The Miami Dolphins won their first game of the 2026 NFL season this past weekend, beating the New York Jets in Week 7. The 28-25 victory improved Miami to 1-5 for the year. One win through seven weeks is not something about which fans should be bragging – but at least the Dolphins are not the Los Angeles Chargers.
There was talk throughout the summer and into this season – even up until the end of the Jets game – that the Dolphins might be the first team to go 0-17 for a season. There were analysts
who could not see a way for Miami to win a game this year, and they had practically written off the Dolphins.
“Obviously, you could feel the energy and the excitement,” head coach Jeff Hafley said on Monday. “It’s what I thought, there’s a lot of young guys, a lot of this team has never won an NFL game. So a lot of it today, it’s their first Monday. I mean, I didn’t even have to give a victory Monday, because most of the players on our team don’t even know what a victory Monday is. They’re too young. But you could see the energy and the excitement and the confidence.”
One win does not a season make, but it sure does feel good.
And it makes sure this season is not a waste.
Miami has the youngest roster in the NFL. They are a team that stripped the franchise to the bare bones: roster, coaching staff, front office, everything. This is a complete reset for the Dolphins, and one that was needed. Miami had spent years building a team based on speed, pre-snap motion, and creating mismatches. They added high-priced veterans to both the offense and defense in an effort to win now.
But the wins did not come.
Miami has not won a playoff game since 2000.
Think about it like this. The Jets have the longest playoff appearance drought in the major North American leagues, the NFL, Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, and National Basketball Association. The Jets have not seen the postseason since the 2010 season, giving them 15 straight years without making it to the playoffs.
The Dolphins’ playoff winless streak is 10 years longer than that. Miami has made cameo appearances in the playoffs, but their last win came under head coach Dave Wannstedt. Nick Sabin, Cam Cameron, Tony Sparano, Joe Philbin, Adam Gase, Brian Flores, and Mike McDaniel could not get the Dolphins a single postseason victory. Not a Super Bowl run, not an AFC Championship Game appearance. Just a win. One single Wild Card round victory – shut out.
It appears, with this rebuild, owner Stephen Ross decided to no longer put a bandaid on his team and hope it stopped the hemorrhaging. The Dolphins have completely reset the team and now, it is as matter of execution.
And execute the team did in Week 7. For one game in a season that will be filled with growing pains, the Dolphins looked like a mature team. They put a complete performance together, they withstood a lull in the middle of the game, and they made the plays that mattered when they mattered most. The offense put points on the board, bent but did not break on defense, and they make special teams showed up.
One win does not a season make, but one win can keep the season from being a waste.
The Dolphins are a team that is learning. They are adjusting to the speed of the league. They are working on their communication. They are adjusting to new roles, new assignments, and new responsibilities. They are experiencing the complex looks, schemes, and systems teams in the NFL routinely use every snap. They Dolphins are becoming a better team through their struggles.
“When I watch the tape with them, it’s win or lose, we got to be real with each other and turn on the tape,” Hafley said. “And when you watch the tape, it’s always nice to put the result aside, win or lose, and just focus on what we did well, what we need to do better, and move on…The guys were happy last night and there’s good energy in the building, but I think though it’s a young group, it’s a mature group and they understand that after they leave the building today it’s over and we have a really good team coming into play us at home. So we’ve got work to do and we got to get back to it.”
And now, they are learning how to win. It was one game. It was against the Jets, who cannot seem to win an AFC East rivalry game.
But, in the NFL, winning is hard. And the Dolphins won. That means something.
Wide receiver Malik Washington explained, “I think for us it’s somewhat of a confidence boost; I think we’re going to operate business as usual, whether we won or lost. We’re going to come in, we’re going to work, we’re going to see what details we need to clean up. But this is somewhat of a confidence boost to know like, hey, we can do this and we can keep pushing forward. So I’m excited to see us do it again this Sunday.”
Rookie safety Michael Taaffe added, “I think the win was awesome. I think it was really cool for us. So fun to see all of our hard work come to fruition. But I gotta credit our coaching staff and the leaders on the team because today it felt like every other Monday. We’re not going to change, we’re not going to be somebody different. We’re going to look at how we need to improve and we’re going to say good job about the plays that we did well on. And so I thought that was really cool because I’ve been on other teams that aren’t like that. Sometimes the problems are masked by the result. And so they did a really good job today of not masking the problems just because we got a win and showing, hey, we need to get better. And in order to win against New England next week, we got to do things to correct. And so I think they did a really good job with that.”
This team is learning. They are growing. They are correcting their mistakes. And, for at least one weekend, they are winning. This team is getting better, they are figuring it out, and they are setting themselves up for a better future.
One game. It is not going to suddenly change the direction of the season. But, it was the first taste of victory for these players and this team.
This is not a 0-17 team. This is a team that, for all their struggles and a steep learning curve, will remember this feeling, they will remember what it was like to win, and they will want it even more.
One win does not a season make, but for this team it sure makes sure the season was not a waste.
