OK, everyone can forget this idea – as far-fetched as it may be – that the Miami Dolphins were going to finish the 2026 season 0-7 and we can at least hit the pause button on this idea that the Malik Willis experiment should already be considered a failure.
The Dolphins got that elusive first win of the Jeff Hafley era on Sunday and of course it was going to happen against the New York Jets, like they did in 2007 after Miami started 0-7.
And while there were plenty of stars there that day – welcome back, Caleb Douglas – Willis was absolutely front and center.
His final passing numbers weren’t necessarily overwhelming as he finished with 208 yards on 14 completions, but he provided exactly the kind of quarterback we saw during his stints with the Green Bay Packers that convinced Hafley and Jon-Eric Sullivan to bring him in.
It was the kind of performance that would have the Dolphins looking at another position with their first-round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft, a pick that still seems pretty high, and maybe we can stop debating — at least for a little while — whether it should be Drew Mestermaker or Arch Manning or Darian Mensah.
All along, we’ve said that Willis deserves the benefit of the doubt and a longer look before making a final judgment on his viability as a starting quarterback, but at the very least, he bought himself more time with this performance – nor are we suggesting he cemented anything, just after one game.
As for the win and this idiotic idea that the Dolphins could go 0-17, did anyone really think the Dolphins wouldn’t be able to improve as the season progressed.
And, as we’ve repeatedly pointed out, if the 2019 Dolphins could win five games after being outscored 163-26 (essentially a 41-7 average) in their four games, yes, the 2026 Dolphins were safely going to win a game here and there.
OTHER THOUGHTS ON DOUGLAS AND THE OFFENSE
– Douglas only had two catches in his return after missing three games with an ankle injury, but they both showed why he’s the most exciting offensive player (outside of Willis) with De’Von Achane on IR. His first touchdown showed off his route running ability as he faked the Jets cornerback out of his cleats with a quick jerky move, then there was YAC’s fabulous work on what became the game-winning touchdown. And how nice that the Jets player he beat to turn a short reception into a long touchdown was none other than Minkah Fitzpatrick.
–Major hats off to the running game for being able to close out the win after the Jets cut their lead with 3:24 left. It was five straight runs that produced two first downs, starting with a 14-yarder from Ollie Gordon II and punctuated by Malik Willis’ sneak on fourth-and-one where Gordon played a big role with his push from Willis. And while it was risky, we tweeted before the call that the Dolphins should go for the win on that fourth-and-1 instead of going the conservative route and trying to pin the Jets deep. This is the kind of aggression we want to see from Hafley in the future.
— Since we already mentioned Gordon, he continues to shine in De’Von Achane’s absence and looks like a returning piece himself.
-A few changes we noticed on the offensive end are that there weren’t as many deep shots as in previous weeks, which led to a better completion percentage for Willis. His decision-making was better, his hustle was once again a big factor, and he showed great awareness with his inbounds slide late in the first half to ensure the Jets wouldn’t have much time after scoring to make it 21-7.
THOUGHTS ON DEFENSE AND SPECIAL TEAMS
— It’s kind of refreshing that we’re not talking about bad special teams play this week, isn’t it?
–It’s actually ironic that the Dolphins ended up winning by three and the only missed field goal came from former Miami kicker Jason Sanders.
— New Dolphins kicker Zane Gonzalez did a good job putting the ball in the end zone on kickoffs, which limited the Jets’ kickoff return opportunities and we’ll take the defense from the 35.
–Again, the pass defense wasn’t great, but the secondary is the youngest unit on defense, so maybe that’s to be expected to some extent. And it was a big play from veteran safety Michael Taaffe on his pick when he totally read Geno Smith’s eyes as he scrambled.
– Another big reason for the three-point win, of course, was the goal line stand culminated by Chop Robinson’s third sack when he absolutely didn’t bite Smith’s play fake and Zayne Anderson took away Smith’s short outlet. But it was Zach Sieler who made the big tackle on first down to start things off, part of a very good performance from the D tackle.
— Yes, we have to take into account the quality (or lack thereof) of the opposition when we dissect that first Dolphins win, but we also have to look at the quality of the teams they lost to. So it works both ways. The Dolphins return to contention next week when they host the New England Patriots, but we will continue to say that the Dolphins will win a game or two this season that they are not expected to win.
–Again, this Jets game was one of those deemed most winnable for the Dolphins, and that’s how it played out. Now we don’t need to hear about 0-17, we can postpone the draft discussion for a bit because who knows exactly how high they’ll end up picking in the first round, and perhaps most importantly, we can just sit back and continue to monitor player development before making premature decisions.
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