“I am Doing This Pro Bono”: Salty Mike McDaniel Fan Launches Detailed Rant Against the Refs for Not Making Obvious Calls During Eagles vs Dolphins Clash

Nidhi | 23/10/2023
"I am Doing This Pro Bono": Salty Mike McDaniel Fan Launches Detailed Rant Against the Refs for Not Making Obvious Calls During Eagles vs Dolphins Clash

The Dolphins went down in a brutal loss against the spirited Eagles during Sunday Night Football. The Eagles unit, donned in kelly green, handed the Dolphins their second loss this season with a brutal 31-17. The Fins ended the night with an alarming 10 penalties, while the Eagles got out unscathed with zero calls.

Throughout the matchup, Twitter was abuzz with frustrated fans over “bad calls” and “missed calls” against the Eagles. A Coach Mike McDaniel fan joined the crowd after the game was over, launching into a detailed rant against the Refs for not making obvious calls. And he brought receipts.

Miami Fans Not Happy With Refs Calls During Game vs Eagles

Former college teammates and QBs Tua Tagaliaviola and Jalen Hurts went head to head in a game that was expected to be a titillating affair with two 5-1 teams meeting on the gridiron. However, off the bat, the Dolphins were struggling, bogged by strong players missing due to injury. It only got more frustrating for the Miami team and fans, as it battled through injuries and a flag test. Coach McDaniel’s fan took to X (formerly Twitter) to point out seven calls that the refs apparently missed.

1. Roughing the passer penalty on Wilkins

Dolphins’ Wilkins was penalized for roughing the passer Watts. Even Terry McAuly called out the missed Wilkins roughing the passer penalty on the broadcast. The fan claimed that it was a wrong call, as he “let up after a light shove.”

2. Face mask hold

Eagles cornerback James Bradberry grabbed Cedrick Wilson Jr.’s facemask during a route in the third quarter. The move prevented Wilson from making an attempt to catch Tua Tagovailoa’s pass. However, this was not called by the refs.

3. Four blatant penalties that were not called on the Eagles

The Mike McDaniel parody account reposted another fan’s tweet breaking down “four blatant penalties” that were not called on the Eagles during the matchup.

4. Missed PI on Slay’s INT

Darius Slay intercepted Tua Tagovailoa near the end zone and returned it for 16 yards. However, the fan believes Slay should’ve been penalized for pass interference.

The fan further pointed out various holds on Dolphin players by the Eagles as well a “ridiculous choke from an Eagles player on David Long.”

The Dolphins accumulated 10 penalties for 70 yards in the crucial game, which they couldn’t afford given its significance. During the game, with the score tied at 3, the Eagles faced a second-and-10 on the Miami 35-yard line. Nickerson deflected Hurts’ pass, but Wilkins was penalized for a late hit on Hurts. This penalty allowed the Eagles to score a touchdown, taking a 10-3 lead in the second quarter. Additionally, earlier in the game, a hold by Cotton nullified a Hill touchdown, forcing the Dolphins to settle for a 40-yard field goal by kicker Jason Sanders.

The Real Mike McDaniel Says Loss Was “Critical”

The Sunday matchup was a crucial game for the Dolphins, who have been said to have “not won a single game” despite having a 5-1 record going into the game. The ten penalties cost the fins plenty, but it was not the only thing that contributed to their failure. The offense was visibly struggling, but even as they tied up the score 17-17 after being down 14 points at halftime, they could not fully recover.

In the post-game press meet, McDaniel claimed it was critical to play against a good team like the Eagles on the road. Talking about the brutal loss and what the team can learn from it, McDaniel said it is a good learning experience to lose against a really good team,

“You have to feel what it is like to play such a good team on the road…its an important building block…if you’re going to lose games, you want it to be against a really good team, and you want it to hurt.”

Coach Mike further reiterated the importance of “learning from your mistakes and not pointing fingers,” possibly referring to the “bad” calls during the game. Talking of the Dolphins racking up -10 points due to penalties, he said,
“You have to look at it hard, and look at it case by case…and clean up your game…you can’t just a finger and say that um that’s not fair, that doesn’t make any sense to me. Its more looking at stuff that we can improve and we can control.”
It seems that the real coach is not going to be making the claims that fans have been making on behalf of the fins about wrong calls. He is a believer in taking accountability and improving oneself instead of “pointing fingers.” The Eagles are now down 5-2, while the Eagles are seemingly back on their winning streak, improving to a 6-1.

 

Post Edited By: Nidhi

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Nidhi

Nidhi is an NFL Editor for The SportsRush. Her interest in NFL began with 'The Blindside' and has been working as an NFL journalist for the past year. As an athlete herself, she uses her personal experience to cover sports immaculately. She is a graduate of English Literature and when not doing deep dives into Mahomes' latest family drama, she inhales books on her kindle like nobody's business. She is proud that she recognised Travis Kelce's charm (like many other NFL fangirls) way before Taylor Swift did, and is waiting with bated breath for the new album to drop.