The Miami Dolphins generated some buzz last week when it was made known that the team rallied a “players-only” meeting after a blowout loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1. The Dolphins appeared listless and underprepared for Indianapolis, failing to facilitate a score offensively until the 4th-quarter despite three prior years of continuity in Mike McDaniel’s offense. The defense? They failed to generate a stop at all.
Miami was much more feisty in Week 2 against the New England Patriots at home but ultimately fell 33-27 after a late-game push fell apart due in large part to protection woes and procedural issues. The barbs starting flying after the game, with Tyreek Hill, Tua Tagovailoa, and Mike McDaniel all seeming to express frustration about the personnel communication. The roots of their frustration felt quite a bit like publicly pointing the finger elsewhere.
So did the players-only meeting help? One NFL insider recently shared an account of what was said — and it may have helped the players’ psychology. But it doesn’t paint a very pretty picture for this regime’s forecast to pull out the other side of the storm in one piece.
Albert Breer’s account of the Dolphins’ players-only meeting paints a grim picture for Mike McDaniel
Aug 23, 2025; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel enters the field before the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Hard Rock Stadium. © Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
“My understanding is that there was a message from the captains to the rest of the team (during the players-only meeting) about accountability, and it was about accountability to each other and accountability to yourself. More or less, it was ‘the NFL is going to judge you regardless of your circumstances, regardless of your coaching — the NFL is going to judge you in a vacuum’. And (that) it’s on everybody to take personal responsibility, and more or less closing ranks and saying, ‘This isn’t about anybody else but the players.’ And sometimes that happens at the end for coaches, you know. So I think, you know, that message was received by…the players in that building.”
— NFL insider Albert Breer on Miami’s ‘players-only’ meeting last week via The Rich Eisen Show
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Folks, if this is the world we’re living in, you can go ahead and pack it up. If this is the psychology of the players in-house with the Dolphins before the second week of September was over, a head coaching change is all but a formality. The question for the powers that be, mainly owner Stephen Ross, deem it is the right time to facilitate a change? Miami’s short week contest in Week 3 in Buffalo offers an extra buffer on the other side of 60 minutes in Western New York — which could be tempting.
Breer, for his part, doesn’t seem to think Thursday is McDaniel’s last stand amid a loss.
“Could Stephen Ross say ‘I want to take a look at Anthony Weaver’ as my head coach? I think you could eventually get there — I don’t think it will be after Thursday night, but I think they could eventually get there,” said Breer.
Don’t look for anyone to pick a Miami win on Thursday night. But if the loss is bad enough, who knows? Maybe it could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Knowing that Miami’s players have already pulled one another together to seemingly acknowledge that it’s important to play with pride for each other and yourself — because the NFL is going to judge your performance either way and not care about the other factors (aka coaching) at hand? The writing appears to be on the wall, if that’s indeed true. We’ll get our next peek at the Dolphins in just a few days and a chance for the narratives to dispel themselves or triple down through the first three weeks.
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This story was originally reported by A to Z Sports on Sep 16, 2025, where it first appeared in the NFL section. Add A to Z Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.