Marcel Louis-JacquesESPN November 3, 2023, 10:26am ET3 minutes read
FRANKFURT, Germany – Ahead of Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel knows there will be a narrative regardless of the outcome.
The Dolphins and Chiefs are both 6-2, in a four-way tie atop the AFC, with a bevy of teams just one loss behind. The parity in the NFL and the small number of games played contribute to a wealth of narratives surrounding each team, McDaniel said.
“I’ll tell you what’s going to happen to the Miami Dolphins. We lose, we can’t beat good teams. We’re winning, we’re going to win the Super Bowl,” McDaniel said Friday. “None of that matters. You have to do your best when you have to do your best, and then there are elimination games. So you try to work towards that and take advantage of every opportunity to be as prepared as possible for the situation at the end of the season.”
The Dolphins face the defending Super Bowl champions without starting right tackle Rob Hunt, who was sidelined last week against the New England Patriots with a hamstring injury and did not practice this week despite traveling with the team to Frankfurt for the game traveled NFL International Series.
Miami could see the return of left tackle Terron Armstead, who is eligible to be activated from injured reserve this week. Armstead’s 21-day activation window opened this week, and while McDaniel didn’t commit to the Pro Bowler playing on Sunday, he said the team is optimistic about Armstead’s progress throughout the week.
“We still have one more day to evaluate and we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves, but it was very encouraging and we’re optimistic, but we’ll just have to wait and see how the day unfolds to make sure there are no setbacks,” McDaniel said. “We feel very good about all the attacking players we play and the season is long so we don’t want – there’s no reason for him to push through something that could hurt him in the long run.”
Center Connor Williams suffered no setbacks this week as he continues to work on a groin injury that has kept him out of the Dolphins’ last three games.
McDaniel joked that Williams is “one of the most frustrated non-playing players I’ve ever seen,” noting the “worst look” he gets from Williams when he’s stopped from participating in a game or practice. Williams laughed when asked about McDaniel’s assessment of his behavior, but acknowledged how frustrating it was not being able to play for nearly a month.
“I think to play at this level you have to have that space,” Williams said. “You can access that high space to perform at a high level and just being out there and having to contain that, then just being around the guys and having a different role and a different purpose in the last couple of weeks fulfill, [was frustrating].
“And that could be why I’m staring to death, because I’m just trying to stay as locked in as possible.”
Miami will also be without safety Brandon Jones, who remains in the concussion protocol and did not travel with the team this week.