{"id":114516,"date":"2025-10-27T01:24:03","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T01:24:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=114516"},"modified":"2025-10-27T01:24:03","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T01:24:03","slug":"%e2%9a%a1-strategy-shocker-mike-mcdaniel-stuns-everyone-with-a-bizarre-new-formation-dolphins-wild-experiment-actually-works-to-perfection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=114516","title":{"rendered":"\u26a1 STRATEGY SHOCKER: Mike McDaniel stuns everyone with a bizarre new formation \u2014 Dolphins\u2019 wild experiment actually works to perfection!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MikeMcDaniel-2235390218_e06d14-e1761524752415.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MikeMcDaniel-2235390218_e06d14-e1761524752415.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MikeMcDaniel-2235390218_e06d14-e1761524752415.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MikeMcDaniel-2235390218_e06d14-e1761524752415.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Dolphins' Mike McDaniel Unveils Bizarre Formation in Win\" width=\"780\" height=\"520\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel uses six offensive linemen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Miami Dolphins came into Sunday\u2019s game against the Atlanta Falcons absolutely reeling. Okay, let\u2019s be honest, even after the Dolphins went to Atlanta and throttled a team starting a backup-but-not-really quarterback 34-10, they are still reeling at 2-6.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, Tua Tagovailoa was 20-26 passing for 205 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions despite a pre-game eye issue, but it was head coach Mike McDaniel\u2019s unique offensive line formations that may have stolen the show.<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, McDaniel employed six offensive linemen on the field at once in a new \u201cjumbo\u201d package with center Daniel Brunskill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUtilization of your roster, we had a couple injuries that we saw the opportunity to dive into some of the things that Dan (Brunskill) has done,\u201d McDaniel said after the game. \u201cKnowing him from all the way back to his 2019 San Francisco (season), I know what type of professional he is, and his versatility. We had some injuries at the (tight end) position so it gave us the opportunity to do something that\u2026having not done that one time since I\u2019ve been here, that they wouldn\u2019t be preparing for it. So it\u2019s a credit to him.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Miami Dolphins used Brunskill as more than just an ordinary offensive lineman<\/h2>\n<p>Kyle Crabbs of A-to-Z Sports did a good job of breaking down how the whole Brunskill experiment went down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBrunskill, who played with McDaniel in San Francisco, didn\u2019t just line up and plow bodies off the line of scrimmage, either,\u201d Crabbs writes. \u201cThe Dolphins were so bold as to give him motions and in-space assignments across his plays in this game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmong reps with Brunskill in the game as an eligible player, Miami posted gains of 17 yards, 18 yards, 18 yards, and also logged gains of 21 yards and 15 yards via penalties.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It sounds like McDaniel should have thought of something like this a long time ago.<\/p>\n<h2>Brunskill\u2019s versatility was key to making the formation work for the Miami Dolphins<\/h2>\n<p>Something was going right for the Dolphins on Sunday because there weren\u2019t many people that thought they had a chance to win this game outright, let alone crush the Falcons by 24 points. The Falcons were seven-point favorites for crying out loud!<\/p>\n<p>But, with the help of the six-offensive-linemen formations, the Dolphins managed to rack up 338 total yards, with 197 through the air and 141 on the ground. They were 6\/13 on third downs and managed 24 first downs on the day.<\/p>\n<p>McDaniel was eager to heap praise on Brunskill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOffensive linemen, typically in the segmentation of the offensive play call, don\u2019t even listen to the formation at all\u2026so for him to, in a week\u2019s time, be able to digest the play calls, and the assignments, and the alignments? It takes a special breed, that\u2019s why I think that\u2019s his sixth position in the league, that he\u2019s started at,\u201d McDaniel said.<\/p>\n<p>The Dolphins have a short week as they host the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime this week. Maybe the fact that it\u2019s on Mischief Night will help them? I have no idea why, but I think the Dolphins need all the help they can get. Maybe next week they use seven offensive linemen?<\/p>\n<p>Micah Warren Micah Warren has been covering the NFL &#8211; and sports in general &#8211; for more than 20 years and he began writing for Heavy in 2025. His work has been featured in Yahoo!, MSN.com, Forbes, amNewYork, Off the Record, GCobb.com, Muck Rack, PR Daily, Blast Magazine and other sports and non-sports-related outlets. Micah also co-hosts &#8220;The Philly Pulse&#8221; podcast. More about Micah Warren<\/p>\n<h2>More Heavy on Dolphins<\/h2>\n<p>Loading more stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Miami Dolphins and head coach Mike McDaniel unveiled a unique offensive formation with center Dan Brunskill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":114517,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u26a1 STRATEGY SHOCKER: Mike McDaniel stuns everyone with a bizarre new formation \u2014 Dolphins\u2019 wild experiment actually works to perfection! - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=114516\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u26a1 STRATEGY SHOCKER: Mike McDaniel stuns everyone with a bizarre new formation \u2014 Dolphins\u2019 wild experiment actually works to perfection! 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