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Dolphins emphasizing forced turnovers, like Chris Johnson’s forced fumble: ‘It was beautiful’
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- Dolphins emphasizing forced turnovers, like Chris Johnson’s forced fumble: ‘It was beautiful’
MIAMI GARDENS — The last time the Miami Dolphins played, rookie cornerback Chris Johnson made a play that was a long time in the works.
As the Cincinnati Bengals were driving in the second quarter, he saw running back Chase Brown catch a pass in the flat and scoot inside the Dolphins 10-yard line. As he converged on Brown with rookie linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, he had a clear shot at the ball in Brown's left arm and threw a perfect punch to dislodge it.
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Dolphins edge rusher Chop Robinson recovered it, had it punched out of his own grasp by Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase, but fellow defensive end Josh Uche was there to secure the possession. Miami successfully forced the turnover, the first one this season by way of fumble recovery.
Plays like that can tilt games in the Dolphins' favor as they continue to seek that elusive first win when they visit the New York Jets (2-4) on Sunday. Unfortunately for the Dolphins (0-5) in that 31-24 loss to the Bengals , they turned the ball over three times, while taking it away just the one time.
But forcing turnovers defensively is an emphasis coach Jeff Hafley has been instilling since his early practices with the team during offseason organized team activities. Even back in May, there was a period of practice where defensive backs drilled punching the ball out against ball carriers. It came to fruition in Miami's fifth game of the regular season.
"We've been punching out balls since OTAs and we've been punching out balls every game and we just haven't been lucky enough to have one fall until (the Bengals game)," Johnson said. "So just keep going, keep trying; don't get discouraged by the result."
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It was rewarding to Hafley to see the coaching points reach the game.
"A lot of it's muscle memory and it's him being able to take it from the drills to the practices to the field," Hafley said. "It was beautiful. His eyes were on the target. He went down and threw the elbow, followed the wrist. That was a big takeaway in the game because they were driving."
Rodriguez is a player known for punching the ball out in his own right from his play in college at Texas Tech, so he appreciated how his teammate took advantage of the opportunity.
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"It was great," Rodriguez said. "He had great leverage, and he threw a really good punch. He had a good angle on it. It's kind of that situation where ball carrier is going down and he tries to cover it up with his other hand, but it creates a pocket there for you to get the ball out. So executed to perfection, looked great, popped right out."
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And it was the right time to take a shot if there was one to be taken.
"Especially in the red zone, they already have points with a field goal," Rodriguez said. "So anything you can to take the ball away is huge because you save points, and then if we go to take that and score, we flipped it on our side. So it's a huge momentum shift in the game."
Rodriguez, who led the NFL in tackles before Miami's Week 6 bye, has tried to throw those punches to force fumbles, but it hasn't happened for him yet.
"There's a lot of shots that we take. You don't land all of them," Hafley said. "I think Jacob's a real good example of a guy that punches probably 10 times a game. You can see the ball kind of jar out, we just haven't gotten them out yet. … We got to keep punching and, eventually, they'll come out and hopefully we'll get them in bunches."
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The Dolphins will need more plays like that on defense. With just four takeaways through five games, Miami ranks 29th in the NFL. The other three were interceptions by Rodriguez and safeties Michael Taaffe and Dante Trader Jr.
The Jets have done a good job protecting the football, with just four turnovers in six games.
