Chris Perkins: Dolphins know their identity, now they must turn it into wins

Chris Perkins, South Florida Sun Sentinel on Oct 11, 2026

Published in Football

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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Miami Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley knows who and what he has in his locker room. The same goes for his players. This isn’t a team with an identity crisis.

Ask anyone. Veteran edge rusher Josh Uche. Promising left tackle Patrick Paul. Upstart safety Dante Trader Jr. They know who they are. They simply need to find a way to turn their identity into victories.

“I think we’re a team that plays really hard and gives great effort,” coach Jeff Hafley said after Sunday’s 31-24 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. “I think we’re a tough, physical team. If you look at identity, those are who we are.

“We need to take the next step and we need to be more efficient and we need to execute at a higher level. And again, that’s not talking about players only, that’s coaching, too.”

The Dolphins fell to 0-5 heading into their bye week. But they have played a physical brand of football, which is good and lives up to the credo of physicality and aggression that Halfey and general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan declared after being hired in January.

Of course, that line of logic gets old when it’s not followed by a win or two.

At some point an identity change becomes necessary when your current identity doesn’t lead to victories.

The Dolphins aren’t at that stage yet. But it’s approaching.

Granted, there haven’t been any major surprises for Miami through these first five games. You kind of figured if the Dolphins didn’t beat the Las Vegas Raiders in the opener there was a good chance they’d be winless going into the bye week, which is the current situation.

Here’s one thing that I’ve learned and have written while covering previous rebuilds in my 30 years of professional sports — success isn’t linear.

There will be setbacks. That’s been the deal for the Dolphins.

This isn’t a dumb team but it keeps doing dumb things. Quarterback Malik Willis threw two interceptions and lost a fumble. The Dolphins committed seven penalties. They missed an extra point among other special teams miscues.

“For some reason, it just kind of went left on me,” kicker Riley Patterson said. “I’m going to have to look at the film to tell you exactly what happened, but, yeah, obviously we’ve got to put those in and that’s on me.”

As for the physical things, the Miami pass rush didn’t record a sack for the fourth time in five games, the pass defense allowed two touchdowns by tight ends, bringing the season total to four, and the run defense allowed Cincinnati 117 yards rushing on 31 carries, the third opponent to go for triple digits. All five opponents have rushed for at least 88 yards as the Dolphins, who entered the game tied for 15th in rushing defense at 109 yards allowed per game, took another step backward.

That’ll happen when you have a young team such as the Dolphins.

The good news for fans is that this team knows the deal. It must win games at some point.

“There’s no excuses in this league,” Uche said. “It’s a bottom-line business and you’ve got to produce.”

The Dolphins are showing signs of progress.

They rushed for a season-best 34 carries and a season-best 217 yards on Sunday, the sixth-best total in the NFL this season, to go along with a season-best two touchdowns.

Running back Ollie Gordon II, who rushed for a career best 100 yards on nine carries last week, added 88 yards on a career-best 18 carries Sunday and one touchdown.

Willis, who was a woeful 15 of 27 for 137 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions and a 51.0 passer rating, rushed for a career-best 74 yards and one touchdown. The 74 rushing yards, 61 of which came in the second half, are a franchise single-game best, eclipsing Ryan Fitzpatrick’s 65 yards in 2019 at the New York Jets.

The offensive line, which allowed three sacks, did good work against what Hafley said during the week was the best defensive line they’ve faced to this point. The rushing total has improved each week.

The Dolphins must find a way to win games in the back half of the season.

One of the first key steps in that process will be eliminating the self-inflicted damage through things such as missed assignments, mental errors and penalties.

Another key step is straightening out the special teams mistakes that have plagued the team.

Dolphins fans are running thin on patience already. You know that by the numbers of visiting fans in stands at Miami’s two home games. The Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati fans comprised about 35 to 40% of the fans at each game, a high percentage in the NFL. Dolphins fans also let out a few boos.

Still, the Dolphins, to this point, know who they are. Now, in the 12 games after the bye, they must learn how to turn their run-first, play-hard identity into victories.

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