{"id":529,"section":"sports","section_label":"Sports","url":"https://www.brokenews.co/sports/529","headline":"Hafley sticks with Willis despite 0-5 start","dek":"The Dolphins coach says the passing game, not just his quarterback, needs to get better heading into the bye.","body":"The Dolphins are 0-5 after a 31-24 loss to Cincinnati, and coach Jeff Hafley made clear on Monday that benching Malik Willis for Kyle McCord is not on his mind heading into the Week 6 bye.\n\n\"No,\" Hafley said when asked directly. \"We've played five games and Malik is our quarterback.\" He added that he respects the questions but pushed back on making it about one player. \"Malik needs to be better, OK? And that's not the headline. The headline is we all need to be better.\"\n\nHafley did single out the passing attack as the area that has to improve. \"We're going to need better consistency in our passing game, overall, in order to take the next step offensively,\" he said after the Cincinnati loss. He also pointed to a positive from Sunday, noting the Dolphins ran for 200 yards against a tough opponent, the first time this season he felt the run game clicked.\n\nMiami heads into its bye still searching for its first win, with the passing game the clear priority before Week 7.","published_at":"2026-10-13T04:46:28.436033+00:00","source_count":3,"written_from":[{"outlet":"Pro Football Talk","publisher":"NBC Sports","title":"Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley isn't considering benching QB Malik Willis","url":"https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/dolphins-coach-jeff-hafley-isnt-considering-benching-qb-malik-willis"},{"outlet":"ESPN","publisher":"ESPN","title":"Dolphins coach not mulling benching Willis 'but pass game has to be better'","url":"https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/50168959/dolphins-hafley-says-not-mulling-qb-change-entering-bye"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Jeff Hafley calls out Malik Willis, pathetic Dolphins passing game after falling to 0-5","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/jeff-hafley-calls-malik-willis-142228696.html"}],"more_coverage":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Dolphins Head Coach Doesn’t Hold Back on Malik Willis After Loss vs. Bengals","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/dolphins-head-coach-doesn-t-001319074.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"‘The Plan Needs to Be Better,’ ‘Going to Win Games If We’re Fumbling the Ball’ — Jeff Hafley Takes Stock of Dolphins’ 0-5 Start","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/plan-needs-better-going-win-000441296.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Dolphins news: Cincinnati Bengals game grades, recaps, and reactions","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/dolphins-news-cincinnati-bengals-game-113100674.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Is Jeff Hafley considering a QB change after 0-5 start?","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/jeff-hafley-considering-qb-change-191435174.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Miami Dolphins will not bench Malik Willis following off week","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/miami-dolphins-not-bench-malik-205857255.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Dolphins not considering a QB change after Malik Willis struggles vs Bengals","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/dolphins-not-considering-qb-change-230734104.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley isn't considering benching QB Malik Willis","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/dolphins-coach-jeff-hafley-isnt-031154751.html"}],"image":{"url":"https://nbcsports.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/2eed04e/2147483647/strip/false/crop/1920x1080+0+0/resize/1920x1080!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fhdliveextra-a.akamaihd.net%2FHD%2Fimage_sports%2FNBCU_Sports_Group_-_nbcsports%2F137%2F159%2Fnbc_pftpm_bearspackers_261011.jpg","credit":"Pro Football Talk","width":1920},"embed":null,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"Analysis data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit brokenews and link to the story page you took it from. Source headlines, story titles taken from a source headline, and quoted passages remain the property of their publishers and are quoted for comparison, not licensed onward.","terms":"https://www.brokenews.co/about#reuse"}