MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — When Dan Campbell was hired as the Lions' head coach in 2021, he famously declared that Detroit would be a team that would “bite a kneecap off" its opponents.
Dolphins first-year coach Jeff Hafley has a similar mindset and wants his young Dolphins team to be built on the same toughness and grit that Campbell has instituted in Detroit.
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Miami Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis (2) hands off the football to running back Ollie Gordon II (0) during the first half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Miami Gardens, Fla., Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) passes in the pocket against the Minnesota Vikings during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley speaks during a news conference after an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Miami Gardens, Fla., Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell speaks during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
“I probably never would talk about biting people, but I think it’s pretty cool that he did,” Hafley quipped on Wednesday. “I think it’s the same. I mean, that’s how I want to play football ... that’s how we are playing football.”
Detroit was 3-13-1 in Campbell’s first full season as an NFL coach, six years after he was 5-7 as Miami’s interim coach. The teams will meet Sunday afternoon in Miami Gardens.
“Just reminds me a little of what we were when we came in," Campbell said of the rebuilding Dolphins, who are 1-6 with the youngest roster in the NFL — eight Dolphins rookies have combined for 45 total starts — but have been praised by opponents for how tough they play.
“They’re young, they’re hungry, they’re active,” Campbell added.
Dolphins players have said they want their identity to be rooted in physicality and effort — but they want to be known for much more.
“We want to win,” rookie linebacker Jacob Rodriguez said. “I think that's kind of a given — we're trying to win. We're not just trying to go out there and play hard and hope for the best. We're trying to go out there and have a plan to actively go and win the game. That being said, I think how we can do that, part of the recipe to win is you've got to play hard. And that's something that we've bought into.”
The Lions (5-2) have a balancing act at Miami, focusing on winning a fourth straight game to keep up in the competitive NFC North while a scary injury to All-Pro linebacker Jack Campbell looms over the franchise.
Campbell, who suffered a neck injury early in the fourth quarter of a 19-15 win over the Vikings, released a statement Wednesday saying he has full movement in his lower body and is “continuing to make progress with movement in my upper body." Those were his first comments since he was carted off the field last Sunday.
“There’s no easy way to do this,” Dan Campbell said Wednesday. “You also have to acknowledge it and let’s talk about it and make sure we know, but I also know they’re not postponing this game. The only way to honor Jack, we know the only way to really honor Jack and what he really wants is to make sure that we’re locked in and ready to go.”
Detroit (5-2) at Miami (1-6)
When/where to watch: Sunday, 1 p.m. EST, CBS.
Latest odds: Lions by 7.
Against the spread: Lions 3-4; Dolphins 3-3-1.
Last week: Lions beat the Vikings 19-15; Dolphins lost to the Patriots 24-19.
Last meeting: Dolphins beat Lions 31-27 on Oct. 30, 2022, in Detroit.
Series record: Dolphins lead 8-5.
Lions No. 1-ranked offense vs Dolphins defense. The Lions enter Sunday's matchup with a bevy of playmakers and a potent offense averaging 395.4 yards and 29 points per game. The Dolphins are 16th in the NFL in pass defense and 16th in rushing defense. They have faced plenty of tough offenses this season, which Hafley hopes has prepared his defense for the challenge. Another important matchup will be Miami’s pass rush, which is tied for 30th in sacks and has been inconsistent in pressuring quarterbacks, against quarterback Jared Goff. He was sacked four times in the first half last week against Minnesota, but wasn’t sacked at all in the second half, helping the Lions score two touchdowns to beat the previously unbeaten Vikings.
— The Lions have injuries piling up. Edge rusher DJ Wonnum (concussion) and cornerback DJ Reed (hip) have not practiced this week, putting their status in question. Center Cade Mays' (ankle) status is also in question after missing practice.
— Detroit is aiming for its first four-game winning streak since last season, when it started 4-1 before crumbling to a 9-8 finish.
