MIAMI, Dec. 20 (UPI) — Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel is often credited for his acumen as a play caller, but he showed off an apparent ability to predict the future in Week 15, telling coaches that Jaylen Waddle would score a touchdown.
The prediction was filmed and shown on Tuesday’s episode of Hard Knock: In Season With the Miami Dolphins. The arguably clairvoyant sequence occurred with about eight minutes remaining in the first half of the Dolphins’ 30-0 victory over the New York Jets on Sunday in Miami Gardens, Fla.
The Dolphins forced a Jets punt and took over possession in their own 40-yard line to setup their first play of the resulting drive.
“I’m really visualizing a one play drive here,” McDaniel told coaches on his headset, as he paced the sideline.
McDaniel then pulled his microphone away and turned to star wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who missed the game because of an ankle injury. He told Hill he was “having a tough time” not visualizing a one-play drive.
“Here it comes,” McDaniel said before the snap.
“I’m really visualizing the one-play drive here.”
Mike McDaniel is out here manifesting TDs #HardKnocks pic.twitter.com/EKDNHDesLZ— NFL (@NFL) December 20, 2023
Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa took the snap from under center. He stepped back and faked a handoff to running back De’Von Achane before looking down field. Waddle raced up the left flank and flew by Jets cornerback D.J. Reed.
Tagovailoa launched a long pass into the area. The heave landed safely in Waddle’s hands as he jogged into the end zone.
“It’s something that, when you watch it, I’m sure that play will make its rounds on the internet because it was more about the flow of the game, what I kind of thought about protection, and there’s not many people that could cover the route that Jaylen Waddle ran because there’s not many people that are capable of going vertical,” McDaniel said Sunday at his postgame news conference. “[Waddle] did a left-right move and then still found an exit angle, which is a very hard thing to do.
“We really liked the player, the matchup, and just kind of the way those two were connecting all week. Yeah, that was pretty easy to call.”
Waddle totaled season highs with eight catches and 142 yards in the victory. That yardage total was the third-highest of his career. The Dolphins wide receiver needs just 36 more receiving yards to reach 1,000 for the third-consecutive season.
Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa completed 21 of 24 passes for 224 yards in Sunday’s win. He leads the NFL with 3,921 passing yards and a 71% completion percentage and is tied for fifth with 25 passing scores. Tagovailoa also ranks second with a 106 passer rating, trailing only Brock Purdy (119) of the San Francisco 49ers.
The Dolphins (10-4), who lead the NFL in points and yards, will host the Dallas Cowboys (10-4) at 4:25 p.m. EST Sunday in Miami Gardens.
