The Miami Dolphins come out of their bye week still searching for that first win, and their matchup with the New York Jets gives them their best shot yet. According to FanDuel Sportsbook, Miami is only a +3.5-point underdog today, the narrowest spread the team has faced so far this season.
Even with the 0-5 start hanging over the season, the Dolphins haven’t completely lost the trust of their fans. The latest SB Nation Reacts poll found that 72 percent of responses said they remain confident in Miami’s direction.
That’s just a hair above the 71 percent mark from before the bye, which had already dipped from a season-high 87 percent after Week 5. The movement has been real, but not dramatic, and the Week 7 number suggests the bye didn’t do much to move the needle.
Miami’s fan confidence figures have bounced around all season:
Preseason - 80%
Week 1 - 79%
Week 2 - 63%
Week 3 - 65%
Week 4 - 79%
Week 5 - 87%
Week 6 - 71%
Week 7 - 72%
The more pointed question from the poll asked where the Dolphins needed the biggest boost coming out of the break, and the answer wasn’t a mystery. A massive 84 percent of fans pointed to quarterback play.
Malik Willis, in his first season as the full-time starter, has drawn the biggest share of the blame as Miami tries to shake off a rough opening stretch. The source of the frustration is clear: he has taken sacks he did not need to, forced passes into bad spots, and stayed in the pocket when he could have used his legs to pick up yards.
Pass rush came in second, with 12 percent of the vote. That concern is backed by the numbers.
Miami has only four sacks this season, which is half of the league’s second-lowest total through Week 6. All four came in one game, and the Dolphins failed to bring down the opposing quarterback in four of their five games.
The offensive line and team health were both far down the list, each getting two percent of the vote.
In Other News...
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 🡒]
Dolphins Face One Trade Deadline Test They May Not Budge On
With the trade deadline approaching, the Dolphins are shaping up as sellers, but one name appears to be off the table for now. ESPN reporters Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport said Miami is expected to listen on some pieces, yet the team views its young edge rush group as part of the future, not a short-term source of help for someone else.
Chop Robinson is the clearest example of that stance. A 2024 first-round pick with multiple years of contract control remaining, he should draw interest from teams looking for pass-rush help, but Miami does not currently plan to move him this season. For a club weighing its deadline options, that kind of line in the sand says plenty about which players it believes still fit into the long view. [Read more 🡒]
Dolphins Face A Jets Backfield Twist Right Before Kickoff
The Jets are still waiting on Breece Hall, who has not played since Week 3 because of a quadriceps injury and is now unlikely to suit up against the Dolphins in Week 7. There is still a chance he tests the leg in a pregame workout, but for Miami, the more immediate concern is the shape of New Yorks backfield if Hall is unavailable.
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 🡒]