{"id":379011,"date":"2026-08-23T12:36:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T12:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/379011\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T12:36:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T12:36:25","slug":"never-happened-to-me-in-my-life-miami-dolphins-head-coach-jeff-hafleys-eye-opening-revelation-about-his-teams-preseason-loss-to-the-new-york-giants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/379011\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Never happened to me in my life\u2019\u2014Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley\u2019s eye-opening revelation about his team\u2019s preseason loss to the New York Giants"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\tHome<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNFL<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMiami Dolphins<\/a><\/p>\n

The Miami Dolphins\u2019 preseason loss to the New York Giants offered a first for head coach Jeff Hafley. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAug 22, 2026; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley looks on from the field against the New York Giants during the first half at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

If you didn\u2019t watch the Miami Dolphins<\/a>\u2018 preseason home opener on Saturday afternoon against the New York Giants, I have good news for you. You didn\u2019t miss much in the way of highlights. Miami fell to New York by a final score of 26-3. They were out-gained nearly four times over in yardage and failed to register a first down in the second half. <\/p>\n

Miami kept their starters on ice for this game, limiting the playing time opportunities to (mostly) the back half of their 90-man roster. But things unfolded throughout the game, Miami\u2019s experience got a touch beyond tough and dipped into some uncharted waters for head coach Jeff Hafley. He experienced a new \u201cfirst\u2019 throughout the second half of last night\u2019s game. And it perfect encapsulates why the lows of the performance need to be taken with a grain of salt. <\/p>\n

Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley pulls back the curtain on his team\u2019s unique defensive situation<\/p>\n

\"\"Aug 22, 2026; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley looks on.<\/p>\n

\u201cShoot, we had a linebacker who I met this morning in my office. Steve (Dix Jr.) came in, met him, and he started the whole second half where we had to tell him the call, he had to give the call, then we had to tell him what to do on every single play. So we were able to play only like two calls in the second half, which has never happened to me in my life. So I just give him credit for going out and fighting. That\u2019s what the preseason is all about, to find out who those guys are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014\u00a0Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley after Miami\u2019s 26-3 preseason loss to the New York Giants<\/p>\n

I mean. When you put it like that\u2026<\/p>\n

Saturday night\u2019s performance as a whole was an unsavory watch. The Dolphins\u2019 roster this season is limited as it. Then to go out and not have names like Jordyn Brooks, Aaron Brewer, De\u2019Von Achane, Patrick Paul, Malik Willis, Chop Robinson, Zach Sieler, and other standouts not play? You saw the result on the field. Depth is not going to be a calling card for this roster when all the starters are playing in 2026. Nevermind when the top dogs get sat down in the exhibition season. <\/p>\n

None of this justified to play looking the way it did. It needs to be better. And, as Hafley pointed out in his post-game comments, these self-inflicted wounds make it next to impossible to have success in a game setting. <\/p>\n

Who played on Saturday matters<\/p>\n

But zoom out for a second. The Dolphins\u2019 top defensive snap taker on Saturday night was LB Cam Riley. He signed with the team seven days ago and had not been with a team since the end of April. The team\u2019s second-half quarterback was an undrafted rookie (their QB4) who the team had already released. Mark Gronowski was brought back for the end of camp due to an injury to Quinn Ewers. Five defensive players logged 40+ snaps: Riley, Alex Austin, Keith Cooper, Alex Huntley, and Max Llewellyn. <\/p>\n

A select handful of rookies, such as (now injured) Trey Moore, Chris Johnson, and Jacob Rodriguez played eight snaps or fewer apiece. And as Hafley pointed out, the team\u2019s MIKE linebacker for the second half met the coach yesterday morning and had to be told what to do on every play. <\/p>\n

Take last night for what it is. Some good, old fashioned preseason football. <\/p>\n

\"Play<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"\t\t<\/p>\n

Miami Dolphins News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Home \/ NFL \/ Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins\u2019 preseason loss to the New York Giants offered a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1250,102342,123,1763,2797,125,124],"class_list":["post-379011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-dolphins","tag-dolphins-news","tag-miami","tag-miami-dolphins","tag-miami-dolphins-news","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}