Why Hafley Feels the Dolphins Offense Is Prepared for the Flores Flurry

Facing former head coach Brian Flores obviously will be among the biggest storylines for the Miami Dolphins in Week 4, but there are a lot more significant ramifications to the reunion.

For the Dolphins, how they can deal with Flores' blitz-crazy approach could end up being the biggest factor in whether they can record their first victory of the season with an upset of the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Through the first three weeks of the 2026 regular season, the Vikings lead the NFL in just about every category related to blitzes and quarterback pressures.

At the top, according to Pro Football Reference, the Vikings lead the NFL in pressures (hurries, knock-downs and sacks) with 54, 13 more than the second-place Las Vegas Raiders.

The stat that jumps out the most, though, is the blitz percentage, with Minnesota at a crazy 66.4 percent clip, dwarfing the next-most blitz-happy team, the Chicago Bears at 39.8 percent.

The Kansas City Chiefs are fifth in that category at 36.7 percent, and head coach Jeff Hafley says having faced them just this past weekend will provide valuable experience.

"What helps is we just went against a blitz-crazy defense with Spags (coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) and the Chiefs," Hafley said before practice Wednesday. "I mean, Spags will zero you, he's going to show all up. He's going to bluff out, and they're going to do the same thing. So back-to-back weeks of playing really good defenses, really good coordinators, really good schemes, it's going to be a challenge for (the offensive line)."

It's encouraging at that sense that Malik Willis wasn't sacked once against the Chiefs after he was taken down nine times in the first two games.

But it needs to be said that nobody blitzes or creates more pressure than the Vikings, and that will put quite a strain on not only the offensive line but the entire offense to be on point with their assignments.

"It's not just going to be the front, and that's just like the case last week," Hafley said. "It's going to be everybody. It's going to be the receivers responding the right way, the tight ends responding the right way, Malik's ability to communicate, where’s our back, is he where he's supposed to be, is he seeing everything the right way. I mean, it's going to take all 11. I think a lot of times you just want to put it on your offensive line, but a lot of times you'll see a quarterback getting ready to make a throw and the receiver's supposed to break out and he doesn't break out, or he's supposed to break in and he doesn't break in, or the running back was supposed to step up in this gap and he didn't. It's going to take all 11. We're going to have to be on the same page. It's going to be loud, so communication is going to be a key to this game."

So what would be a good outcome for the Dolphins in terms of handling the Minnesota pass rush?

The Vikings recorded four sacks in their opener against the Green Bay Packers in Week 1, four again against the Chicago Bears in Week 2, and then a season-high six against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last Sunday.

Willis has the mobility to get out of the pocket when pressured, but the running game likely can't be counted on very much in the immediate aftermath of De'Von Achane's season-ending knee injury.

Thinking that the Dolphins can shut out the Vikings in the sack department Sunday seems like a pipe dream, but holding them to something like two probably would have to be considered a win.

THE FLORES-HAFLEY CONNECTION

Hafley handled the same role as Flores in the same division the past two seasons as defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers, but their connection goes deeper.

Some 20 years before Hafley became head coach at Boston College, Flores was a defensive back at the school.

"Got to know him when I was at Boston College," Hafley said. "I mean, he'd come by and we'd spend time together, just being two defensive guys in the NFL. I think he's a great play caller and he's done a tremendous job there."

The Dolphins have gone up against Flores once before following his dismissal as Dolphins head coach after the 2021 season, though Flores was a senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach for Pittsburgh when the Steelers played a Sunday night game at Hard Rock Stadium in 2022.

The Dolphins won that game, 16-10.

Add us as a preferred source on Google