McDaniels moves past sideline spat with QB Giant denial
Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said he didn’t take Tom Brady’s blow-up on the sideline during Sunday’s game in Buffalo personally. He chalked it up to Brady being Brady, and part of what’s made the Patriots quarterback a five-time Super Bowl champion.
“It’s a very competitive game, an emotional game. Things like that can happen,” McDaniels said yesterday during a conference call. “Being in the game a long time, and understanding Tommy’s a very emotional person and player, it’s part of what makes him great. You understand those things happen. You know it’s never personal. You move on quickly from it. We did, and we have.
“I love Tom and all those things he stands for, and all those things he does for our team. That’s a situation where you understand it and move on quickly from it, and you focus on your job.”
Brady lit into McDaniels after an incompletion on third-and-11 ended a Patriots drive late in the first quarter. CBS television cameras captured Brady walking past McDaniels, who appeared to say something to the quarterback. Brady then turned and hollered at his longtime offensive coordinator for several seconds on the sideline, even ripping off his helmet to finish the outburst.
Not long after, the two were sitting together, discussing the plan for the next offensive series.
Asked if there was a fine line between leadership and petulance, McDaniels said that didn’t enter the equation.
“I’m not thinking about lines. We’re all trying to win the game,” McDaniels said. “Sometimes things like that happen, and you move on from them, and you try to win the game and be a professional. That’s all I know, that’s what we did, and that’s what we’ve done, and we’re focused on getting ready for the Dolphins.”
Familiar situation
The dynamic of playing the same team twice in three weeks brings about certain challenges for the coordinators. How much do they go with the same game plan? How much do they change?
In the Patriots’ case, they beat the Dolphins 35-17 on Nov. 26. They ran the ball effectively with Dion Lewis leading the way with 112 yards. Brady, meanwhile, threw for four touchdowns.
“It’s always a challenge when you’re looking at a game in the rearview mirror that you just played, you have to try and figure out how much to change, how much to do the same, understanding both teams are going to change some things,” McDaniels said. “There’s going to be some things they look at and maybe do differently, and vice versa, so part of that is trying to be careful, to not out-think yourself. And the other thing, you’re going to have to get into the game and feel out what adjustments they have made, and be ready to adjust on the fly during the course of the game Monday night because that always seems to play a factor in the second game of a division series. You’re going to need to adjust to something somebody else did first. We’ll be ready to do that.”
Patriots coach Bill Belichick sees the game as a completely separate entity from the first.
“It’s not a continuation of last week’s game. It’s starting all over again, and that’s what we have to be ready to do,” Belichick said. “It’s not going to be the same game. It will play out differently. There will be different things in the game that will affect this game a lot differently than the last one. Hopefully, one of them not being snapping the ball to them for a touchdown, and we’ll just have to react and play it out. We both know each other well. That’s really not the issue. It’ll be how different plays match up and how they’re executed and how this unique game will take its own life different than any other one.”
McDaniels was asked about the coaching vacancy with the New York Giants.
His response?
“I’m just interested in the Dolphins right now,” he said. “That’s where my focus is at, and that’s where it’s going to stay.”
Ron Meyer dead
Former Patriots coach Ron Meyer died last night at the age of 76. Meyer coached the Pats from 19821984. He also coached the Colts and perhaps is best known for coaching in the college ranks at SMU from 1976-81.