MIAMI GARDENS ― Jeff Hafley keeps coming back to the same point: this is about the Dolphins, not him. But Week 7 still gives the Miami coach a personal wrinkle, because his first NFL head-coaching win would come in his home state of New Jersey.
"My mom will be there," Hafley said of a Week 7 game at the New York Jets. "I'll have a lot of people there.
My brother, my sister, I'll probably have 30-plus people at the game. For all of us, I think it's always nice to go back close to home."
That trip sets up against a Jets team that is 2-4, with Miami entering at 0-5 and still listed as a 4.5-point underdog. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. on CBS.
The Dolphins are also coming out of an early bye week, and linebacker Jordyn Brooks said the timing matters after a rough opening stretch.
"New energy, man," said Dolphins linebacker Jordyn Brooks. "Just a chance to reset.
Wasn't a friendly first five weeks of the season. It was tough, kind of going through that.
And we still got to live with it, but I think that break gives you a chance to kind of reflect and kind of take a deep breath and I think that's what this team needed."
Miami's first five opponents were playoff-caliber teams, while the Jets likely are not. Even so, the numbers have been ugly. The Dolphins rank better than league average in only eight of the NFL's top 32 essential categories.
Still, there are a few areas where Miami has held up reasonably well. Hafley pointed to the run game and the run defense as the foundation.
"Right now, we're a team that's running the ball very well, and we're playing pretty good run defense, too," Hafley said. "We're a physical team. I think we have to build on that identity and continue to grow and develop."
That growth has to come fast, and the bye week offered a chance to step back and sort through what has gone wrong.
"With such a small sample size, it's not huge, but a really good time to evaluate and catch your breath and sometimes when you get to step back, you can see some things clearly," Hafley said.
Several Dolphins have already pointed to the same corrections they want to see going forward. Malik Willis said the turnovers have to stop after he threw four interceptions and lost five fumbles in his first five games with the team.
"It just can't happen, you know?" Willis said.
"I mean, regardless of what went down to force the turnovers, you just can't have them, regardless. And just risk management because there's no fault, it's just the turnover goes to me, so it doesn't matter.
It’s on me."
Brooks wants Miami to start creating more takeaways. The Dolphins are 29th in the league with only four turnovers forced, including one forced fumble.
"Getting the ball in any way that we can," Brooks said. "Capitalize on turnover opportunities."
Patrick Paul had a simpler target in mind: cut down on the flags. Miami sits 22nd in net penalties per game, and Paul has already been called for holding four times.
"I think just cleaning up our technique and just be more clean so you can't get a call," Paul said. "I think that's just the biggest thing is just don't give them anything to see."
The offense, too, is still looking for a cleaner version of itself. Greg Dulcich said the biggest issue is getting everyone on the same page, and he echoed a phrase that has become common around the team.
"Fundamentals, little things, because it takes all 11 on offense," Dulcich said. "Everyone has to be in sequence and on the same page. So it's really just kind of hammering those details and making sure that our knowledge of the things we do is at its best."
Rookie linebacker Jacob Rodriguez said the formula is simple: fewer mistakes, fewer negative plays, and a cleaner overall game.
"If we eliminate a lot of the penalties that we've had and if we avoid negative plays, offense and defensively and special teams, if we just avoid negative plays, we play clean football, a lot of the stuff that when we're in close games, it'll fall our way," Rodriguez said.
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Dolphins Need More From A Few Struggling Starters Against The Jets
The Dolphins are heading into their first divisional test of the 2026 season with a familiar kind of urgency, the kind that tends to surface when a handful of starters need cleaner work before the margin gets any thinner. Against the Jets, Miami will be watching the trenches closely, with Austin Jackson carrying a heavy load on the right side and Chris Johnson and Chop Robinson also under the microscope as the Dolphins look to limit the kind of errors that can quickly tilt a division game.
Malik Willis adds another layer to that equation, because Miami needs steadier play from the quarterback spot to keep the offense on schedule against a defense that can make life difficult. The Jets arrive with one of the leagues best pass defenses, so the Dolphins do not have much room for the sloppy stretches that have shown up before. For Miami, the challenge is simple enough to say and hard enough to solve: get more from the players who have been up and down, and do it quickly enough to avoid letting an early divisional game get away. [Read more 🡒]
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Dolphins Face A Jets Backfield Twist Right Before Kickoff
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Braelon Allen has handled the lead role in Halls absence and is expected to get the start against a Dolphins defense that has shown vulnerability against running backs. If Hall cannot go, Allen would be the one carrying the load again, giving New York a familiar setup right before kickoff and leaving Miami to prepare for a backfield built around a runner who has already taken on a heavier workload. [Read more 🡒]