How Jeff Hafley can really flex his coaching muscles vs. Bengals in Week 5

Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley clearly has the ear of the locker room, because despite a 0-4 record, Hafley's players are giving maximum effort and doing all they can to get him his first victory.

A brutal schedule to date, wherein Miami's foes are a combined 15-1, is partially to blame for such an inauspicious start to the Hafley era. However, the Dolphins have their best crack yet at a win this Sunday at home against the Cincinnati Bengals, who are reeling amid back-to-back losses and have a multitude of injuries to key players.

Here's why Hafley has a golden opportunity in Week 5 to further prove he's the right leader for the Dolphins in the midst of a grueling rebuild.

Miami Dolphins HC Jeff Hafley's specialty could lead to deep confusion for Bengals' green receiving corps

The Bengals will likely be without Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins due to a concussion and an adductor injury, respectively. Thus, Jeff Hafley won't be going up against Cincinnati's elite passing attack at full strength.

Although he's not typically wont to throw a bunch of exotic schemes at opponents, even if Hafley has an extra wrinkle or two, it could make all the difference. He specializes in secondary play, and rookie first-round pick Chris Johnson has looked up to the task of playing on the boundary and in the slot.

We saw in Week 4 how a miscommunication between Burrow and Mitch Tinsley led to a costly interception in the red zone during Cincinnati's 22-17 loss to the Jaguars.

Burrow and Tinsley have reps banked together. They just aren't super high-quality reps. Last season, Tinsley hauled in only eight of 24 targets, which basic arithmetic tells me is not great!

So between Tinsley and Dohnte Meyers, who's impressed so far but is still inexperienced in the NFL, Hafley can disguise coverage, confuse the Bengals' young wideouts, and possibly create a turnover or two. And as we know, winning the turnover battle in the NFL almost guarantees victory.

Cincinnati's one-dimensional offense plays right into Miami's strengths

Only Hafley's former team, the Green Bay Packers, has run for fewer yards than the Bengals this season to date. Cincinnati running back Chase Brown is abysmal at generating yards after contact, as is his backup, Samaje Perine.

The Dolphins, who allow only 3.6 yards per carry, should be able to exploit a somewhat vulnerable Bengals pass-blocking unit. That quintet just had to drop Joe Burrow back over 50 times in Week 4, and right guard Dalton Risner has a nagging knee injury that caused him to visibly limp last Sunday.

Another weak point of the Cincinnati O-line is Burrow's blind side protector, Orlando Brown Jr., whose best days are behind him. I don't envision him returning to the level when he made four straight Pro Bowls. The last of those was in 2022, and he's steadily declined over the last few years with the Bengals.

In other words, look for Hafley to dial up stunts for Josh Uche and Zach Sieler as a means of getting at Brown and the Bengals' left guard, Dylan Fairchild. The latter committed two costly penalties last week, one of which wiped out a touchdown.

Zac Taylor is the easiest counterpart Hafley has faced thus far

Few head coaches are under as much pressure as Zac Taylor in Cincinnati. Yes, Joe Burrow's injuries haven't helped, but Taylor has missed the playoffs for three seasons in a row. Falling to 2-3 before a Week 6 bye would be quite the catastrophe.

Jeff Hafley has as much of a long leash as anyone. You don't hear a peep about calls for his job despite his winless record. There's a certain freedom that comes with being the perpetual underdog.

Meanwhile, it's painfully clear to me that Taylor can't draw up a competent run scheme to save his life. Cincinnati's under-center experiment to diversify the offense has not worked at all. They're way too obvious about tipping off their run-pass splits, rendering any attempts at play-action totally ineffective.

In Week 1, Hafley had to go up against Klint Kubiak, who just won a Super Bowl in Seattle before taking the Raiders' job, and is an elite offensive play-caller. Then, it was Kyle Shanahan. He's pretty good.

To cap off that stretch, the Dolphins squared off with two of the premier head coach-defensive coordinator combos in the sport: Andy Reid-Steve Spagnuolo and Kevin O'Connell-Brian Flores.

Zac Taylor-Al Golden doesn't exactly strike the same fear into the opposition as any of those prior names. Thus, if Hafley has a chance as a rookie coach to out-coach anyone on the schedule to date, it'd be Taylor and the Bengals.

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