Mike McDaniel: Thursday night games after a loss are a "blessing"

Life comes at you fast. Especially when you get the short straw of a Thursday night football turnaround.

For the Dolphins, facing the Bills in Buffalo in only two days might be viewed as a curse. Coach Mike McDaniel sees it differently.

“Thursday night games, after a loss they can be a blessing because you have no time to think about anything else and quite literally I can paint a picture that I think the team is understanding, is that every moment that you spend thinking about anything but the opponent is going to serve you in the worst,” McDaniel told reporters on Monday. “So I think it’s extremely important that the guys are solely focused as I am on the Bills and nothing else because that’s all that does matter, and truth be told, that’s the formula for Week 3 every year regardless of your record.”

Right, but the Bills are probably doing the same thing. And they’re the Bills. And the spread remains at 12.5 points.

While the fact that the next train is barreling down the tracks can be viewed as a positive, the Western New York Express is one of the best teams in the league. Which doesn’t leave McDaniel much time to assess whether, from a big-picture standpoint, his approach to the 2025 season is working.

Here’s what he said when asked if he’s concerned that his message isn’t being received: “I think I develop confidence through my watching and seeing how players respond and that’s something that’s always a part of my coaching process and I think if there was anything that would lend me to believe that messages weren’t being received, then you address those things,” McDaniel said. “To me I think I’ve seen a team that is trying to do everything they can to win and coming up short and pressing forward and trying to change that result. So just based upon witnessing actions, that hasn’t come across my plate until you asked.”

Even if it has, there’s no chance to do anything but cram six days of preparation into a three-day bag. Which means that, to the extent broader changes are needed, there’s really no time to make them.

“I feel like we have a unified locker room and a unified really team that it’s one of those things that failure provides an opportunity to see that with transparency,” McDaniel said regarding the team’s culture. “It’s not as gray as everybody going in the same direction. A lot of times when you experience collective failure, you lose a game or two games, you get to see exactly what type of culture you have based upon how people respond. That’s one of the reasons I focus on response so much because to me that’s all really life is and teams are and cultures are.”

So far, the culture changes for 2025 aren’t working. The Dolphins lost badly to the Colts. They lost to a Patriots team they had been eight of 10 times this decade, and seven of eight times at home. And now it’s the annual trip to Buffalo.

The good news is that, after Thursday night, the schedule softens. The bad news is that the next game comes on the following Monday night. Giving the Dolphins the closest thing to a bye until Week 12.

Which, if Thursday night’s game ends in a blowout loss, puts squarely on the radar screen the decision owner Stephen Ross made regarding Joe Philbin in 2015, after the Dolphins lost three straight games following a Week 1 win.