By now, you've probably heard the news—that after the Dolphins upset the Bills by double digits on Sunday, Miami coach Mike McDaniel drove past the Elbo Room, a Buffalo-backed bar in the Fort Lauderdale area, to troll the somber fans sitting out front. It's almost so funny a story as to be unbelievable, a tale in keeping with McDaniel's irreverent coaching style, but perhaps a touch too outlandish to feel real. How often does anyone see an NFL coach out and about, and openly teasing opposing fans to boot?
Well, thank goodness there's photo evidence of the whole thing.
Courtesy of a post from Bills fan Josh Martin, a picture of the coach sitting in his car and focusing solely on an emotionless Martin in the foreground has since made the rounds on social media, garnering attention on ESPN, the and even from Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who applauded his coach for his pettiness.
"Just spoke with Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel outside of Elbo Room," Martin wrote in the Nov. 9 tweet, which accompanied the photo. "I did congratulate him on the win, but I also let it be known my distaste for his football team. He CLEARLY came by to rub it in. Ultimately, we parted ways amicably. As always, Go Bills!"
In a Monday press conference, McDaniel would not confirm or deny whether that was him in the picture. Rather, he made clear that he does live in the area, and that "AI is real," two unrelated statements presented together to (1) get him out of answering the question, and (2) playfully suggest that perhaps AI really was the culprit here.
Well, given the back and forth, we here at did what any dedicated sports journalists would do and tracked down the elusive cameraman, the one who started this whole thing with his perfectly timed snap. In a 20-minute phone conversation, he confirmed that the image was AI-generated (nice try, coach)—and also shared some interesting tidbits from the hilarious and happenstance encounter.
‘That’s Mike McDaniel!’
In a funny turn of events, Ryan, the man behind the phone, isn't even a Bills fan, necessarily; he was just in town to visit his friend and cross Hard Rock off his “Stadiums to Visit” bucket list.
“My friend Brandon and I both traveled down to meet Josh, and Josh lives in the area down there,” Ryan told . “Brandon and I are working on doing like the NFL stadium tour, so essentially just trying to go to every NFL stadium before we die.”
Aside from the Buffalo loss, Ryan said the day was going great. “It was a great time, great place, had a bunch of funny interactions with Dolphins fans throughout the day. Nothing bad, just some healthy, competitive banter, if you will, and had a great time, beautiful weather.”
After the contest was over, Josh, the Bills fan of the group, suggested they take an Uber to Fort Lauderdale, where they would check out the Elbo Room before heading home. But as the three were hanging out on the patio, a familiar face pulled up.
“My buddy Josh immediately recognized,” Ryan detailed. “He's like, ‘That's Mike McDaniel, that’s Mike McDaniel!’ [The coach] pulled up to the stoplight in his matte gray or graphite-colored Bentley, and he had his window down and his arm out the window.”
Considering they were all in Bills gear, Ryan and co. thought it would be funny to say something to McDaniel. So Josh walked up to the edge of the sidewalk, while Ryan pulled out his phone.
“[Josh was] like, ‘You made me sad, coach, you made me sad today because we lost!’ Just making jokes. And Mike was yelling back, [but] I don't think Josh even recalls exactly what he said.” (A loud band in the bar was also making it difficult to hear.)
The back-and-forth continued, as other patrons meanwhile began to turn around and call out to the coach, who seemingly continued to engage as he turned onto an adjacent street.
Shortly after, Josh posted one of the photos Ryan took online, along with the caption you read above. The rest, of course, is history.
“I was just in perfect line,” Ryan said of his artistic vision when snapping the pic. “So after [Josh] spoke to [McDaniel], he turned around at the end of the conversation, and I think that's how I got it.”
In the end, the friends were positively thrilled that this happened. They thought McDaniel played his part perfectly, and think it’s awesome that he drove by, whether or not it was a planned attempt at gloating.
“I took it in a very positive way,” Ryan told . “I thought it was some healthy banter in the sports world, and of course you have the AFC East divisional games, so it just brings a little excitement. I think it was fun and I think the people that were all there loved it.”
“There were Dolphins fans at that bar, too,” he continued, “so for him to go by and do that, it just gives the fans some, like, one-on-one time with him, if you will, or however you want to phrase it, just to interact and kind of yell back and, you know, he's taunting a little bit, but it's playful. So props to him for doing that.
“I think it's something that’s exciting, and most coaches in the NFL are not gonna go out of their way to do something like that. So I don’t view it as petty in a negative light at all. Had a blast.”
