Why the Dolphins need better offensive ‘execution’ vs. the 49ers

In the immediate aftermath of a season opening loss, Malik Willis took full responsibility.

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“You can just blame them all on me,” the Miami Dolphins quarterback said of the five sacks that he took as his team fell short 27-13 to the Las Vegas Raiders. “I got to take care of the ball, and I got to do right by my offensive line and get the ball out. That’s everybody, it takes all 11. I got to make sure the receiver’s in the right spot. I got to make sure I’m doing the right thing. We got to make sure our backs are doing the right thing, and it all works together. But you can blame the sacks on me. Sack is a quarterback stat, and I’m going to take the O-line out for that.”

This should come as no surprise. Willis already has demonstrated the necessary leadership traits to be a franchise quarterback, something that often requires one to consistently fall on the sword — even if the very failure did not remotely involve you. The issues that plagued the Dolphins on Sunday, however, ultimately boil down to a lot more than Willis himself and against a better team like the San Francisco 49ers, they need to be as error-free as possible.

“Situational awareness as far as just making critical mistakes and whatever situation — whether it was me taking a sack or somebody else and me in there or whatever — it doesn’t matter, we’re all one team,” Willis said when asked what needs to improve in Week 2. “But at the same time we got to understand that’s how people get beat and I think taking care of the ball, obviously — [coach Jeff Hafley] says it in every meeting — that’s always going to be important. It’s not to make us shy or anything, but just to understand the situations of when we want to push it down the field. I think just executing at every position, executing at every position, every play that we can.”

That execution piece cannot be overstated. The Dolphins own the youngest roster in the league. That, inherently, will come with growing pains as the roster continues to gel.

“The execution for us really wasn’t there at the clip we want it to be at,” offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik. “We had a lot of mistakes through the course of the game. We have a lot of young guys playing. We got a lot of new guys to the scheme and the system. We’re all trying to learn and figure each other out and there’s going to be a process to that early in the year.”

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Of course, it’s just game one; there’s 16 left. No teams win or loses the Super Bowl in Week 1 — even the most inexperienced ones.

The NFL season is about day-to-day improvement. And a team with as many rookie starters like the Dolphins needs to grow.

“You got to keep coaching them, you got to tell them the truth, and we got to develop these guys,” Hafley said when asked how he prevents young players from losing confidence. “Today when I sit down in the team meeting and I show something that we need to correct, take ownership in it. And if we’re not coaching it well enough, take ownership in that and then show the good. Win or lose, that’s going to have to happen regardless. I mean, how you treat the game film should not be indicative of the wins or losses. How you treat the game film is you go play by play regardless of the result, and was the process.”

Unfortunately, the 2026 season won’t get any easier. They will face a talented San Francisco team on Sunday followed by the Kansas City Chiefs, which have one three of the last seven Super Bowls. On the other side of that: Brian Flores and the Minnesota Vikings, which paced the league in blitzing in Week 1.

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The bottom line: the young Dolphins need to grow up. Fast.

This story was originally published September 18, 2026 at 8:00 AM.