up."
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Former NFL player Chris Long caught the moment and acknowledged that's a rare thing to hear from a coach, which carries some weight given Long spent 11 years on NFL sidelines.
Rare words from a HC. You don’t hear that much in the moment. pic.twitter.com/49O5xXEd6H
— chris long (@JOEL9ONE) December 4, 2022
The moment continued to build McDaniel's reputation as a player's coach. McDaniel made waves this week for stories of how he bolstered Tagovailoa's confidence with sheer positivity. With Tagovailoa's confidence shaken after a pedestrian 2021 and constant trade rumors circulating around the Dolphins and Deshaun Watson, McDaniel showed Tagovailoa a 700-play highlight reel of his previous best plays.
While it may not always translate to results for the Dolphins, they're now 8-4 in McDaniel's debut season and they have a shot at the AFC East. Perhaps more importantly, they seem to have a solid foundation with someone they hope is their QB of the future in Tagovailoa. It's hard to take ownership of a mistake in the moment. In that realm, McDaniel already seems to be well ahead of his peers.
