As the Dolphins’ offense struggled to even struggle on Monday night, the boos from the assembled fans got louder and louder.
Coach Mike McDaniel was asked about it on Tuesday.
“I guess it didn’t hit me with surprise,” McDaniel told reporters regarding the fan discontent. “I think people invest and have to go and believe in a team that has — bottom-line — the droughts that this organization has incurred. I don’t take that lightly. So I would be dishonest if I told you that I didn’t expect that. The worst part about all of that is you have people that I can relate where weeks are ruined with losses, and the worst part about it is you don’t have any control.
“So that’s not a fun place to be in. I know sporting events where I’m rooting for a team and I’m not coaching in it, I get much more angry when there’s failure than when I’m coaching and I can actually problem-solve something. It’s to be expected. This is the big leagues. To feel entitled to blind support, that’s not my cup to tea. I think you have to go to work, problem-solve and try to fix things as best you canm and I don’t think we’re necessarily owed anything, I think people believe when you give them reason to believe and if people jump off the bandwagon — I’m not really villainizing the people who are jumping off the bandwagon. It’s more we gave them reason to. So that’s to be expected. I don’t think people pay what they pay to go to Hard Rock Stadium to watch us lose, so whatever results incurred by our game day failure, we deserve.”
It’s a healthy, pragmatic approach. The same passion that gets the fans to dig deep into their discretionary income gets them to dig deep into their lungs when things don’t go the way they want.
And, frankly, their frustration might have gone beyond what they were seeing on the field to what they were not seeing on the field. They were not seeing a competent, effective, experienced, and properly prepared veteran quarterback, who was ready to go the moment Tua Tagovailoa had his latest concussion.
Yes, they started Pro Bowler* Tyler Huntley. But he basically just got there. The Dolphins entered the offseason program and training camp with Skyler Thompson and Mike White. They could have pursued players like Gardner Minshew, Jimmy Garoppolo, Jameis Winston, Tyrod Taylor, Joe Flacco (who came off the bench to beat the Steelers on Sunday), or Mason Rudolph (who came off the bench to beat the Dolphins on Monday night).
Skylar Thompson wasn’t the answer. Tim Boyle isn’t the answer. Tyler Huntley possibly could have been the answer, if they’d decided to get him in the fold early enough to master the offense so that he could run it fully and completely, including the shell-game/sleight-of-hand plays that don’t require the skills of Patrick Mahomes but that require reps and reps and more reps to nail down the timing.
Yes, that’s likely where some of the boos were coming from. We all knew Tua’s concussion history. We all knew the Dolphins needed a reliable and effective and experienced and prepared backup. They didn’t, and don’t, have one.
That’s the kind of thing that gets customers to complain. It’s the kind of thing that gets management to issue pink slips.