Dolphins

There was a moment over the offseason in the Dolphins’ joint practice with the Bears where LB Jordyn Brooks confronted fellow LB Tyrel Dodson for not playing physically enough. Miami OLB Bradley Chubb called it a “turning point” for their defense and changing the culture in the locker room. 

“Honestly in Chicago, with [Brooks and Dodson] — [it was] players holding players accountable,” Chubb said, via Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN. “We were in the heat of battle, so it got a little bit more heated than it should have. … Just guys getting in each other’s face, but at the end of the day, knowing it’s all love and this is about pushing each other to be the best. It was probably the biggest turning point for our defense this offseason because we saw two alphas going at it and pushing each other to be better.”

One anonymous former Dolphins player told Louis-Jacques that people were often late to practice and meetings early in the 2024 season, following a strong 2023 campaign when they went 11-6. 

“Everyone was fine with cutting meetings, cutting practice when they’re winning, but once you’re losing, it’s like now you can’t get mad at that,” the player said. “You were just enjoying it when you were winning.”

Miami let players go over the offseason, like S Jevon Holland, RB Raheem Mostert, CB Kendall Fuller, and TE Durham Smythe. Miami GM Chris Grier said they made calculated decisions to add “the right guys” to their locker room. 

“When you bring in so many new players that have been stars that played other places and you kind of work through it, you have your expectations, but you’re winning,” Grier said. “But you look at it and you’re like, ‘Hey, I don’t know if we’re winning the right way.’ You know what I mean? That’s kind of what it was. We had a lot of good guys in that locker room, as you know, some of the guys that are leaders were here before as well. They were held accountable, but at times guys, it didn’t matter to them. Moving on from those people with the right guys here and focusing on that, because when you have a year like we did last year, we had gone to the playoffs the two previous years, and at some point you say, ‘OK. All right, enough is enough.'”

• Louis-Jacques also reports Jalen Ramsey‘s behavior became a “drain on team morale” and the decision to trade him to the Steelers was “team-driven.”
• Dolphins fifth-round CB Jason Marshall Jr. has a “week-to-week” injury that’s not super extensive but could keep him out in Week 4, per McDaniel. (Barry Jackson)
• Dolphins TE Darren Waller will practice on Monday and would be on a snap count, per HC Mike McDaniel. (Joe Schad)
• Dolphins WR Malik Washington was fined $5,611 for using the helmet.

Jets

Jets HC Aaron Glenn doesn’t believe in moral victories in the NFL, but wants the team’s fan base to know that they aren’t the same old Jets, despite their 0-3 start. Glenn is confident that the players on his roster will continue to give their all in pursuit of wins as the season progresses.

“You just said we’re 0-3, we’re 0-3. How many more games do we have left? That speaks for itself,” Glenn said, via Pro Football Talk. “We have a lot of games to go play and you can build on this, you can build on this. The one thing I don’t do, which I understand that New York media tries to do, is the negative parts of it, but I’m not going to be that way. I’m going to let you guys deal with that. We’re going to let you guys deal with that. We’re going to look at the things that we did well and we’re going to continue to push forward because we’re going to improve, and we’re going to make sure that we get over that hump — I do know that.”

Patriots

Patriots WR coach Todd Downing said WR Demario Douglas is handling things well despite not being targeted early.

“The ball hasn’t found him as many times early in the season, but he hasn’t batted an eye,“ Downing said, via Mass Live. ”His work ethic has stayed the same. His attitude and his contagious energy has stayed the same.”

Patriots OC Josh McDaniels said he hasn’t had to talk to Douglas regarding his reduced role to start the season.

“No conversations. I mean, Pop’s awesome,” McDaniels said. “Look, the game dictates a lot of things. Depending on how much we’re in third down, how much we’re in 2-minute situations, how much we’ve decided to play the game in one personnel grouping or another for multiple different reasons would dictate a lot of things for a lot of players. Every time we’re in three receivers, there’s only one back on the field. Every time we’re in two backs at the same time, there’s less. Anytime you put somebody else in, somebody else has got to come out. I’ve really appreciated the unselfish nature of our entire group. Pop is at the top of that list. He knows what his job is. He knows his role. He’s ready to go every week. I expect him to continue to prepare hard and make plays when his number is called. He just didn’t have a lot of opportunities last week and sometimes that happens.”