LAS VEGAS — The Miami Dolphins, led by general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan, coach Jeff Hafley and quarterback Malik Willis, opened their newest era Sunday at the Las Vegas Raiders and in ended in a 27-13 loss.
This era, according to Hafley and Sullivan, will be marked by physicality, strength in the trenches and a draft-and-develop philosophy. We saw evidence of all of that Sunday even though everything didn’t go in the Dolphins’ favor.
By the way, the Dolphins and Raiders are familiar opponents. Sunday marked the third time in four years they’ve played. The Dolphins won in 2023 (20-13) and 2024 (34-19).
Here’s what we learned from Sunday’s season opener: .
Willis has rough showing
Quarterback Malik Willis, the first-year starter and fifth-year player, was solid running and throwing in his debut even though the numbers weren’t good. Willis scored on a 14-yard run in the third quarter and although he had an apparent overthrow on his interception he was generally pretty good at decision-making and throwing accurately. He didn’t force passes into tight windows and didn’t run at ill-advised times.
Willis ended 15 of 27 for 220 yards, no touchdowns, one interception and a 66.96 passer rating. He was sacked five times. Willis rushed six times for 39 yards. — Chris Perkins
Achane struggles
Running back De’Von Achane had 11 carries for 36 yards through three quarters, which ended with the Raiders holding a 27-13 lead. Achane frequently ran against eight-man fronts because the Dolphins’ passing game couldn’t force Las Vegas to keep two safeties deep to guard against the pass. Achane ended with those 36 yards, including a 10-yard carry that was his longest of the day.
Achane, who rushed for 1,350 yards last season, fifth in the league, had no room to run Sunday. And he can expect a similar situation next week at San Francisco, the following week against Kansas City, and so on.
Proctor and Johnson, the first-rounders, have mixed showing
Left guard Kadyn Proctor and cornerback Chris Johnson, the first-round picks, had mixed results Sunday. It appeared Proctor had a good day while Johnson, despite making a couple of good plays, had some ups and downs.
Proctor, who was called for a false start in the red zone in the third quarter, pulled and had a nice block on All Pro edge rusher Maxx Crosby on the first play from scrimmage. Proctor had a nice lead block on a 12-yard pass to tight end Greg Dulcich midway through the second quarter. He also collapsed defensive tackle Patrick Johnson on a play that was called back due to a holding penalty.
Johnson, who had 11 tackles (second on the team after rookie linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, who had 12 tackles), including one for loss, was one of the two closest defenders, along with safety Zayne Anderson, on wide receiver Jack Bech’s 15-yard touchdown reception. He appeared to be the main defender on Krik Cousins’ 13-yard touchdown pass to running back Ashton Jeanty.
But Johnson, who started on the outside and moved to the slot when JuJu Brents entered the game for the nickel, was also there when Brents made a tackle for an eight-yard loss on a reverse.
Recent Dolphins coach debuts
Here’s how some other recent Dolphins head coaches did in their debut games:
— Mike McDaniel won as the Dolphins defeated New England, 20-7, in 2022;
— Brian Flores lost to Baltimore, 59-10, in 2019;
— Adam Gase lost at Seattle, 12-10, in 2016;
— Joe Philbin lost at Houston, 30-10, in 2012.
Slight defensive surprises
Safeties Michael Taaffe and Zayne Anderson started at safety, leaving Dante Trader Jr. on the bench. But that was sort of expected from what the Dolphins showed late in training camp.
The Dolphins said the safeties would rotate, and they did. Trader started the second half alongside Taaffe, which is how the second quarter ended. Trader and Taaffe both had interceptions.
Cornerbacks Johnson and Jason Marshall Jr., the 2025 first-round pick, started on the outside, with Brents, the veteran, coming on in the nickel and Johnson moving inside to the slot.
Strongside linebacker Willie Gay Jr. got the start in the base 4-3 package.
Rookie safety/linebacker Kyle Louis, the fourth-round pick, sustained a knee injury late in the game and didn’t return.
Paul vs. Crosby goes to Crosby
Crosby (two tackles, 1.5 sacks) got a sack against left tackle Patrick Paul early in the fourth quarter. You’ll recall that early in the past week Paul, possibly recalling how ex-Dolphins center-guard Liam Eichenberg caused Crosby to make a penalty or two a few years ago by trash talking him, called Crosby a “hothead” and said trash talk might be able to get him off his game a bit.
Crosby, the All Pro who had 10.0 sacks last season and is just as tough against the pass as against the run, lined up exclusively over right tackle Austin Jackson for much of the game and didn’t have much individual success.
But he came through when the Dolphins trailed, 27-13, and were in obvious passing situations late in the game. Crosby got a half sack vs. Jackson in the fourth quarter.
Raiders get big KO returns . . . but Dolphins get in on the act, too
The Raiders’ Dylan Laube had kickoff returns of 52 and 45 yards and they both led to short fields and touchdowns. The Dolphins’ special teams figured to have some loose spots because a few of the players were added to the roster late and others were relatively inexperienced at special teams. Laube’s 45-yard return led to a 17-3 Las Vegas lead in the second quarter and 52-yard return led to a 24-13 lead in the third quarter.
Not to be outdone, running back Jaylen Wright had a 79-yard kickoff return late in the third quarter to start the Dolphins at the Las Vegas 18-yard line. But kicker Riley Patterson, who was 27 of 29 on field goals last season, missed a 41-yard field goal attempt wide left.
Dolphins Deep Dive: What was the most disappointing aspect of loss to Raiders?
Pass defense a bit shaky
Cousins had three touchdown passes by combining accurate but non-daring passes with a lack of a Miami pass rush and an inexperienced secondary. The Raiders appeared to target Johnson, who played inside and outside, a few times. And while Taaffe and Trader had interceptions, most of the Las Vegas passes were completed and thrown comfortably.