— Lions QB Jared Goff has thrown a touchdown pass in 30 straight games, the NFL’s longest streak since Kansas City superstar Patrick Mahomes had a 31-game streak from 2019 to 2021.
— Detroit DT Alim McNeill has a sack in four of the past five games and is the team's first interior defensive lineman to have 4 1/2 sacks through seven games since since Ndamukong Suh in 2010.
— The Dolphins and Lions don't play each other often. Sunday will be only the 14th meeting between the two franchises and first since 2022.
— Miami rookie guard Kadyn Proctor returned to practice this week after a concussion sidelined him against the Patriots. His return could be a boost for the Dolphins' run game, which rushed for just 74 yards after entering the game with 100-plus yards rushing in the previous five matchups.
— Proctor, drafted 12th overall earlier this year, is one of three rookie offensive linemen to not allow a sack this season.
AP Sports Writer Larry Lage in Detroit contributed to this report.
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
Miami Dolphins quarterback Malik Willis (2) hands off the football to running back Ollie Gordon II (0) during the first half of an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Miami Gardens, Fla., Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) passes in the pocket against the Minnesota Vikings during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley speaks during a news conference after an NFL football game against the New England Patriots in Miami Gardens, Fla., Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell speaks during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump met at the White House on Thursday with a Russian envoy who was on the premises for an event with first lady Melania Trump and suggested that some kind of grand deal about European security was in the works, but said he did not meet with visiting Ukrainian officials who also were on hand.
Trump, who has long boasted he could quickly broker an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, has lately blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for refusing to make concessions to end the conflict. During the closing weeks of the midterm election campaign, Trump struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to remove sanctions from Russian diesel exports.
Trump told reporters he met with Putin envoy Kirill Dmitriev but declined to give details. The meeting took place as Trump’s own envoys held talks with other Ukrainian and European officials at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
“There’s going to be an agreement, it’s going to be a big agreement and it’s going to involve more than Ukraine,” Trump said, adding that it might include all of Europe.
One of the U.S. envoys in Brussels, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, said on social media that Thursday’s talks with Ukraine, NATO and European allies were productive and focused on security guarantees for Ukraine and a broader security structure for Europe. The United States is holding three-way talks next week in Abu Dhabi with Ukraine and Russia, the first trilateral peace discussions since February.
“We are working intensively with all parties to find practical solutions that can bring this war to an end and establish the foundations for lasting peace,” Kushner wrote.
Dmitriev was at the White House for an event recognizing the recent six-day truce between Russia and Ukraine in the besieged Ukrainian city of Oleshky. The local ceasefire in the war-divided region of Kherson in southern Ukraine was in effect from Oct. 27 to Nov. 1 and amounted to the most significant truce since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Dmitriev thanked the first lady for her “distinguished humanitarian role” in securing the temporary ceasefire. Dmitriev said Putin personally gave instructions as part of the operation and sent his thanks to Melania Trump for her work.
The head of the parliamentary faction of Zelenskyy’s party, Davyd Arakhamia, and Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, also spoke at the event.
Trump did not say why he didn’t meet with the Ukrainian officials, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Arakhamia told the first lady she did an “amazing job" and encouraged her to keep helping the Ukrainian people, who have endured more than four years of war after Putin sent his troops across the border and invaded the country in February 2022.
“Definitely we would like to ask you to keep going and to find new missions and to de-escalate more as much as possible,” Arakhamia said.
The first lady has worked with both countries since last year to reunite families separated by the war. So far, she has helped nearly three dozen children return to their relatives.
She said Thursday that she hoped the Oleshky ceasefire could become more enduring and more widespread.
“Let Oleshky be the modest spark that grows into a lasting flame of peace,” she said.
Zelenskyy, in a speech in Spain last week, said the operation in Oleshky proved “something very simple. When Putin wants the fighting to stop, it stops. And there was real silence, no attacks some days, and we saved hundreds of lives.”
