{"id":731238,"date":"2026-02-05T14:08:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T14:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/731238\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T14:08:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T14:08:28","slug":"im-glad-dolphins-are-finally-changing-their-ways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/731238\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m glad Dolphins are finally changing their ways"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI GARDENS \u2014 The Miami Dolphins<\/a> say they want to have a physical, tough team. Hallelujah!<\/p>\n

These are good days for Dolphins fans. I truly like what I\u2019m hearing from the new Dolphins regime of general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley.<\/p>\n

These guys genuinely want to build the trenches, be strong at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and that\u2019s a huge key to surviving and thriving in the NFL.<\/p>\n

Further, offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik<\/a> and defensive coordinator Sean Duggan<\/a> said good things Wednesday about building the trenches and being physical and aggressive and tough on both sides of the line of scrimmage. They said things you haven\u2019t heard from the Dolphins in years.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhysicality, our toughness, our strain, our effort, how relentless we are, are we violent, are we fast?\u201d Slowik said. \u201cThat needs to show up on tape all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is what I\u2019ve been wanting to hear from the Dolphins<\/a> for years.<\/p>\n

It was a similar situation for Duggan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt starts up front,\u201d he said. \u201cTo me, it starts with stopping the run, staying square, playing your gap. You should be able to see a guy\u2019s numbers and his name plate.\u201d<\/p>\n

This goes deep. It sounds as though the days of finesse, cute football are done.<\/p>\n

Listen to what Sullivan said about Hafley at the introductory news conference after saying that Hafley, a defensive coach, has deep knowledge of special teams and offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think more importantly, the toughness and the kind of attitude and competitive atmosphere that he will bring to this football team will speak for itself as we move down the road,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Being good on both sides of the line of scrimmage makes it easier to be good on both sides of the ball, and we\u2019re seeing that trend pay off in a big way recently.<\/p>\n

More and more we\u2019re seeing teams that are good on both sides of the ball rather than being lopsided. Balance is winning. Many successful teams are in the top 10 in the league on both sides of the ball.<\/p>\n

Look at the Super Bowl teams.<\/p>\n

The New England Patriots were No. 2 in scoring in the regular season at 28.8 points per game and the Seattle Seahawks were No. 3 in scoring at 28.4 ppg.<\/p>\n

Defensively, Seattle was No. 1 in scoring defense at 17.2 ppg allowed, while New England was No. 4 at 18.8 ppg.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Rams, who advanced to the NFC Championship game, were No. 1 in scoring at 30.5 ppg and No. 10 in scoring defense at 20.4 ppg.<\/p>\n

The Jacksonville Jaguars, who lost in the wild-card round of the playoffs but won 13 games despite having a first-year GM and coach, were No. 6 in scoring at 27.9 ppg and No. 8 in scoring defense at 19.8 ppg.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins were No. 25 in scoring offense at 20.4 ppg and No. 24 in scoring defense at 24.9 ppg.<\/p>\n

The same trend of balance was true last season among top teams. Consider a few examples:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2014 The Philadelphia Eagles, the Super Bowl champ, were No. 7 in regular-season scoring at 27.2 ppg and No. 2 in regular season scoring defense at 17.8 ppg;<\/p>\n

\u2014 The Baltimore Ravens, who advanced to the AFC Championship game, were No. 3 in scoring at 30.5 ppg and No. 9 in scoring defense at 21.2 ppg;<\/p>\n

\u2014 the Green Bay Packers, with Sullivan serving as vice president of player personnel, was No. 8 in scoring at 27.1 ppg and, in Hafley\u2019s first season as defensive coordinator, No. 6 in scoring defense at 19.9 ppg;<\/p>\n

\u2014 Miami was No. 22 at 20.3 ppg and No. 10 in scoring defense at 21.4 ppg during the 2024 season.<\/p>\n

Being strong in the trenches would help Miami greatly.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins already have a start for building in the trenches with their drafts of the past two years.<\/p>\n

In 2024, they selected edge rusher Chop Robinson in the first round and left tackle Patrick Paul in the second round.<\/p>\n

In 2025, they selected defensive tackle Kenneth Grant in the first round, left guard Jonah Savaiinaea in the second round, defensive tackle Jordan Phillips in the fifth round and defensive tackle Zeek Biggers in the seventh round.<\/p>\n

They should continue building the trenches even if it\u2019s not in the first or second rounds of this April\u2019s draft, where Miami has the Nos. 11 and 43 picks. The Dolphins also have three third-round picks \u2014 Nos. 75, 87 and 90.<\/p>\n

This seems to be a new Dolphins era with new points of emphasis.<\/p>\n

To start things off, they want to be tough in the trenches.<\/p>\n

Sign me up for this program. I\u2019m a fan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI GARDENS \u2014 The Miami Dolphins say they want to have a physical, tough team. Hallelujah! These are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":731239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2049],"tags":[21404,217,7,8628,95805,216,251,2087,6,18609],"class_list":{"0":"post-731238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-bobby-slowik","9":"tag-dolphins","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-jeff-hafley","12":"tag-jon-eric-sullivan","13":"tag-miami","14":"tag-miami-dolphins","15":"tag-miamidolphins","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-sean-duggan"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116018420361440396","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=731238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=731238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=731238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=731238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}