The Dolphins’ dynamic duo needs to play that way vs. Allen after uneven game in Arizona
Sunday’s main attraction is Tua vs. Justin.
But Keenan vs. Xavien and/or Byron is a tasty undercard.
So yes, the subplots are rich for Sunday’s Chargers-Dolphins tilt, particularly since Los Angeles has an elite wide receiver (Keenan Allen) and the Dolphins have two corners (Xavien Howard and Byron Jones) more than capable of running with him.
“He’s one of the top players in the league,” Dolphins coach Brian Flores said of Allen Thursday. “Very productive, very good route-runner, good hands, good after the catch. I feel like I’ve seen him every year for the last 10 years. He’s a very good player and he poses a lot of problems.”
One of the biggest? Allen, a three-time Pro Bowler who has more than 7,000 career receiving yards, lined up in the slot on nearly half of his snaps in 2019. Howard and Jones play on the boundary.
So will the Dolphins ask one of them to shadow Allen and play somewhat out of position? Or will they stick with the plan and trust Nik Needham to handle those responsibilities when Allen lines up inside?
Flores acknowledged it’s something his staff has grappled with this week.
“Do we move a guy that’s primarily outside inside? Do we leave him outside and deal with the issues inside or if we move and they don’t move, we’re good? If we move and they move, now they got what they want. Those are all the kind of gymnastics you go through as you’re trying to game plan, so we’ll see. We’ll find out on Sunday, but what we all know is that Keenan Allen is a very good player and we know [Justin] Herbert will be looking for him, as he should.”
None of that will much matter if Howard and Jones reprise their performances from last week. Both had shaky moments, albeit in a win, against Kyler Murray and the Cardinals.
Howard had the more difficult task. He drew DeAndre Hopkins, and kept him largely in check (3 catches for 30 yards). But Howard also committed four defensive pass interference penalties, the most by an NFL defender in two decades.
Jones, meanwhile, surrendered six completions on as many targets for 116 yards and two touchdowns. Every pass caught on him went for a first down.
The most jarring breakdown?
When Cardinals receiver Christian Kirk simply ran past him for a 56-yard touchdown catch.
“I’m not going to go into coverage, but that dude was fast,” Jones said Sunday. “I should’ve got on my horse and just ran faster, I guess, but credit to their offense. We threw a lot at them and they handled some, and we got some; but it was give and take throughout the entire game.”
He added: “Thank God to the offense for picking me up and thank God for the rest of the defense for picking me up. But that’s something I got to clean up and I’ll get that taken care of.”
Jones had another rough moment when an end-zone interception become a Darrell Daniels touchdown. Jones had great position; he simply couldn’t come away with the ball.
“I thought I had it,” Jones said. “It was all mine; I saw the ball in the air, I felt good about it. The issue is, I attacked the ball like a receiver; I should have attacked it like a DB with two hands ... instead of like that. So that’s something I’ve got to clean up on. It’s a little embarrassing, but as I said, the defense picked me up and the offense picked me up. So it’s something I’ll clean up on, but it’s good to get a tough win like that.”
As for Howard’s four interference penalties?
We didn’t get a chance to ask him about them. The team has not made Howard available to reporters since Oct. 18.
“I thought we had too many penalties throughout the game,” Flores said. “It wasn’t just [Howard]. ... Hopkins is a great player. Like I said last week, if I had one guy for a 50/50 ball, he’d be the guy. He’s a tough cover, so we did a good job on him for the most part, minus the penalties.”
