The Miami Dolphins should consider themselves lucky. They have one of the best teams in pro football — a squad that can hang 30-plus-points essentially any week — and are a legitimate Super Bowl contender. They’re coached by Mike McDaniel, a man who has consistently shown us he’s one of the NFL’s funniest and most colorful characters.
Knowing their audience clearly craves more Delightful McDaniel, Inside the NFL released a hilarious video of the Dolphins’ brilliant coach going through a range of emotions on Miami’s sideline as it crushed the Carolina Panthers.
Truly, there is seemingly nothing he can’t put his own unique spin on. And we’re all better off for it:
Mike McDaniel's sideline energy is interesting to say the least 😅 @InsideTheNFLpic.twitter.com/zU5hZ9Zn57
— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) October 17, 2023
This clip has everything.
There’s McDaniel having a light exchange with offensive line coach Butch Barry about defensive line alignment. There’s McDaniel sarcastically asking his players if they’re having fun. You have him seemingly talking into Tua Tagovailoa’s helmet microphone, urging a Dolphins player to score a touchdown before summarily reacting with a “baller. Later, he talks up the importance of hydration before having a mini existential crisis. Finally, he draws a referee’s attention with a loud chorus of “YO, YO, YO, YO” to take a timeout.
All of these interactions and instances are probably anodyne in anyone else’s humorless hands. With McDaniel, they’re examples of him being a charming magnet of charisma.