Photo of Mike McDaniel as Broncos ball boy highlights inspirational journey of Dolphins’ head coach
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Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, a former Denver Broncos ball boy, has come full circle after demolishing his former team 70-20. The trouncing shows just how far the 40-year-old has come on his journey.
The Miami Dolphins completed an all-time demolition job against the Broncos at the weekend, scoring the second-most points ever in an NFL game. Mike McDaniel’s team became just the third team to score 70 points in an NFL regular-season game, and he did so against a team he has plenty of history with.
Mike McDaniel on “dream” of being Broncos ball boy
In the aftermath of the historic score line, a photo of Mike McDaniel as a Broncos ball boy surfaced on social media. McDaniel played college football for three seasons (2001-2004) at Yale while studying history, but it was clear he was never going to make it professional.
However, his interest in football goes much further back than college, as he joined the Denver Broncos as a ball boy while he was still in high school. McDaniel was interviewed on Broncos Tonight, with the then-ball boy explaining how a chance encounter during a Broncos training camp session resulted in him introducing his mother to his future stepfather.
He says: “I remember being five or six and saying ‘I have to be a Denver Bronco football player. My life will not be successful if I don’t play professionally.’”
He then moved to Denver and got a job as a ball boy for the Broncos which he described as “a dream come true.”
He would eventually leave the Broncos to attend college, but in 2005 returned to the team as an intern on Mike Shanahan’s staff.
Photo of Mike McDaniel as Broncos ball boy highlights his inspirational journey
A photo of McDaniel as a Broncos ball boy went viral and fans were loving the full circle moment. McDaniel has spent time with the Houston Texans, Sacramento Mountain Lions, Washington Redskins (Now Commanders), Cleveland Browns, Atlanta Falcons, and the San Francisco 49ers before he replaced Brian Flores as the head coach in Miami.
For him to put 70 points on a team he was previously associated with, while being in charge of the best offense in the NFL, is no small feat, and shows just how far he’s come.
‘The team he grew up rooting for gotta love it when people’s lives come full circle,’ one fan wrote.
‘This is crazy’, another said.
Another comment read: ‘Imagine having your own ball boy drop 70 points on you.’
Why he decided to forego NFL record against Denver
The Dolphins were up 70-20 against the Broncos and just three points from scoring the most points ever in a single NFL game game.
However, instead of kicking a field goal with 33 seconds left, McDaniel chose to take a knee and turn the ball over.
“I’m very okay with the decision, and I think the team, notably the leaders of the team supported it, the captains supported it,” McDaniel told reporters.
“It’s not the way you want to get the record. I would hope that if the shoe was on the other foot, the opponent would feel the same way. That’s called karma. I’m trying to keep good karma. … To send the field goal team on and squeeze an extra three, that’s not really what I’m about.”
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