His biggest strength is his creativity and adaptability to create unique attacks based on the pieces he has. Check out Michael Holley’s WAR ROOM for some insight into how he put the pieces together for the 2007 offense.
As for weakness I think he tries to get too cute at times with some of the gadget plays. Of course, whenever you call a gadget play it’s either going to turn out awesome or embarrassing. Still, sometimes I think his timing is a little off.
Overall, I find it hard to truly evaluate an offensive coordinator from the outside. I know a lot of people get upset about “play calling” but there are so many unknowns it’s hard to really accurately put those solely on McDaniels. Maybe Brady changed the play at the line of scrimmage. Maybe the defense was in one look and got out of it just before the snap. Maybe the play had been clicking all week in practice and just didn’t work in the game. A lot of variables there.
But I do think McDaniels has shown a really good ability to develop offenses that can attack weaknesses, whether it’s with a heavy dose of the running game or a spread attack that goes no huddle.