While the Tyreek Hill injury impacted the Miami Dolphins during a 27-21 win over the New York Jets on Monday, the team finally experienced the relief of getting into the win column.

“Yeah. I think we’ve gotten better, and we had to. You always have to. We’ve had several instances of winning football,” McDaniel told reporters after the game.


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The Dolphins built a 17-3 lead through the early portion of the third quarter on Monday before staving off a Jets rally. Before Monday, the Dolphins fell short in a one-score game against the New England Patriots and lost by 10 to the Buffalo Bills — both an improvement over the blowout Week 1 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

“Winning football to me is complementary three-phase football where sometimes the momentum starts with a punt,” McDaniel said. “That’s what our team has to understand. Sometimes the momentum starts and you have several explosives given up on the ground, but you stay with it, make them earn every yard, then you get a takeaway.”

Miami has four takeaways this season, and three of those occurred on Monday. Conversely, the Dolphins have 10 turnovers this season, and penalties haven’t been a pretty site either with 25 committed thus far.

Mike McDaniel Sees Dolphins’ Improvement

McDaniel sees the development in his squad over the past three games now. Miami has scored in the 20s for each of the past three games, and the Dolphins have quarterback Tua Tagovailoa going over at least 145 yards in a game, and running back De’Von Achane has gone over 60 yards in each of the past two games.

“We’ve had six quarters where complementary football has existed, and as a result, it’s been a much tighter game against our opponents and we’re finding ways to clean up our game while continuing to improve,” McDaniel said. “That’s just paramount. That’s paramount in this league.”

“As soon as you start to feel comfortable, you get humbled and the biggest thing is in moments where it’s a one-game loss, two-game losing streak, a three-game losing streak, it can make or break you,” he added.