Dolphins coach McDaniel praises progress made by Waddle and Achane going into Commanders game

MADRID (AP) — Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel enters the game against the Washington Commanders encouraged by the strong progress made by receiver Jaylen Waddle and running back De’Von Achane.

The Dolphins (3-7) take on the Commanders (3-7) on Sunday in Spain looking to keep the momentum going from their 30-13 win over the Buffalo Bills, a game where Waddle and Achane combined for more than 300 yards and three touchdowns.

Waddle, the team’s new No. 1 receiver after Tyreek Hill got injured, scored once and had 84 yards on five catches against the Bills.

“I would say that it’s been a pretty steady progression in the details of Waddle’s game,” McDaniel said Friday. “I think that gave him an opportunity that when we had some potential targets lost with some injuries, that opportunity hit him at a great time in where his development already was.

“I think when you have a receiver as talented as him and he is a football player, those are why he’s so important to me and this team because football players win,” McDaniel said.

Achane finished with 225 scrimmage yards against the Bills and had fourth-quarter touchdowns of 59 and 35 yards. He had six catches for 51 yards and rushed for 174 yards.

“I think it’s important to him to continue to get better and develop because he has high aspirations himself for a career,” McDaniel said. “In that, he’s finding ways to do what he does best more often. He’s really good at having a defender in front of him that’s trying to tackle him and in a split second, finding the edge of a tackler and breaking the tackle. For a smaller guy, he breaks a lot of tackles because of that. He’s doing that more often, utilizing that ability more often and getting more production in tight quarter situations.”

McDaniel said Achane’s longest touchdown last week “embodies his development.”

“And he’s been capable of doing something like that, but that particular play, making two people miss and taking it to the house, there are very few running backs who can do that and he’s trying to do it on the regular,” McDaniel said.

The coach said they are learning how to balance Achane’s workload as he continues to contribute both as a runner and a receiver.

“I think one of the things that is the saving grace for De’Von is that he doesn’t take hits on directly very often. Kind of speaking to how he finds edges of defenders, he’s not too banged up after games because of his ability to take on tacklers in an aggressive way,” McDaniel said.

“When you can feel that De’Von is at his best, avoiding tacklers, you try to get him the ball more until you see a dip in how he’s making defenders miss,” the coach said.

The game at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium will be the seventh — and final — international game of the season, the most ever in one year for the NFL as it continues to expand globally.

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