In Dan Campbell’s first season as the Lions’ head coach, he went 3-13-1. By Year 2 the Lions had improved to 9-8, and in Year 3 they were in the NFC Championship Game. Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley wants to build his team the way Campbell built the Lions, and Campbell thinks Hafley is doing it the right way.

With the Dolphins set to face the Lions on Sunday, both Hafley and Campbell said today that they see similarities between where the Dolphins are now and where the Lions were in Campbell’s first season: Building a winning culture, even if their record doesn’t show it yet.

“That’s how I want to play football. Let me retract that: That’s how we are playing football,” Hafley said of the way the Lions play. “I think if you watch us right now, every coach has said it, and everyone who watches us, whether it’s on TV or they turn on the tape, I get texts or phone calls, that’s what’s showing up on tape right now. And while it’s disappointing that we’re 1-6, the foundation of that with young guys, that’s really important to us. When you see the physicality and the toughness and how hard guys are playing, it means that they’re playing for each other and they’re bought in. We’ve brought the right guys here. That’s very, very important to me, and it will continue to be.”

Campbell said he thinks Hafley is building his team exactly the way a new coach should.

“Coach Hafley’s done a good job in his first year,” Campbell said. “A lot of similarities — it reminds me of what we were when we came in. They’re young, they’re hungry, they’re active, they run, they hit, they hustle, they finish, try to play disciplined ball. And they’re playing that way.”