Jaelan Phillips says 0-3 start isn’t ‘death sentence’ for Miami Dolphins

Even the most optimistic of Miami Dolphins fans probably don’t have a lot of positive takeaways through the team’s opening three contests of the 2025 season. Not only is Miami winless with a 0-3 record, but two of its three losses thus far have come by double digits.

While there’s a lot to be disappointed with about how the Dolphins have kicked off the new campaign, linebacker Jaelan Phillips refuses to believe that the team’s winless start is a “death sentence.” He noted that back in the 2021 season, his maiden season in the NFL, Miami started 1-7 but proceeded to go on a long winning streak (it was a seven-game streak to get above .500).

It’s true that Miami rallied back from an incredibly poor start to the 2021 campaign to finish with a record above the .500 mark, but at the same time, it’s worth noting that the Dolphins still missed out on the playoffs that season. Plus, franchise history suggests Miami has already dug itself into a massive hole as far as its playoff hopes go.

Every one of the eight previous Dolphins teams in franchise history to start 0-3 failed to qualify for the playoffs, and none of those squads ended up with more than seven wins on the season.

But if there’s any reason to still cling to hope that the Dolphins won’t meet the same fate as the other 0-3 teams in franchise history, it’s that their schedule doesn’t look too intimidating in the coming weeks.

The Dolphins’ next two games will be against New York Jets and Carolina Panthers teams that have a combined record of just 1-5, with the Jets still searching for their first win of the campaign. Miami will then have to deal with the Los Angeles Chargers but will have more games against sub-.500 teams afterwards in the Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons.

It seems that if the Dolphins want to have any chance to resurrect their season and turn it around for the better, they have to start by finally getting in the win column in their looming game against the Jets in Week 4.