Mike McDaniel Is King Of Maximizing What’s Available
Syndication: Palm Beach Post
Honest question: when was the last time (if ever) an NFL offense led the league in both rushing and passing?
If chasing the NFL’s highest-scoring offense of all-time wasn’t enough for Mike McDaniel, he’s somehow found a way to set a new standard by leading the league in both rushing and passing entering Week 6. Just two weeks after putting on the greatest single-game display of offense in modern football history, Miami’s offense continues to break new grounds.
The Dolphins are averaging an EA Sports Madden-esque 6.9 yards per carry through five weeks. The backfield tandem of Raheem Mostert and De’Von Achane are currently averaging an unheard of 8.1 yards per touch. Before we could ask the question of whether or not this is even sustainable, the injury bug answered that for us. On Tuesday it was announced that Miami’s rookie blazer Achane would miss multiple weeks with a knee injury.
Luckily for the Dolphins, McDaniel has proven throughout his young career to be the king of maximizing what’s available to him. Let’s not forget, Achane was awarded the opportunity for a sizeable early-season role once Miami’s highest-paid running back, Jeff Wilson, landed on injured reserve to start the 2023 campaign.
Forced to make due without Wilson, McDaniel unveiled over the first month and change a running game that was the football lovechild of early-21st century Spread and 20th century Wing-T. With 4.3 blazers in Mostert in the backfield and Achane periodically serving as a glorified wing back lining up in the slot, McDaniel routinely got his game-altering speed out on the edge and made defenses pay.
According to Pro Football Focus, Achane has carried the rock four times this season on either jet sweeps and/or end-arounds. He’s totaled 86 rushing yards on those four carries for a ridiculous 21.5 yards per carry. Once it became abundantly clear to opposing defenses that Achane’s speed on the perimeter presented a real-life Holy Shit threat, that’s when McDaniel unleashed Achane’s and Mostert’s speed directly into the teeth of their opposing defensive fronts.
Out of 134 total rushing attempts, only 41% of Miami’s carries this year have come between the tackles. The Dolphins are averaging a ridiculous 7.7 yards per carry on those between the tackles rushing attempts. Ask any of the many talented Dolphins beat writers. Back in August, the expectation was for Wilson to be the 1A to Mostert’s 1B for McDaniel’s backfield. But the Yale graduate was forced to adjust — and boy, did he — when injury misfortune struck his running back room.
So where does Miami’s running game go from here sans Achane for the next few weeks? For all the work that Achane got as a wing-back-slot-receiver, Mostert has yet to receive any such carries on jet sweeps or end-arounds. Could that change with Miami’s primary run-game perimeter threat forced to the sideline with a knee injury? Possibly.
It’s important to remember that Mostert originally started as a wide receiver while playing collegiately at Purdue. And despite being no spring chicken at 31 years old, the former Boiler Maker recently reminded the football world that he’s still plenty capable of Mossin’ some dudes in the pass game.
This was the best offensive play Miami had yesterday and it illustrates how Tua throws to spots and not his targets. Phenomenal catch by Raheem Mostert. pic.twitter.com/cjKnBoRwrr
— Omar Kelly (@OmarKelly) October 2, 2023
With Mostert’s prowess in the pass game, is it possible for him to get that wing-back-slot-receiver work that was previously reserved exclusively for Achane? It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest. That way, McDaniel can keep opposing defensive coordinators downright petrified of Miami’s horizontal run game, while simultaneously making life easier for Wilson in McDaniel’s traditional inside-outside zone running game.
McDaniel is still the same once-upon-a-time Run Game Coordinator that was reportedly the mastermind behind putting All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams in motion on a critical fourth down in 2021’s Divisional Playoff game. Which should serve as a reminder that McDaniel is completely unafraid to do what hasn’t been done, and is more than willing to tap into those creative juices to put his offense in the best position possible.
Trent Williams in motion is not fair. #FTTB #NFLPlayoffs
📺: #SFvsGB on FOX
📱: https://t.co/VWvPUv1xA7 pic.twitter.com/GtXm78b0dh— NFL (@NFL) January 23, 2022
Will the loss of Achane sting Miami’s offense over the next few weeks? No question. Although he doesn’t possess the same game-breaking 4.3 speed as the former Texas A&M Aggie, Wilson’s absence provided a similar cloud of doubt for Miami’s running game prior to Week 1. After trading for the former San Francisco 49er mid-season in 2022, Wilson averaged 5.1 yards per touch and out-touched Mostert across across his eight games as a Dolphin last year. Admittedly, Wilson’s 5.1 yards per touch last season looks downright pitiful compared to the astronomical efficiency Mostert and Achane have accumulated thus far.
But with McDaniel pressing the buttons for Miami’s offense, you can rest assured that the Dolphins will still be able to generate quality production with its running game in Achane’s absence. It just might have to require a few never-before-seen tweaks.
And we already know that McDaniel can be trusted implicitly whenever the situation calls for such.
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