Dolphins

Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel remains upset with the way that his team has been playing in the second half of games down the stretch.

“I’m very frustrated and angry about this continued third-quarter thing,” McDaniel said of his team being outscored 21-0 in the third quarter Sunday and 113-27 for the season.
“We allow the circumstances outside of our control [to affect us],” McDaniel said, via Barry Jackson. “The damn breaks and all of a sudden we play a different style of football. I’m furious because I’m allowing it to happen. It starts with me. I need to get it fixed.
“We’ve got two games to play that are incredibly important and look in the mirror and see who’s part of the solution. We have to be able to come out of halftime and adjust and we aren’t executing that at all. Back to the drawing board and all things are on the table.”

“It’s a little difficult,” McDaniel said of evaluating QB Quinn Ewers’ first NFL start. “There’s a lot of venom and anger toward the third, fourth quarter. When I take step back, I feel there was some positive stuff going on with this being his first start. It wasn’t too big for him. He had us operating; no penalties in the first half. Second half, it’s tough to evaluate. There were a couple third downs I was hoping he could make. It was a good starting point for him specifically.”

Jets

• Jets HC Aaron Glenn said that Brady Cook would remain the starting quarterback. (Rosenblatt)
• Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic named K Nick Folk, DT Harrison Phillips, RG Joe Tippmann, and RB Kene Nwangwu as early extension candidates for the Jets. 
• Rosenblatt thinks Broncos pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard would be an intriguing candidate for the Jets’ DC vacancy. He also brought up Bears pass game coordinator Al Harris, Eagles pass game coordinator Christian Parker, Seahawks pass game coordinator Karl Scott, and Dolphins DC Anthony Weaver. 
• In free agency, Rosenblatt thinks RB Breece Hall will be back, while they probably have to choose between John Simpson or Alijah Vera-Tucker for left guard. 
• Rosenblatt doesn’t believe LB Quincy Williams will return, and is interested to see if they keep QB Tyrod Taylor as a backup. 
• With the current projected $92 million in cap space, Rosenblatt brought up Lions LB Alex Anzalone because of his connection with Glenn. He also thinks a reunion with DL John Franklin-Myers makes sense.
• In the secondary, Rosenblatt named Rams S Quentin Lake, Bengals S Geno Stone and Eagles S Reed Blankenship as potential options.
• Rosenblatt feels the Jets will need pass rush help, and thinks Patriots’ K’Lavon Chaisson, Lions’ Al-Quadin Muhammad, Chargers’ Odafe Oweh and Seahawks’ Boye Mafe as possible solutions.
• Finally, Rosenblatt brings up the following players as options to bolster the receiver room: Romeo Doubs, Rashid Shaheed, and Jauan Jennings. 

Patriots

Patriots WR Stefon Diggs was asked about his experience as a free agent before signing with New England.

“Yeah, (the Patriots were) thinking about signing those other guys. And I know all those other guys they was thinking about signing,” Diggs told Doug Kyed. “I remember it was kind of like a we had to figure it out process. But when they told me I had an opportunity to come here, I jumped at it. Teams don’t really like to sign guys over 30 just coming off of ACL, so it’s just more motivation for me to come out and be myself.”

• Patriots S Jaylinn Hawkins was fined $9,944 for a hit on a defenseless player, and TE Austin Hooper was fined $11,593 for a facemask.