The ceasefire is the latest example of how Melania Trump has become more involved in foreign affairs than some of her recent predecessors, who typically travel abroad to spread U.S. goodwill and largely avoid involvement with warring countries, though there have been some exceptions.
In 2022, months after Russia invaded Ukraine, first lady Jill Biden traveled to western Ukraine to visit with Zelenskyy's wife in a town far away from the front lines. Under tight security, first lady Laura Bush made several visits to war-torn Afghanistan.
In an announcement that came as a surprise, the White House said on Oct. 23 that the first lady had brokered the ceasefire to help with the delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid and to allow civilians to evacuate from a place she described as being “on the brink of disaster.”
An estimated 2,000 people remained in Oleshky when the temporary truce took hold. They were offered the choice of evacuating to territory controlled by Ukraine or Russia, or remaining in the city with replenished food and medical supplies.
Supplies were delivered during the six-day window while hundreds of Oleshky residents crossed into Ukrainian-held territory in a major evacuation operation.
Melania Trump said Thursday that nearly 800 people had been evacuated from Oleshky, and she described how she initiated talks with officials in both countries after learning about the situation at an event she held on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly session in September. She said she and her top adviser, Marc Beckman, worked directly with Russian and Ukrainian leadership to define the terms of the ceasefire.
Food and medical supplies had been scarce for months in Oleshky, once a city of about 24,000 residents that sits on the Dnipro River separating Ukrainian forces from the city’s Russian occupiers. There is no electricity, heat or running water.
Oleshky was captured by Moscow’s forces on the first day of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Its buildings were shelled and burned, and its infrastructure damaged. In June 2023, floodwaters inundated the city after the Kakhovka Dam collapsed from an explosion that an Associated Press investigation found was likely caused by the Russian military. Hundreds of residents were killed.
Those left in the city along Ukraine’s southeastern front face death from hunger or disease as another harsh winter looms. Ukraine has appealed repeatedly for a local ceasefire to organize evacuations. Russia, as the occupying power, is obligated by international law to ensure civilians under its control have what they need to survive.
The first lady presented Putin and Zelenskyy's representatives with large white envelopes and asked them to deliver her personal letter to each leader. Dmitriev presented her with a painting from an 11-year-old girl, while Zelenskyy sent her a Ukrainian award recognizing her role in the ceasefire.
Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price and Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump speaks after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
First lady Melania Trump, from right, hands letters written for the presidents of Ukraine and Russia to Davyd Arakhamia, head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Servant of the People party and Russian Presidential Envoy Kirill Dmitriev, during a meeting with the first lady and Russian and Ukrainian representatives in the Grand Foyer of the White House, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Russian Presidential Envoy Kirill Dmitriev speaks during a meeting with first lady Melania Trump and Russian and Ukrainian representatives in the Grand Foyer of the White House, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Russian Presidential Envoy Kirill Dmitriev speaks alongside first lady Melania Trump during a meeting with Russian and Ukrainian representatives in the Grand Foyer of the White House, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Russian Presidential Envoy Kirill Dmitriev, left, presents first lady Melania Trump with a gift during a meeting with Russian and Ukrainian representatives in the Grand Foyer of the White House, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
First lady Melania Trump arrives to speak during a meeting with Russian and Ukrainian representatives in the Grand Foyer of the White House, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
First lady Melania Trump attends a meeting with Russian and Ukrainian representatives in the Grand Foyer of the White House, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Davyd Arakhamia, head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Servant of the People party, speaks alongside first lady Melania Trump during a meeting with Russian and Ukrainian representatives in the Grand Foyer of the White House, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, left, presents first lady Melania Trump with a state award during a meeting with Russian and Ukrainian representatives in the Grand Foyer of the White House, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
First lady Melania Trump speaks during a meeting with Russian and Ukrainian representatives in the Grand Foyer of the White House, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, left, presents first lady Melania Trump with a state award during a meeting with Russian and Ukrainian representatives in the Grand Foyer of the White House, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
