Pro Bowl nod on Tuesday, and even better news Wednesday for the Dolphins’ Xavien Howard
Xavien Howard is finally back on the practice field.
But is it a week too late to make a difference?
The newly minted Pro Bowl cornerback returned to practice Wednesday for the first time since injuring his knee in Week 13.
“I feel great,” Howard said. “First day back out there. It feels great. Just moving on, see how at the end of the week how it feels.
Howard confirmed Wednesday that he injured his meniscus while picking off Josh Allen in the Bills game. However, he insisted that he did not undergo arthroscopic surgery, disputing an NFL Network report.
The Dolphins went 1-1 in those games, beating the Patriots but losing to the Vikings.
That loss, which Howard watched from the sidelines, crippled the Dolphins’ playoff hopes; they have just a one in 20 chance of reaching the postseason, according to FiveThirtyEight.
But they will have a zero percent chance if they lose to the Jaguars on Sunday; it’s the ultimately must-win game.
And there’s encouraging signs that their best player will be a part of it.
“I want to be on the field on the guys every day, compete with those guys, helping them,” Howard said. “It’s a brotherhood.”
If he can play Sunday against the Jaguars, the Dolphins will not just get back their best cornerback, but perhaps their best player — period. Howard was the only Dolphins player to be named to the Pro Bowl Tuesday evening.
Even with the two missed games, he is tied for the NFL lead with seven interceptions.
That’s a stat Howard knows in his sleep. He even knew that Bears cornerback Kyle Fuller is the other player with seven.
Finishing the season first in interceptions is “important to me,” Howard said. “It’s a big goal I want to accomplish. A lot more opportunities out there. Tied right now with Kyle Fuller. Two more games left. I want to end up one top at the end of the day.”
Yes, the Dolphins lost a great talent when Howard was out. But they were also diminished schematically. There were certain coverages they could not call with him off the field.
“It’s going to hurt you a lot,” Dolphins coach Adam Gase said.
More from Gase on Howard:
“He’s had some really good games. He’s made some big plays in key moments for us. Flipped some games for us. I think he’s done a good job, especially in the last six or seven weeks. All of his coverages have been tight. He’s around the ball all the time. He’s preventing guys from getting the ball thrown at them. It’s hard to really think of too many guys above him.”
No more than seven, if Pro Bowl voters are to be believed.
If Howard plays Sunday — and ‘it’s trending in the right direction,” Gase said — he should have opportunities to add to his interception total. The Jaguars are starting Cody Kessler, a career backup whose passer rating is just 76.
“The next man up mentality, you’ve got to have,” Howard said. “It’s the NFL. Everybody gets paid. Everybody who goes out there got to perform. You can’t say just because of injuries our season’s going late that. Everybody’s injured right now. There are two more games left. You’ve just got to thug it out.”
This story was originally published December 19, 2018 at 1:27 PM.
