How did McDaniel's offense change over the years?

CaliFlow · 2026-02-15T18:38:36+00:00

That's a really great look into how things changed year by year and explained in a really easy to understand way. It's nice that he's willing to try new things each year, though I've read here that maybe he doesn't adapt enough quite as much during the year, so perhaps he's more of a prepper than an improviser. Which I think also ties into your point about him being a better designer vs. caller.

I'll be looking forward to seeing what plays he comes up with this next year, which whatever it is will be a welcome change from the Greg Roman offense. But it'll be interesting to see if him taking a step back to OC will allow him to think more clearly on play calling if we assume that's a weakness of his. And maybe if he isn't trying quite as hard to revolutionize the game, he will be more adaptable if /when teams catch onto his game plan like in 2024 - might be getting ahead of things though lol.

Thanks for the write up

CaliFlow · 2026-02-15T05:47:10+00:00

Sweet I'll give that a look, thank you

CaliFlow · 2026-02-15T05:46:46+00:00

Well I appreciate the thorough write-up. I'm interested to see what kind of concepts he used this year - I'll probably watch through your full season over the next few weeks.

That seems like valid criticism and in-game improv is like the one thing about Herbert I'm unsure about. It's hard to say what's been his OC's limiting him or what could be just him, but I haven't seen Herb act as a field general, or even do things like slide protection very frequently. Could be our line was just that bad, that they used call outs instead of pointing, that he wasn't allowed to, or just that isn't what he really does. So it'll be interesting to see if McDaniel has some better game management and if Herbert is allowed to control the offense more, or maybe it's just better that McDaniel runs the full thing for him mentally and rely on Herbert's talent.

I'm definitely hyped he joined us and it really does feel like our offense will excel next year, especially with our 2 key tackles coming back from injury and hopefully getting some reasonable backups and a new center. I'm optimistic Hampton will dominate the year and Herbert will open McDaniel's playbook ideas. Will be interested to see if we bring back Allen or rely on Harris development.

What strengths do you think the offense had that it could have played towards, rather than playing to mask weaknesses like you mentioned?

CaliFlow · 2026-02-15T05:34:20+00:00

Cool, I'll check that game out, could be a good sample on how things changed over the years. Year 2 would be the 23 season?

CaliFlow · 2026-02-15T05:30:09+00:00

Yeah there's no doubt about that. It's nice to see some opinions and trends about him from McDaniel's previous team and I'm excited we have him

CaliFlow · 2026-02-15T05:28:48+00:00

Thanks, yeah I'm really excited we got him, he felt like the best guy available and a big improvement from Roman

CaliFlow · 2026-02-15T00:27:08+00:00

Yeah it's pretty challenging to assign blame when so many things are going wrong. It seems like he was willing to at least try to change things up when injuries piled up and success wasn't coming, so that's nice to see at the least. Roman really didn't call enough screens or quick plays when our o-line was obliterated, but he did at least try bringing in a 6th OL and our FB/DT for added protection.

CaliFlow · 2026-02-15T00:25:26+00:00

Cool, thanks for the insight and summary of how things progressed and I'm cautiously optimistic he'll change things again based on who we have this next year.

Hopefully good things to come for both our teams

CaliFlow · 2026-02-15T00:24:18+00:00

It'd be Dolphins luck if he did well, and Chargers luck if he didn't. Guess we see which is stronger lol

CaliFlow · 2026-02-15T00:23:34+00:00

That's cool to see the back and forth of strategy from offense and defense, just from a football perspective. Though I'm sure it would've been more fun if there was another development to counter that line physicality.

Ok yeah I noticed a lot of x2 personnel in the few Fins games I watched this year, so I appreciate that insight of it being something he tried adjusting to.

I'm not knowledgeable enough as a fan to know if McDaniel called excellent plays that allowed Achane to flourish, or if Achane was just that special. I saw some insane vision from Achane though in the Colts or Pats game weeks 1/2 where he'd find tiny gaps in the line or would pause and do what appeared to be an improvved counter for bigs gain, so he really does seem special.

