Rob Gronkowski has a strange way of praising a coach. The former Patriots tight end buried the Miami Dolphins' offense, then said in the same breath that Miami has something real in Jeff Hafley.
Gronkowski made the comments on The Gronk & Jules Show
with Julian Edelman, in a segment about Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley.
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"And then when I saw he was hired down in Miami and I'm seeing the type of job that he's doing, his offense is horrendous. He doesn't have the players, you know, to make the big-time plays to win games, but they are competing every single week and they're in every single game as well," Gronkowski said.
The Dolphins led the Patriots 13-3 at halftime on Sunday, November 1, after an 11-play, 70-yard drive ended with a Malik Washington touchdown reception. New England then scored 21 straight points to win 24-19.
Gronkowski's brutal assessment of Miami's offensive collapse reveals deeper problems than a missed opportunity. Subscribe to stay ahead of the Dolphins' identity crisis and playoff implications.
The turning point came on fourth down. A stop by rookie Chris Johnson would have given Miami a three-point lead, but officials overturned it and gave the Patriots a first down. They scored six plays later and never trailed again.
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Quarterback Malik Willis threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to rookie Kevin Coleman Jr. late in the fourth quarter, but the onside kick failed. Willis finished 21 of 32 for 211 yards and was sacked five times. Miami ran for just 74 yards as a team.
Drake Maye went 16 of 20 for 199 yards and two touchdowns through the air, and he added a rushing score. The Patriots moved to 5-3, while the Dolphins fell to 1-6. That lone win came a week earlier against the New York Jets, which made this loss sting even more.
Gronkowski's praise for Hafley came from his own experience. He said he trained at Boston College while preparing for FanDuel's "Kick of Destiny" Super Bowl commercial and asked staff members why Hafley left for the NFL. He said they told him Hafley did not like the NIL side of college football and just wanted to coach.
"I was like, 'You know, this guy's just football-minded. I love coaches like that. You got to respect that situation,'" Gronkowski said.
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Hafley coached Boston College through 2023, then spent two seasons as the Green Bay Packers' defensive coordinator before Miami hired him this January. Julian Edelman also said he believes former NFL defensive back Logan Ryan thought Hafley was one of the best coaches he ever had.
Still, the early numbers tell a rougher story. Through the first four games, Miami had the lowest scoring average in the NFL at 11.5 points per game. It was also the only team that had not held a lead for a single second.
Hafley sounded just as frustrated after the loss to New England. He pointed to the fourth-down swing as the moment the game turned.
"We just stopped them on a fourth down, and suddenly we didn't stop them on a fourth down," Hafley said. "You got to learn to just play the next play."
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He also admitted the team has more to learn. "It's the first time we've been in that situation," Hafley said, adding that the Dolphins need to learn how to show resiliency "for all four quarters."
Others have praised Hafley's approach. Richard Sherman, who played for him with the San Francisco 49ers, said, "His preparation is some of the best I've seen."
Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan also called Hafley "a man of integrity, intellect and great passion who players will buy into and play for."
So is it a team that keeps showing fight but cannot finish games really close, or is it just stuck in the same spot? And how long can good coaching cover for a thin roster?
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Miami gets its next chance at home against the Detroit Lions, where Hafley will be looking for a complete four-quarter performance.
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