“Everyone else is making it awkward” – Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel on joint practice sessions with Tom Brady and the Buccaneers
Mike McDaniel and Tom Brady
Football is back! After one of the most dramatic offseasons ever witnessed, it is good to have crow back in the field watching and cheering on their teams battle it out on the field. Speaking of offseason drama, the debacle of the Miami Dolphins poaching Tom Brady and Saints former head coach Sean Payton was an interesting one.
After former Dolphins head coach, Brian Flores ended up suing the NFL and other teams for discrimination, it was revealed that the Dolphins had approached 7x Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady to join the team. They also wanted to have Sean Payton on board with them. Neither Brady nor Payton have confirmed these rumors, most critics believe it would have happened if not for the Flores lawsuit.
Also Read: “Its NFL punishment season”: Rich Eisen reflects on Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross getting fined
Mike McDaniel feels the media has a knack for blowing things out of proportion
One might think that the Dolphins trying to poach Tom Brady might’ve soured their relationship with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but it doesn’t seem like it at all. Just a week before the start of preseason games, the Dolphins were seen playing with Tampa Bay as they held joint practice.
Dolphins’ newly appointed head coach Mike McDaniel was asked after the joint practice session whether it was awkward working out with 5x Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady ever since the organization was found guilty of ‘impermissible communications’ with the quarterback. “Everyone else is making it awkward. It’s not for me,” said McDaniel. “Our focus is coordinated.”
The NFL started investigating the claim that the Dolphins had contact with Brady and Payton and after six long months they concluded their investigation and found Miami guilty. The league found that Miami had been in contact with Brady when he was with the Patriots in 2019 and again in 2021 when he joined the Buccaneers.
Stephen Ross, owner of the Miami Dolphins was handed a fine of $1.5 million along with a suspension of six games. Ross has been ordered to stay away from the organization’s day-to-day operations and will not be allowed at the Dolphins’ facility or represent the club at any team or NFL event during his suspension. Additionally, the team has to forfeit its first-round pick in the 2023 draft and its third-round pick in the 2024 draft.
The Dolphins and the Bucs played their first preseason game today and Tampa Bay was defeated 24-26. “You’re never going to be completely happy with a performance. That’s the point of being a coach,” McDaniel said after his debut win. “The day that you have a perfect game, I feel like we should walk off into the sunset. I was happy with how they handled adversity. Things didn’t go their way, we kind of started behind the 8-ball a little bit. They were running a bunch of pressures, so we were struggling to get the run game for reasons because they were committing to stop it. I was happy [with] how they responded and there’s a lot we can learn from it.”
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Also Read: “Tom Brady looks miserable”: NFL insider makes a SHOCKING revelation about the Tampa Bay QB
Yash Karandekar
(1023 Articles Published)