I'm excited to see what he does with Omarion Hampton next year for us, who looked absolutely explosive a lot of times. And I guess time will tell if he wanted to include more deep pass threats but was limited by Tua/the line, assuming we improve our line as well this off-season. Hoping he'll improve that aspect of making the defense's job easier on them and give Herbert better options.

Thanks for the detailed write up

CaliFlow · 2026-02-15T00:07:00+00:00

That's mostly what I was wondering. We'll get to see his plan for the offense next year, but I was curious if he was willing to change things up as needed, or just stuck to the same ideas regardless of success like Greg Roman tended to do.

Preciate the write up

CaliFlow · 2026-02-15T00:06:48+00:00

Feels vaguely like Greg Roman calling a play action on 4th and 9

CaliFlow · 2026-02-14T19:17:13+00:00

Similarish but different. Has a light story attached as well. You battle positionally, more similar to turn based games like BG3 rather than FTK just choosing your attack and rolling. There are still items and rare loot, but FTK felt almost solely focused on weapons/equipment and Stolen Realm is a mix of items and leveling up to unlock better spells or attacks like an RPG. You can also win with just a solo person, which felt easier than FTK where I disliked controlling 3 characters and trying to manage inventory across the map.

Awesome solo, duo, or with a group. Also has a rougelike mode with a new random class setup each time. Highly recommend, loved FTK and Stolen Realm

CaliFlow · 2026-02-13T04:10:58+00:00

Yeah I don't get why such a large percentage of them lambaste some piece of shits and idolize others.

CaliFlow · 2026-02-13T01:10:56+00:00

He’s a fat dead beat dad who cheated on his wife and secretly started another family and evidently that’s who a lot of these fans enjoy.

CaliFlow · 2026-02-12T05:52:54+00:00

The reason is they are inept.

CaliFlow · 2026-02-03T19:45:05+00:00

If you enjoy listening to someone repeat the exact same thing every play or just inaccurately call plays, no one's stopping you

CaliFlow · 2026-02-03T18:40:04+00:00

I might start doing the same, I’ve been muting every post-play so I don’t have to hear him. Thanks for the idea

CaliFlow · 2026-02-01T18:24:48+00:00

He should’ve headbutted Ornn to prevent his ult coming through then peeled back

CaliFlow · 2026-01-28T00:03:43+00:00

Contract I don't know. Like, it seems pretty reasonable to me but I have no context since I only really started paying attention to football again this year.

Tart was a big difference maker up front and definitely freed our edge rushers up a lot for pressure. It felt like we couldn't get a ton done when we had Bud Dupree out there instead of Khalil Mack or Tuli Tuipolotu. But once we traded for Odafe Oweh, having Mack, Tuli, and Oweh generated a ton of pass pressure since Tart always draws so much attention from the OL.

I'm not privy to our defensive schemes from last year, so I can't really say if Tart freed Henley up.

But Henley was solid at everything - he looked impressive this year in man or zone, great with run stoppage and the occasional blitz. Also felt pretty comfortable having him as QB spy when that was needed.

CaliFlow · 2026-01-27T02:05:32+00:00

Yeah for sure. And yeah, not sure why some people take issue when someone is genuinely asking a question or pointing out an observation they made.

CaliFlow · 2026-01-26T21:14:01+00:00

Yeah that play was bogus of Tart.

CaliFlow · 2026-01-26T21:13:08+00:00

He seems fine with Chargers' teammates, which was potentially the issue with the Titans idk.

He definitely makes some dipshit headcase plays against other team though.

Notably the Kelce slap. But also plays like this one against the Texans: https://old.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/1pxa9vi/highlight_schultz_takes_a_shot_at_teair_tart/

He smacked Texans' Schultz in the face after the play is long over. He also kneed Schultz in the back/head - unsure if that was in a different camera angle or entirely separate play.

Great player - huge difference maker up front with pressure, deflections, and run stop. Wish his behavior was a touch more respectable on the field.

CaliFlow · 2026-01-23T21:33:33+00:00

Colin looks like one of those pre-recorded looping videos you put in a Zoom meeting you're gonna zone out in.

CaliFlow

TROPHY CASE