Bear in mind when Donald Faison instructed Denzel Washington in “Bear in mind the Titans” that soccer is enjoyable? Washington’s response to Faison is the one the Miami Dolphins selected to take in the direction of enjoyable of their locker room.

From what has been alleged of the Dolphins for many of this yr — bear in mind the entire Brian Flores lawsuit — their present scenario with Mike McDaniel as head coach was not the group’s first choice. Nevertheless, regardless of having just one yr of expertise as an offensive coordinator, Miami’s new head coach was on a roll for the primary month of this season.

The Yale graduate, who by no means performed soccer professionally, has an easy-going demeanor, and has generally even displayed a dry humorousness. That is new faculty NFL management, the place an individual shares data with gamers versus screaming it into their eardrums. McDaniel is fast to level out that he doesn’t play, so he believes his impact on in-game efficiency is proscribed. Fairly the self-aware and humble perspective from an NFL head coach, however he lately confirmed there’s nonetheless some conventional soccer coach trapped inside him.

The Dolphins’ captains, together with Tyreek Hill, who was acquired this previous offseason, determined after two consecutive losses that the crew had a distraction within the locker room — the ping-pong desk. So the captains determined that it wanted to be eliminated. In line with ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jaques, a ping pong tournament had been happening for a number of weeks. McDaniel instructed the media that he believes the choice by crew captains exhibits “management.”

Mike, when you’re going to be this new-age coach that can sometimes give actual quotes to the media, present a persona, and strategy main a crew in a different way. You don’t should be all in with a standard soccer transfer like this. You could possibly’ve merely stated, “Our crew leaders decided and I stand behind no matter choices they make as a collective. They’ve earned that.”

There’s no motive for effusive reward as a result of they determined to take a ping-pong desk out of the locker room. Whereas I’m no Nostradamus, I’m comfortably positive that the rationale that the Dolphins have misplaced their final two video games has nothing to do with a ping-pong match within the locker room, and certain has an awesome deal to do with them dropping their No. 1 and No. 2 quarterbacks to damage.

Going into this season, Tua Tagovailoa, was being questioned as as to if he was a adequate quarterback to steer Miami into competition. By means of three video games, the Dolphins had been undefeated and knocked off two potential Tremendous Bowl champions in consecutive weeks. Nevertheless, Tagovailoa went down arduous in opposition to the Buffalo Payments in Week 3 and stumbled again to the bottom after standing up. He sat out the remainder of the primary half and led the Dolphins to victory. Then 4 days later, a head damage triggered a fencing response, and Teddy Bridgewater needed to end off that loss. Tagovailoa didn’t play in opposition to the Jets in Week 5, and Bridgewater was faraway from the sport, leaving 2022 seventh-round draft decide Skylar Thompson underneath heart in a second consecutive loss.

Don’t overreact now, Dolphins. You’re beginning a third-string quarterback when earlier than Tagovailoa’s damage you all didn’t have three energetic QBs on the roster. It’s an unlucky flip of occasions, however don’t now resolve to take meathead soccer measures.

The purpose of enjoyable objects within the facility is to maintain the staff there longer. It’s why Silicon Valley firms have greater than only a espresso machine, water cooler, and microwave of their workplaces. If a company needs to get the very best out of its workers whereas they’re on the facility, make the place snug. Have ping-pong tables, arcade video games, flavored seltzer water, nap stations — something that makes somebody not really feel the necessity to go dwelling proper at 5:00 p.m.

Eradicating the ping-pong desk is now a motive for gamers, consciously or subconsciously, to resolve to not spend as a lot time as they used to on the apply facility.

The normal soccer sensibility is to remove something perceived to be a distraction, nevertheless it’s 2022. The gamers at the moment are all the time distracted. They’ve excess of 10 channels to look at on tv, a handful of native radio stations, literature, and a Nintendo to maintain them firm. A weeks-long ping-pong match is definitely a sensible solution to maintain the participant on the facility. A non-traditional method of approaching soccer. One thing the Dolphins had been supposedly keen to embrace by hiring McDaniel.

As an alternative, the Dolphins went backward, by eradicating a little bit of enjoyable from this roster. A roster that will be absolutely in its rights to say that the crew’s most vital drawback will not be a ping-pong match, it’s a correct medical examination of their quarterbacks.