Earlier this week, the Miami Dolphins’ Mike McDaniel and Tua Tagovailoa made headlines for their special coach-quarterback relationship. It was revealed that McDaniel — a first-year head coach — made it a point to build up Tagovailoa’s confidence from the get-go.
Such an approach has the Dolphins sitting pretty as the AFC’s current No. 2 seed. At the same time, a confident Tagovailoa is playing himself into the MVP conversation week by week. As the two get ready for Miami’s stretch run this season, a new video from Inside the NFL captured the essence of McDaniel and Tagovailoa’s dynamic mid-game in a 30-15 win against the Houston Texans.
It shows that while McDaniel might be the person who believes in the Dolphins’ franchise QB the most, he’s also the most uniquely qualified to just roast him:
“Bro, your technique was trash.”
Mike McDaniel didn’t hold back about @Tua’s high school highlights 😂 pic.twitter.com/cfiZcuYuz1
— Inside the NFL (@insidetheNFL) November 29, 2022
Absolutely hi-la-ri-ous.
In what has to be an entirely normal conversation about how things are going against an opponent, you gotta appreciate how seamlessly McDaniel transitions to discussing the high school version of Tagovailoa. And judging by Tagovailoa’s face as McDaniel works toward joking about his past technique, he knew it was coming. Just approximately three months into their first regular season together, you can tell McDaniel and Tagovailoa already have impeccable chemistry.
Miami’s dynamite head coach-quarterback duo will take all this goodwill into their first real test in months in San Francisco. The Dolphins, while scorching hot, haven’t beaten a team with a winning record since Week 3. Meanwhile, the 49ers haven’t allowed any points in a second half since mid-October. Something has to give, right?
Given their results thus far, along with the first-hand evidence of their casual interactions — I’m pretty confident McDaniel and Tagavailoa will be ready to overcome an elite defense together.