Dolphins sticking with QB Malik Willis despite 0-5 start, passing game struggles: 'Malik needs to be better'

Malik Willis still has his job, at least for now. 

Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley said Monday that, despite a rough start to the season, he’s not considering a quarterback change as they enter their bye week. 

“We’ve played five games, and Malik is our quarterback,” Hafley said, via the South Florida Sun Sentinel. 

Willis has struggled so far this fall to lead the Dolphins, who fell to 0-5 on the year after a 31-24 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. Willis went 15-of-27 for 137 yards in that loss with a touchdown and two interceptions. 

Willis has thrown for 849 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions so far this season. He holds just a 56.2% completion percentage, which is better than only two other quarterbacks in the league who have played meaningful snaps this season. He has a 43.9 quarterback rating, too, which is 23rd in the NFL. 

Willis has also fumbled five times, including in each of his past three games.

“We got to look hard at it during the bye week,” Hafley said, via ESPN. “We talk about ball security all the time and we work on it and we’ve got to do a better job of putting him in those situations and he’s got to have the awareness to protect the ball as well. We’ll take a hard look at fixing that because we’re not going to win games if we’re fumbling the ball like that.”

“We got to look hard at it during the bye week,” Hafley said, via ESPN. “We talk about ball security all the time and we work on it and we’ve got to do a better job of putting him in those situations and he’s got to have the awareness to protect the ball as well. We’ll take a hard look at fixing that because we’re not going to win games if we’re fumbling the ball like that.”

The Dolphins now have two weeks to reset before returning for a road game against the New York Jets on Oct. 25. Kyle McCord is currently Willis’ backup, and would presumably be next in line should Hafley opt to bench Willis. 

That, though, isn’t something that’s on the table just yet. Even though Willis has struggled, Hafley isn’t placing all of the blame on him. 

“Malik needs to be better, OK? And that’s not the headline,” he said. “The headline is we all need to be better, and I mean that. I thought yesterday for the first time we ran the ball really well and we moved the ball. We ran for 200 yards against a really good team. But everything in the pass game has to be better, right? It’s the receivers, it’s the tight ends, it’s the protection. It all has to tie in, and it all has to be better.

“And that’s the quarterback, that’s the coaches, that’s the offensive line, that’s the running backs, that’s the tight ends. This is a team game that we all need to be more efficient, and we need to be better. And we will work through that. I have confidence in the coaches, I have confidence in the players that we have. We will work through that and we will get better. It’s been five weeks.”

“Malik needs to be better, OK? And that’s not the headline,” he said. “The headline is we all need to be better, and I mean that. I thought yesterday for the first time we ran the ball really well and we moved the ball. We ran for 200 yards against a really good team. But everything in the pass game has to be better, right? It’s the receivers, it’s the tight ends, it’s the protection. It all has to tie in, and it all has to be better.

“And that’s the quarterback, that’s the coaches, that’s the offensive line, that’s the running backs, that’s the tight ends. This is a team game that we all need to be more efficient, and we need to be better. And we will work through that. I have confidence in the coaches, I have confidence in the players that we have. We will work through that and we will get better. It’s been five weeks.”