Should Miami shut Howard down for season? That and more from Dolphins locker room
Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard will undergo yet another an MRI at some point Tuesday, and if the results aren’t great — particularly if he needs a third scope in four years — the organization will have to make a decision:
Shut him down for the season or try to bring him back for the last month of the season.
Howard sat out the roughly half the game after exacerbating the knee injury that caused him to miss the last two games. And it marred what might have been a big night for him; Howard was excellent in coverage and recorded his first interception since Dec. 2, 2018 before getting hurt.
The 2018 Pro Bowler told reporters after Monday night’s loss to the Steelers he’s “not worried about” his latest setback, but did acknowledge he’s “had a lot of knee surgeries, scopes, stuff like that. I don’t think it’s anything that serious.”
But even a minor issue could be enough for the Dolphins to pull the plug on 2019, which is already a lost year, and get him ready for 2020, when the team will need Howard to make what it hopes will be a big leap forward.
Dolphins coach Brian Flores told reporters late Monday that the organization will evaluate Howard over the coming days before making any decision on his availability, both short and long-term.
“Obviously X is one of our best players and he made a couple of plays for us tonight,” Flores said. “But again, injuries happen on every team. Again, we’re not going to sit here and make excuses about a guy being out. We got to go in there and the next guy’s got to perform, which we didn’t have that.”
The Dolphins were a different defense with Howard in the game, and had no answer for the Steelers’ offense without him. Pittsburgh out-scored Miami 17-0 after halftime and the Dolphins allowed 172 passing yards in the final two quarters.
With Howard and Ken Webster (ankle) out down the stretch, Chris Lammons was at times asked to guard JuJu Smith-Schuster one on one.
Lammons failed to cover Smith-Schuster late in the third quarter, allowing the receiver to high-point the ball and score the go-ahead touchdown.
“Good throw, good catch,” Lammons said. “I was in position but lost the ball. No excuse. He made a good catch. It won’t happen again.”
Odds and ends
▪ Two costly turnovers. Two different stories of accountability.
Mark Walton showed some, answering questions about his second-half fumble that basically sealed the game for Pittsburgh. Nick O’Leary showed none, refusing to fulfill his NFL-mandated media obligations and bolting for the team bus in the post-game locker room.
“I was trying to be a ballplayer, try to make a play,” Walton said. “But at the end of the day, I’ve got to hang onto the ball. That’s my job to hold onto the ball. I’m going to hold myself accountable for that. From here on out, I’m going to hold onto the ball, even if I’m going to try to make a play in space.”
▪ Bobby McCain’s punishment for reportedly spitting on a Bills fan in Week 7 included getting benched for the first quarter of Monday night’s game. “It sucked, it sucked,” McCain said. “But it’s behind me.”
▪ Monday night’s box score was ugly for Miami. The Dolphins lost the turnover battle 4-1, were out-gained 394-230, converted just 3 of 8 third downs, allowed four sacks, managed only 3.2 yards per rush and surrendered 158 rushing yards.
This story was originally published October 29, 2019 at 1:43 AM.
