The word out of Miami this morning is that the Dolphins are not discouraged by Chris Johnson, the first-round cornerback whose stat sheet from the Las Vegas game read like a ransom note. Jeff Hafley went looking for positives on a hard day at the office and said he found them. Coaches say that sort of thing. What matters is whether the tape backs him up, and for a rookie corner in his first real month, it usually does before the box score does.
Here is the thing about the position Johnson plays: nobody on the field is more publicly accountable. A guard can get beaten three times a quarter and nobody notices until the quarterback is on his back. A corner gets beaten once and it is a highlight, a graphic, and a week of conversation. Miami spent a first-round pick on a player who has to learn the hardest job in the league in front of a camera pointed directly at him. That is the deal. Everyone signed it.
Checked the almanac on this one, because the history here is loud. Darrelle Revis spent his NFL debut getting thoroughly worked over by Randy Moss in 2007 and still walked into Canton on the first ballot. Rookie corners get hunted. Good ones remember who hunted them.
The Las Vegas defense got all the postgame love from that game, and fairly so, players raving about how the new coordinator called it. Miami went home with the loss and a rookie with a bruise on his confidence. Those two facts are related, and only one of them is fixable this week.
What comes next is not gentle. Miami is in San Francisco on Sunday at 4:25 ET, on the road, against an offense that is built to find the softest coverage on the field and go there repeatedly and without apology. If Hafley's read on the rookie is the real one, the tell will be simple: fewer plays where Johnson is late, more where he is early and wrong. Early and wrong is coachable. Late is habit.
I'm watching how much help Miami gives him over the top on Sunday. That answers the question faster than any quote will.