Miami’s pass defense didn’t show much strength at any level — short, medium or deep — and didn’t seem to give the Raiders’ passing offense problems in man-to-man, zone, the nickel package or its base defense.
Run defense also proves shaky
Las Vegas had 74 yards rushing in the first half but added 62 yards rushing in the third quarter. Jeanty eclipsed the 100-yard mark in the third quarter, when he had 17 carries for 102 yards. He ended with 23 carries for 102 yards.
Not much pass rush pressure from Chop or anyone else
The Dolphins didn’t put much pressure on Raiders Cousins (21 of 30, three touchdowns, two interceptions), continuing a low pass-rush trend from training camp and preseason.
Edge rusher Chop Robinson, the media’s choice as MVP of training camp, had a quiet day (one tackle) as a pass rusher and edge-setter after being so high-profile in camp.
The Dolphins started Josh Uche opposite Robinson and rotated in edge rushers Malik Herring and Robert Beal Jr. but no one could effectively move Cousins off his spot or make him uncomfortable.
Miami didn’t blitz much, which might be something to consider in the future. Of course, that leaves the pass coverage defenders on an island, which didn’t seem to be a good idea Sunday.
Third downs
Miami struggled on third downs, going 2 of 10. The Dolphins’ first three third-down situations were a third-and-5 and two third-and-15s. They were 1 of 3. It set a trend for the rest of the game.
Ashton Jeanty welcomed Chris Johnson into the NFL
The Dolphins’ rookie first-round cornerback had coverage on Jeanty on a third-and-8 Kirk Cousins dropback from the Miami 13. The Raiders standout second-year back bolted out of the backfield directly at Johnson. At the 10, Jeanty cut to the inside of Johnson and grabbed the daylight necessary for Cousins to put a pass on him in stride at the 6 for a walk-in score that made it 17-3. Just an exceptionally difficult assignment that he will grow from. — Steve Svekis
Willis is on a rushing-yards pace no other Dolphins QB has been on
With the new quarterback’s fleet feet taking him for 39 rushing yards, he set a high-water mark for run yards by a Dolphins passer in any of the past 15 season openers. The most rushing yards for a Dolphins quarterback in a season came in 2001 when Jay Fiedler gained 321. Fiedler also ran in four touchdowns (including one against, yes, the Raiders, that ended up on the cover of Sports Illustrated), and that is tied for the Dolphins-QB record in a season with David Woodley (1981), Cleo Lemon (in only nine games in the 1-15 2007) and Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2019. For those who enjoy fun with projections off of microscopic sample sizes, Willis is “on pace for” 663 rushing yards.
One area that Hafley has inarguably and immediately improved upon McDaniel
The new Dolphins coach is 1 for 1 in officiating challenges! What a refreshing change from the Keystone Cops review operation of the Mike McDaniel leadership. McDaniel finished with a horrific 19.0% success rate (4 for 21).
Excepting coaches who coached one season or less (Cam Cameron, Dan Campbell, Todd Bowles and Jim Bates), the next-worst success percentage was Nick Saban’s 33.3 from 2005-06, while Tony Sparano, from 2008-11, owned the best performance at 53.3% (8 of 15). Interestingly, the cumulative challenges of Cameron, Campbell, Bowles and Bates) were exceptional in their 38 games, reversing bad calls at a clip of 60.0% (15 of 25). Entering this season, the worst percentage by a veteran coach is the Texans’ DeMeco Ryans at 22.2% (2 for 9), while the best active coach entering 2026 was the Eagles’ Nick Sirriani at 57.9% (11 of 19).
Here is the list of Dolphins challenge success rate, in reverse chronological order:
— Jeff Hafley: 1 of 1 (1.000);
— Mike McDaniel: 4 of 21 (.190);
— Brian Flores: 8 of 19 (.421);
— Adam Gase: 4 of 10 (.400);
— Dan Campbell: 3 of 3 (1.000);
— Joe Philbin: 10 of 19 (.526);
— Tony Sparano: 8 of 15 (.533);
— Cam Cameron: 2 of 4 (.500);
— Nick Saban: 4 of 12 (.333);
— Jim Bates: 2 of 3 (.667);
— Dave Wannstedt: 11 of 33 (.333);
— Jimmy Johnson: 2 of 7 (.286).
Eyebrow-raising officiating calls against Miami cost Dolphins a net 10 points
On a first-quarter fourth-and-1 at the Dolphins’ 34, Willie Gay and Zayne Anderson appeared to stop Raiders tight end Connor Heyward on a tush-push. And the replays showed Heyward with the ball pinned to his lower body, short of the marker. Only when the forward push ended was he able to move the ball forward. The officials reviewed the play and gave him the late reach of the ball. Las Vegas scored a touchdown five plays later.
On the Raiders’ next possession, safety Zayne Anderson blasted the Raiders’ Tre Tucker to create an incompletion on a third-and-13 from the Las Vegas 30. However, instead of a punt, the Raiders were bailed out by a questionable taunting call against JuJu Brents for what may have been considered an intrusion into Tucker’s personal space. Fox analyst Mark Schlereth, initially having criticized Brents, rescinded his critique when seeing the replay. The Raiders went on to score a field goal on that possession.
On deck: San Francisco 49ers, Levi’s Stadium, Sunday, 4:25 p.m.
The Dolphins head to Santa Clara to face a 49ers team that looked impressive in its Sept. 10 game against the Rams in Australia, with defensive end Joey Bosa and linebacker Fred Warner looking fully back from last year’s serious injuries. After a five-game 49ers win streak from 1984-2003 that gave San Francisco a 5-4 series lead, the Dolphins have gone 5-2 since then and lead 9-7.