NFL

Xavien Howard punches up a Dolphins victory over Patriots

Tom D'Angelo
Palm Beach Post

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Xavien Howard stood at the doorway of the Dolphins postgame interview area with a big smile following a bizarre, unconventional 17-16 victory at New England as Jason McCourty was at podium giving the introduction.

McCourty, playing his first game as a member of the Dolphins against his former team, was asked what he saw on the biggest play of the game, Howard punching the ball out of Damien Harris' hands and recovering it on the Dolphins 9-yard line with 3 1/2 minutes to play to secure the win.

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"Xavien Howard being one of our best players and making a play," McCourty said. "He gets paid a lot of money because he's that good. He's able to show up big for us in that moment. That's what we expect of him. In practice, out here in games ... we expect him to make plays.

"So, I'm going to bring him to the stage next."

Exit stage left for McCourty.

Up stepped Howard.

Miami Dolphins defensive back Nik Needham (40) celebrates with cornerback Xavien Howard (25) and teammates after a turnover by the New England Patriots during the second half at Gillette Stadium. Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

"My mindset was to get the ball out," he said. "We needed it. ... I knew they were going to try to run the ball in the red zone. Putting everything on the line and just punching the ball out, really."

The Punch was the defining play of a game and the difference between the Dolphins or the Patriots sitting atop the AFC East standings after one game.

Virtually every statistic says the Dolphins should be 0-1, one of those exceptions the one that counts. ... the final score.

Miami's defense could not get off the field. New England held the ball nearly 13 1/2 minutes longer than Miami. The Patriots had 134 yards of offense more than the Dolphins. They had three drives of 14 plays.

"I felt like every time we had a chance to get off the field they made a play," Dolphins coach Brian Flores said. "A lot of corrections to make defensively."

The difference: Each of those 14-play drives ended in Patriots field goals and two other series ended with the Dolphins forcing a turnover.

"Red zone, third down, those are game-winning plays," McCourty said. "We were able to get off the field on a third down in the red zone, it's a four point play. It changes a touchdown into a field goal. That's huge just to keep us in the game ... being able to bend and not break."

Said Dolphins second-year quarterback Tua Tagovailoa: "That's winning football on the defensive side."

And the Dolphins' best player and 2020 All-Pro made the winningest play.

After the last of those 14-play drives ended with New England pulling to within one point on Nick Folk's third field goal, the Patriots got the ball back with eight minutes to play.

Mac Jones, the rookie quarterback who succeeded Tagovailoa at Alabama, drove New England to the 11-yard line in eight plays. New England was poised to retake the lead either with a field goal or touchdown.

Looking to take more time off the clock, the Patriots were certain to run the ball. Howard knew that. He had one thing on his mind.

"We needed a play and he was able to punch it out and recover it," Flores said.

And this was not by accident. Linebacker Elandon Roberts said the defense sees creating turnovers as a source of pride. Players will walk around the locker room during the week cradling a football and defensive players will attempt to punch it out.

"We talk about it, 'I'm going to punch one out today,' " Roberts said. "We practice it day-in and day-out.

"It's embedded in our team."

Typically, though, Howard's turnovers come via the interception. He led the NFL with 10 picks a year ago and since 2017 no one has more interceptions than Howard's 22. The closest player to him has 18.

As Howard was wrapping up his postgame news conference, he was asked what is more fun, recording an interception or recovering a fumble.

"A win," he said.

Then Sunday was a blast.