The Miami Dolphins are still staring at a 0-4 start, but Jeff Hafley isn’t blinking.
On Tuesday, the rookie head coach met with the South Florida media and stuck to the same message: the losses have piled up, but he still sees a team headed in the right direction. Hafley said the focus remains on building the right kind of group, one that keeps improving, trusts each other and stays locked in on the process.
“Everything that we do is towards winning, but if we have the right guys in the building, and they keep improving, and if they keep trusting in their teammates and trusting in themselves, and develop, they’ll continue to go forward and give their best, and do everything they can, because they respect and love their teammate, and go after it, and get better and win a game.”
He didn’t stop there. Hafley said he told the players directly in a team meeting that this stretch would test them, and that not everybody is going to be built for it.
“It’s what I just told them downstairs in the team meeting. I told the guys very clearly that this was going to be a tough journey that we were all going to go on.
I told them that if they weren’t up for it, then they can go talk to [Jon-Eric Sullivan]. This is the time to find out, as we build this thing and grow, who are the real guys?
Like, who are the guys that we can trust - that want in the boat - because when we flip this thing - and we will flip this thing - that we want to have around? The only way you find out those things is going through adversity together.
And we’re going to find a lot about the guys.”
Asked whether he already believes he has the right pieces in the building, Hafley pointed to the way the Dolphins have carried themselves through the early season.
“The way we’re building this thing and the way we are talking about the process and the way we’re playing together, and the way we’re getting better, and the energy that we’ve played with, and the toughness that we’ve played with, I do believe we have the right guys, more or less, that will help us get to that point.”
For now, Miami is winless and still waiting for the first sign that the work is going to show up where it matters most. Hafley’s stance, though, is clear: he believes the team is close, and he believes the turnaround is coming.
The next chance to prove it comes Sunday, when Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals come to Hard Rock Stadium.
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