The Miami Dolphins were in a pinch at cornerback. Jack Jones and Rasul Douglas have answered the call in style.
MIAMI GARDENS — It would be an understatement to describe Rasul Douglas’ first days as a Miami Dolphin as stressful. The season-opener was just 1 1/2 weeks away and, despite Douglas being a veteran, his knowledge of the playbook was not exactly ideal.
“Like two plays,” Douglas said. “Maybe.”
Although Jack Jones had a one-month head start on Douglas, he too faced challenges, not the least of which were, by his own admission, himself, thanks to off-field mistakes that he promised would cease. Many players say that, but only some do it.
And now?
Now, Douglas and Jones have formed an improbable starting cornerback tandem that has performed better than what the Dolphins and general manager Chris Grier had a right to expect considering neither player was even here when training camp opened.
Pro Football Focus has Douglas graded as the sixth-best cornerback in the NFL. Jones is 35th. Their play has been vital to a cornerback room that lost Kader Kohou and Artie Burns before the season and has been without Storm Duck (ankle) most of the way.
Rasul Douglas survives Miami Dolphins' crash course
How did it come to this?
“It’s really a testament to all of them coming in and buying in,” cornerbacks coach Matt Araujo said.
The players came in, all right.
“Three meetings a day,” Douglas said. “Just trying to learn it and then actually going out and doing it.”
While coaches leaned on Douglas, Douglas leaned on Jones.
“He’s going to hold you to your best standard,” Jones said. “You know, every play. Every day.”
Jack Jones' forced fumble the difference between winning and losing?
Miami’s 27-21 victory over the New York Jets on "Monday Night Football" was the duo’s high point to date. Jets running back Braelon Allen plunged into the end zone on New York’s first possession. The ball, however, did not. It was punched out by Jones for Miami’s first takeaway of the season.
“From the first play of the game, I was out there trying to get the ball, punch it out,” Jones said. “I’m going to continue to keep doing that.”
Douglas doesn’t mince words about the play.
“He don’t make that, we lose,” Douglas said. “ … We still to this day don’t know how Jack did it.”
Douglas did his share with three tackles, one quarterback hit, one sack, one tackle for loss and two passes defensed.
Douglas, 31, is a 10th-year pro who appeared in a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles. Jones, 27, is in his fifth NFL season and third team.
“You can tell he wanted to do things the right way,” Douglas said in reference to Jones’ past legal issues, including a 2023 weapons charge that was dropped. “And you can tell he’s owning up to all the stuff he did. You can tell he’s trying to take a different route — being early to me is being on time, being active, being up, being talkative. So he’s taking the right steps.”
Just as Douglas took a crash course to prepare for the opener, Jones had his trying moments. Dolphins fans weren’t exactly encouraged when Detroit’s star receiver, Amon-Ra St. Brown, repeatedly toasted Jones during an August joint workout that went viral on social media. Jones said St. Brown “cooked me.”
Defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver said he’s seeing signs of the back seven coming together.
“I love all those guys, just their competitiveness,” Weaver said. “You see it in Jack. He’s fiery and he gets excited. He’s got instincts, but he plays the game with his hair on fire. And then Rasul is just a consummate professional, right? Knows exactly where he’s supposed to be at all times.”
For a guy whose hair is ablaze, Jones is taking the first month of the season in stride.
“We haven’t really went too far yet,” he said. “We’re stacking bricks, but we’re definitely not where we wanted to be.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Miami Dolphins secondary suddenly performing better than expected
Category: Football
