Mike McDaniel maintaining his cool as 0-2 Dolphins travel to face AFC East rival Bills in prime time

By Canadian Press on September 17, 2025.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Amid the Miami Dolphins’ 0-2 start, a plane circling overhead on Sunday towing a banner calling for his job, and facing a short week and trip to Buffalo, where he’s never won as a head coach, Mike McDaniel hasn’t lost the plot or his composure.

McDaniel was his familiar cool and calm self this week by refusing to flinch when asked about maintaining his focus and sanity.

“Buffalo,” he said. “I’m very understanding that in this business it’s result-based. My job is, the more that other people talk about anything, the less I even hear it. Buffalo, that’s what it is, and the Miami Dolphins.”

An early season, prime-time showdown between AFC East rivals on Thursday night has suddenly turned into a referendum on McDaniel’s status barely four years into his tenure.

The dynamic offense he introduced in helping the Dolphins reach the playoffs in each of his first two seasons is a distant memory after a 2-6 start to last season led to Miami missing the playoffs at 9-8.

The concerns and criticisms have become magnified with Miami opening this season with a 33-8 dud at Indianapolis followed by a rash of issues — communication, fundamentals and a fourth-quarter letdown — contributing to a 33-27 loss to New England on Sunday.

And now, the Dolphins face what amounts to a significant test in traveling to play the five-time defending division champion Bills (2-0) in a stadium they’ve not won in since 2016, and an opponent they’ve defeated just once in 14 meetings.

”I don’t care what our record is, we’re going to Buffalo,” defensive tackle Zach Sieler said. “We’ve got to go set the tone up there.”

It’s been business as usual in Buffalo, where the Sean McDermott-coached and Josh Allen-led Bills maintain a week-at-a-time, respect-your-opponent approach.

McDermott shrugged off a question regarding Buffalo’s home dominance over Miami as meaningless, and expressed sympathy when McDaniel’s job security was mentioned.

“It’s an unfortunate part of our business, number one, for anyone to have to go through that,” said McDermott, into his ninth season. “Two, is we focus on our team and trying to improve really every day.”

What matters is the Bills building off their first two wins, however different each one was achieved. Buffalo rallied from a late 15-point deficit to pull out a season-opening 41-40 win over Baltimore, and then clamped down defensively in coasting to a 30-10 win over the New York Jets.

Allen is the NFL’s reigning MVP and overseeing an offense that essentially returns intact. He’s 12-2 against Miami in the regular season and his 37 touchdowns passing against the Dolphins are the most against any opponent.

“None of that matters,” Allen said. “It doesn’t have any bearing to what this week will bring.”

Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver appreciates the challenge ahead.

“My wife texted me Monday morning and she’s like, ‘Hey, hang in there,’” Weaver said. “And I’m like, ‘The time for grieving was yesterday, baby. Today is for fighting.’ And that’s what we’re doing. It’s time to fight back.”

Visor time

Allen wore a visor on his helmet in practice this week, and expects to do so on Thursday night to protect his nose, which was bruised and bloodied in the first quarter against the Jets.

“It doesn’t really impact much,” Allen said. “It’s a little warmer in there. Your voice kind of echoes off of it, too. So just a little bit weirder.”

Otherwise, his nose is fine, as is the quarterback’s sense of humor.

“Yeah, I’m the third Bosa brother in the league now,” Allen said, referring to teammate Joey Bosa and 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa.

Joey Bosa laughed saying, Allen more resembles his brother.

Defensive frustrations

One of the biggest surprises to start the season has been the struggles of Miami’s defense, a unit that finished 2024 ranked fourth in total defense after allowing just 314.4 yards per game.

Miami is ranked 26th in total defense and has the second-worst scoring defense in the NFL, allowing 33 points per game. Opponents have scored on 13 of 15 possessions against them, excluding drives that ended with kneel-downs.

“I feel like we are either being too conservative or not being sound enough up front where we need to work together as a unit better,” Sieler said. “I’ll take the ownership of that.”

Intense rivalry

McDaniel’s first glimpse of the Bills-Dolphins rivalry came as a kid, when he saw former Miami linebacker Bryan Cox come out of the tunnel at what was then Rich Stadium in Buffalo and made an obscene gesture with both hands in 1993.

“I was like, ‘whoa, that’s intense,’” McDaniel. “I knew about that rivalry from whenever that was — early 90s — as a kid, and off the rip I was like, that’s a different set of fanbases that are both very prideful so stuff is going to pop off.”

McDaniel noted Bills fans have greeted him with a similar gesture.

“You can feel the intensity,” he said. “It makes it a really cool road atmosphere when we go up there because they are pretty nice people that when it comes to football they black out and say a lot of things.”

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AP Sports Writer Alanis Thames in Miami Gardens, Florida, contributed.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

John Wawrow, The Associated Press

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