During the Miami Dolphins’ 42-38, come-from-behind victory over the Baltimore Ravens, defensive coordinator Josh Boyer’s defense was, once again, without cornerback Byron Jones due to an injury that landed him on PUP to start the season.
In Week 1, against the New England Patriots, it was mostly third-year cornerback Nik Needham that lined up opposite Xavien Howard in Miami’s secondary, and he continued to do that for the first half of this game as well.
However, in the second half, Miami opted to put undrafted rookie Kader Kohou in for Needham and Needham didn’t come back to the field until their last defensive drive.
Boyer spoke to the media on Thursday and offered a cross-sport analogy for his cornerbacks that explained the usage in the second half.
“A lot of times I looked at those guys like baseball pitchers,” Boyer said, transcribed by the Miami Herald’s Daniel Oyefusi. “Like this guy’s a good matchup for this guy and this guy’s a good matchup for this guy.”
Head coach Mike McDaniel explained the decision earlier in the week without the baseball reference.
“We’re matchup-oriented,” McDaniel said. “Within a game, you can adjust plans. Sometimes it can be a look in somebody’s eye. I need to give this guy an opportunity. [Kohou] had that look about him in the second half and we felt we could feature him and he rose to the challenge. It wasn’t anything but that game. I’m not making it bigger than that. It wasn’t a bench situation [for Needham] but more a feature situation [for Kohou]. He did a very good job with his opportunities.”
Having an undrafted rookie step up, make plays and earn playing time is a great resource at this point in the season, especially when one of the top veteran cornerbacks is out. Against the Buffalo Bills, it seems like Miami could go with either cornerback in this game, and that will depend on how they see the matchup.
Whoever it is, they’ll need to be at their best.
