LoFi’s Lowdown: Half step in the right direction.

Hafley stated, “I’m proud of how the guys fought. We had opportunities. The run defense improved as the game went on. We tackled better as the game went on.”

I believe most fans and pundits walked away believing that was a fairly accurate statement. Jeff Hafley and all three phases of football were inconsistent, and without a talent-filled roster, you are not going to win much football.

The team did fight back and had opportunities to get back in the game, and that is a half-step in the right direction. It was the first NFL game for a lot of Dolphins starters in this week’s loss to the Raiders, and playing it on the road made it that much harder.

For me, getting that full step in the right direction mainly falls on coaching. More specifically, Hafley was honest in his evaluation of himself, saying, “There will be some things I need to do better: communication and calls. But it felt pretty clean.”

There is a missing element to this statement, and our head coach missed it: accountability.

During his postgame news conference, Hafley was asked about the big momentum swing caused by JuJu Brents’ taunting penalty, which led to a 47-yard field goal by the Raiders. Hafley’s answer needed to be more than, “I’ll watch the film. I asked, and they said they called him for taunting. It led to three points. It was a huge momentum swing in the game. If it was indeed taunting, he will get fined for it. You can’t do it.”

What happened to in-game accountability?

We also got a postgame question about the three sizable returns on special teams. Hafley responded, “We need to play better on special teams. One of the punts went down the middle of the field, and when it’s in the middle of the field, it usually doesn’t end very well.”

I’m not pointing at the actual postgame answers as much as I’m questioning where the accountability was during the game. Hafley had opportunities to get on his coaches or even his players during the game.

My worry is that, like in the past, we have a former defensive coordinator who now has a head coaching title but is not ready to handle the responsibility and authority of holding the other coordinators around him accountable. Is Hafley spending too much time preparing his defense and calling plays, taking himself out of too many rooms to get a full handle on what is going on around him? Some of his answers seemed distant to me, but it is way too early to tell.

This was Hafley’s first game as an NFL head coach, even though he has head coaching experience at the collegiate level with Boston College. I gave the Dolphins a half-step forward because of the way the players fought against the Raiders.

But it has not worked well for us when it felt like Mike McDaniel handed off the defense and special teams for others to manage before collaborating with them. It was the same thing during the Flores era.

A restaurant typically has one kitchen. I hope we are not once again trying to cook a meal with three kitchens. Can it be done? Of course, but I would rather have one chef. Is that what the Miami Dolphins and Jeff Hafley have cooking? If so, I think it was a first step forward.

Jeff Hafley, let’s get cooking.