A welcome tinge of early Miami Mike McDaniel resurfaced last week as he - perhaps not-so-coincidentally - drove straight past the Buffalo Bills watch party in the wake of their upset defeat to his Dolphins.
It had served as one of the shock results of the NFL season so far, and one of the scarce bright spots amid a bleak campaign for Miami. McDaniel insisted he was merely driving home. That's not the McDaniel football knows.
His loveable humour had become a prominent theme as he flexed his offensive wizardry in orchestrating one of the league's most explosive attacks across his first few years in charge. As much has since understandably faded while he addresses the wounds of a team already bracing for 2026.
On Sunday, it was seemingly back. Whether he wants to admit it or not.
"Man, coach Mike is the petty king," Dolphins linebacker Bradley Chubb told Sky Sports.
"He just showed it right then and there, man. He said he was on his way home. I don't know what he said, it was that he was on his way home. He just happened to go by.
"So I don't know if he did it on purpose, but he is the petty king for sure."
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A little can go a long way, and between a dent to Buffalo's AFC East battle and McDaniel's not-so-subtle jibe the Dolphins were finally able to revel in the long-lost spark that had previously fuelled a playoff contender.
Chubb, McDaniel and Miami know it cannot stop there, for so much of the frustration stems from a knowledge and belief inside the locker room of what the Dolphins could achieve.
McDaniel's team have won two of their last three, having started the season 1-6 and staring at the prospect of a wasted season. Their next stop is Madrid, where they host the Washington Commanders at the iconic Bernabeu Stadium in the NFL's first-ever regular-season game in Spain.
"I would say it was rocky at first, man. Because we had, for ourselves, so much expectation going into the season," said Chubb. "All season, we talked about how we had to block out the noise and just focus on us. That mantra we used: they talk, we do. And at the beginning of the season, man, when you're leading on that, and you get punched in the mouth, it's like, okay, hold on.
"We gotta reinvent everything. In a sense, that's how everybody kind of felt. But we just stayed to it. Everybody stayed the course, stayed working hard.
"And I feel like now we're in a position where we're finally playing complementary team football on all sides, on all cylinders. We need to continue to do that and trust each other, going out not playing to make your plays but what the team needs you to do."
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Few outside of the Dolphins building could have envisioned victory over a Bills team that just bossed Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. De'Von Achane was an unstoppable, field-flipping X Factor on the ground, while a scrutinised defense locked down both Josh Allen and James Cook in style.
At 3-7 it may prove too little too late, but Chubb deems it forward progress as they pitch up in Spain.
"I'm using it as the catalyst," he said. "We saw what happens when we play complementary football in all three phases. I feel like we just have to use that as a catalyst. There's no going back from that.
"If we don't play up to that standard, we know if we wouldn't lose a game, why we wouldn't lose a game. So it's going to be fun to see how we respond to that. Like you said, a whole new country, a whole new environment. I feel like that's adversity in itself.
"We've been built for it all season. We've been going through it all season. So I feel like it's a great out for us."
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Chubb described the Dolphins locker room as 'delusional' on the back of their win over the Bills, his point being that the team's mindset or confidence had not altered despite their struggles over the first half of the season.
"I called it that because, from the outside looking in, if we say, 'hey, we're going to win eight games in a row and make the playoffs,' people are like, 'come on, be honest with yourself'. But you have to have that mentality to go out there and do it," he explained.
"If you don't have that mentality, you're not going to do it. So in a sense, to the outside world, it is delusional. But for us, it's all belief and all what we know we can do."
"We just continue to lean into each other. JB, linebacker Jordyn Brooks, he always says 'a house divided can't stand' So being able to be one unit each and every week, I feel like that's how we're going to continue to move on."
Chubb, who had been a rumoured trade departure ahead of the deadline on November 4, missed the entire 2024 campaign through injury having put up 11 sacks and a league-high six forced fumbles in his first full campaign with the Dolphins in 2023. He leads the team with five sacks this season.
"I didn't play all year, being out with a knee injury and having to come back from that. And a couple of years ago, I had another knee injury. And after that year, I made my first Pro Bowl, so me personally, I've been through adversity and came out on the other side of it in a positive light," he continued.
"I kind of take that same mantra to the locker room. And we got a lot of leaders who've been through adverse situations.
"This is just another page in the journey for us. We're all just sticking together and making sure that we are running it how we wanted to see it run.
"Nobody has given up in a sense. We're all approaching each and every practice with full intent."
The Miami Dolphins face the Washington Commanders at the iconic Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, live on Sky Sports NFL from 2pm (kick-off, 2.30pm). Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW.