Read the full transcript from OC Bobby Slowik's media availability on October 1, 2026.

So it looked like last week you gave Austin a little bit more help. Was that the case? Because I know you had said you'd done him a disservice the first two weeks.

Bobby Slowik: By our count we did not. Now there were some situations, our emphasis last week was we want to get the ball out, like against the Chiefs and what they did. So I think that alleviated some of it on the tackles. But honestly, by and large, I just thought our o-line played better. I thought our tackles played better. I thought our guards and our center played good. I thought everybody really across the board took a step in the right direction. I wish I could tell you that it was my designs, but it was not, we played better.

Hafley after the game complimented your game plan and as you said, getting the ball out quick. How do you think those, for lack of a better term, layup completions for Malik, what impact do you think it has on him as he goes forward in the game?

Bobby Slowik: I think anytime you just get into a rhythm as a quarterback and you start to stack them, you just start to – I think it's hard to explain, you start to feel a flow, a confidence in what you're doing, where your eyes are going to be, what your footwork is going to be. You get used to just letting go of the ball, even on plays we don't design for the ball to be gone fast. Usually, the speed at which we're getting rid of it speeds up. Now, it's hard to do. It's hard to manufacture easy, early completions. Everybody in the NFL wants easy early completions, you know what I mean? So it's usually something you got to try really hard to get when you want to and often times we try to do it in other ways. It might be a keeper here or there. It might be an easy swing from the backfield, but usually you're only limited to maybe one or two of those and then it's up to the quarterback, can you carry that over into the other plays, which he did this past week. I mean, he really bought into the emphasis. He was trying really hard to make sure he was playing on time, getting rid of the ball when it needed to be gone and to the right spot. I thought really the whole three and a half quarters we executed what we were trying to get done really well.

Obviously, you now know you'll be without De'Von Achane the rest of the year. What will it take from the running backs, the offensive line, the whole run game, even what he does out of the backfield in the pass game, to make up for that loss?

Bobby Slowik: I mean, everyone in the NFL says it, but it's very real, for us it's just next man up. Like you can only do so much to make up for a player of the caliber that De'Von Achane is. Like he's a huge part of our team. My heart hurts for him, like it breaks for him. Really, really tough. I got so much respect for the guy. What he means to us as a person, what he's meant to us as a player and what he's meant to us as a leader this year, I can't say enough good things about. I mean, he's every one of everybody's favorite players, in the building, outside the building. I think that says a lot about him and the kind of person that he is. I mean, the fact that, obviously he's done for the year and he's still out on the sideline after he's hurt and he's cheering on his brothers, he's cheering on the coaches, cheering on the team, like that means a lot to us. Heart just breaks for him, that really stinks. But the flip side is it's a really good opportunity for Ollie, for J-Wright, for any other back that we could have in there, Malik if we put him back there. It's just another opportunity for other guys to show what they can do and I think all the people around that spot are as important as that spot. I think our o-line is ready for the challenge, tight ends are ready for the challenge, receivers are ready for the challenge to make it as easy as we can while these guys get into a bit of a groove.

Do we have any early leadings on how you'll split carries between Jaylen Wright and Ollie Gordon?

Bobby Slowik: No, I mean, we're still kind of going through exactly what that process is going to be. I could tell you that you're probably going to see a few faces back there and we'll see where it goes.

With the skill set that Ollie has and the skill set that Jaylen Wright has, obviously replicating De'Von is a challenge in itself, but does your offense have to evolve a little considering they have different, varying skill sets?

Bobby Slowik: I mean, they've been putting in the same work that De'Von has, you know what I mean? They've been working on the same plays, they've been working on the same actions, they've been running the same stuff. I think there's always a part of like, we're always gonna adjust to what our players are good at, but the guys are here because they're good at what we do. So I'm not gonna say there's gonna be this big evolution of everything that we got going on, particularly in the run game. But we're going to lean towards their skill sets and what we think they do well, probably a little bit more than some of the things that we thought De'Von did well.

Just to follow up on that real quickly, if you wouldn't mind talking what Jaylen does well and what you think Ollie does well?

Bobby Slowik: Like I said, they all are here because they have a similar skill set as far as being able to run zone. That's really the starting point of what we do, like good vision, one cut downhill type runners. And all of them have the ability to get to the edge when required. J-Wright obviously is very fast, Ollie is obviously very big and hard to tackle. So that part of them is very different. Schematically though, and run game wise, outside of Ollie, just generally wanting to be more physical and J-Wright making use of his speed, there's really not going to be that much of a difference of how we're going to attack people.

With Minnesota leading QB hits, sacks and blitzes through three weeks, do you pay attention at all to this type of statistics and how much can that affect the game plan?

Bobby Slowik: I mean, I didn't know all three of those, I knew some of them. But so I guess that in itself tells you some of them. But more often than not, like we can tell from the tape. Like I could have told you, a lot of those don't surprise me just from watching tape. Flo does a phenomenal job. I think he's one of the more challenging guys to go against in the NFL. I think he puts a lot of pressure on the offensive players. I think he puts a lot of pressure on the offensive play caller and coaches. He gives you tough looks. He gives offsets to tough looks. So he just puts you in a bind and they got a really, really, really smart defense that does not make many mistakes. So it's a stressful game offensively and I think that's a challenge to us up front, be on our game, backfield, be on our game in protections, tight ends got to be on our game in protections. But just as important as anything in the pass game, the quarterback and the receivers got to be on the same page. It's equally important, same as last week, that we're getting the ball out and when and where we're getting the ball out is as important as it is that we're picking up a pressure properly. All of it ties together.

What went well from a rushing standpoint for Malik last week?

Bobby Slowik: I just think he took advantage of the good looks. Last week, there were a few called that were more like run-pass options, he could have done either and I thought he made the right decision every time on those. I thought he did a good job protecting himself. I know it's always a fine line. You got to make sure that you're getting down and you're being safe and then there's a moment in the game where like only the player can feel where I got to go get this and get a few yards out of this thing. I thought he did a good job in that regard. I think the only misstep he had was the fumble, which has been, obviously, an emphasis for us this week to make sure we protect the ball. But I just thought he was making the right, smart decisions.

You talked about his decision making. Obviously in Week 2, he had some balls that he probably should have thrown out the end zone. You see that kind of in Week 3. Just talk about his growth week by week and how he's taken that next step?

Bobby Slowik: It's been fun to watch. I mean, honestly, it's been fun to just coach the whole offense. I think Malik's a microcosm of the whole group, you know? They're all hungry, they all want to learn, they all want to get better and they do it every day. They do it every day in practice. I mean, even from this week's practice compared to last week's practice, we're taking steps. We've taken steps in each and every game and hope that continues. And I think Malik has really embraced the things he knows he needs to do to be a better quarterback and be a better version of Malik Willis, while also helping the Dolphins be a better version of the Dolphins. He takes that very seriously and he also tries to bring people along with him, which is why I think he's so fun to be around. He doesn't want it to just be himself, he wants everyone to kind of come along with him.

With Flores, obviously the package, who does it put the most pressure on to identify and make the call? Is it the center? Is it the quarterback? Obviously, the receivers have to make the right route adjustments, but how do you figure out what's coming and what's not coming and how do you identify the Mike?

Bobby Slowik: I'd say there's a lot of different ways to do it. Like there's some teams that are all about identifying the Mike, there's some that never identify the Mike. There's a lot of different ways to cut it. For us, all I can tell you is it's really important for us [that] everybody is seeing it the same way. That's the most important thing for us – is the quarterback, the o-line, the backs, the tight ends and the receivers are all seeing whatever it is, whatever the look is we're seeing, we're seeing it the same way. These guys aren't seeing it like one look, while the left side sees it like look B. The big thing is everybody sees it as look A and we kind of go from there. That's what we're spending a lot of our time on right now.