MIAMI -- There are easier coaching debuts than the one the Miami Dolphins’ Mike McDaniel has coming up this weekend.
McDaniel faces the NFL’s winningest active coach in the New England Patriots’ Bill Belichick in Sunday’s regular-season opener (1 p.m. E.T., CBS) in Hard Rock Stadium.
“It would be a bigger deal if Coach Belichick and I were on the field, maybe doing like an Oklahoma drill, but I don’t foresee that happening,” McDaniel said. “I don’t think the fans would really pay for that … I know one thing [about] coaches in the National Football League, especially experienced NFL head coaches, especially arguably the best coach of all time, Bill Belichick, he’s going to be prepared. So you know that as a head coach, you better prepare your team and leave no stone unturned. Otherwise, you’ll end up kind of coaching with regret after the fact.
“Luckily, the schedule came out a long time ago, so I digested that and knew what Week 1 was, and luckily it’s the Miami Dolphins versus New England Patriots, and not a one-on-one square-off between head coaches.”
Sunday’s matchup represents the first of four tests for the Dolphins to start the season, all coming against teams that finished with winning records last season. The Dolphins will travel to Baltimore in Week 2 before hosting the reigning AFC East champion Buffalo Bills in Week 3, and they round out the block with the AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals in Week 4.
But no team will ever admit to looking ahead in their schedule, and there’s an additional wrinkle added to the challenge the Patriots present this year, beyond their normal brand. With former offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ departure for the Las Vegas Raiders this offseason, the Patriots’ offense is in a rebrand, of sorts. Former Lions and Giants coaches Matt Patricia and Joe Judge, respectively, have combined to form a duo in charge of New England’s offense.
Neither has offensive backgrounds, which makes it difficult to prepare for what they might do Sunday.
“It gives us a different type of challenge, but you know Belichick -- he's gonna come in ready to go,” Dolphins linebacker Jerome Baker said. “He's gonna have a game plan. He's gonna challenge us in every way possible. That's the fun part about playing the league, man. It's gonna be a challenge every week, and this is gonna be the first.”
Miami has won three straight games over New England, dating back to the 2020 season. Belichick has never lost four straight to a single opponent during his tenure with the Patriots, according to ESPN Stats and Info.
And he’s determined to make sure that streak remains true.
In a break from routine, the Patriots traveled to South Florida earlier this week and conducted their practices for the week in Palm Beach in order to acclimate to what will be a hot and humid environment Sunday.
Could there be other new wrinkles on Sunday? In windy conditions on Dec. 6 in Buffalo last season, the Patriots attempted just three passes, completing two for 19 yards in beating the Bills 14-10.
“One of the features of Coach Belichick’s team for years is there’s plenty of elements of surprise,” McDaniel said. “So I guess I’d be surprised not to be surprised. I’m sure people are saying the same thing about me and the Miami Dolphins. But at the same time, I do know that it’s going to be very sound, very tied together, players are going to know what they’re doing and there’s going to be an intent with which they play football.
“At the same time, it’s not about plays, it’s how an offense kind of executes a system. And I’ve seen from the brief preseason footage, a team working on a system, which is a common denominator for successful offenses in the National Football League.”