The Dolphins hope Rowe can slow down 49ers’ tight end Kittle
Forgive Dolphins fans if they still have nightmares of
Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Gates and other star tight ends steamrolling through their defenseless secondary through the years.
Dolphins fans of a certain age will recall Hall of Famer
Kellen Winslow doing the same in an epic ChargersDolphins January 1982 playoff game.
Fortunately for Miami, tight ends have done precious little harm to Miami during the 16-game sample size since coaches wisely moved Eric Rowe from cornerback to safety last October.
That’s partly because of Rowe’s excellent work and partly because Miami has not faced an elite, in-hisprime tight end during that stretch except Philadelphia’s
Zach Ertz.
That changes Sunday when Miami takes on somehow must slow San Francisco’s George Kittle, who has produced absurd numbers during the past two-plus seasons.
After missing two games with a sprained knee, Kittle returned against Philadelphia last Sunday night and had 15 receptions for 183 yards and a touchdown.That follows an 88-catch, 1,377yard season in 2018 and an 85-reception, 1,053-yard season in 2019, with a combined 10 touchdown catches during those two seasons.
“It’s a huge challenge,” Rowe said. “He’s one of the — if not — best tight ends right now in the league. As we can see, they target him a lot each game. So obviously he’s going to be a big challenge for us this week. What makes him good is he’s not just a receiving tight end. He blocks.”
Rowe has been a revelation with his work against tight ends. Since moving to safety in Miami’s fifth game last season, Rowe has been in coverage on 38 passes thrown to tight ends, according to a Miami Herald analysis of game-by-game breakdowns provided by
Pro Football Focus.
Just 18 of those 38 targets have been caught for 143 yards and no TDs. That’s a 57.2 opposing quarterback passer rating when Rowe has covered tight ends.
Rowe held Ertz to no catches on two targets in the Dolphins-Eagles game on Dec. 1, held Eric Ebron to two catches in seven targets for 31 yards when Miami played the Colts last season and has held Tyler Eifert to three catches (on six targets) for just 17 yards when he played for Cincinnati last season and Jacksonville this season.
So why has Rowe done such a good job on tight ends since moving to safety?
“I would say that I’m a bigger-body cover guy and I can move,” he said. “I’m pretty agile. So with tight ends, obviously these dudes are tall, they’re big. I wouldn’t say all of them, but some aren’t as agile and just kind of just schematically, the way that the coaches use me — they move me all around from safety and I’m in the box, I’m in the back, sometimes I play like a linebacker role — it kind of fits me.”
Seattle’s Greg Olsen had some success when matched up with Rowe last Sunday, catching three of five targets for 27 yards and two first downs.
Rowe is hardly the only Dolphin to cover tight ends. For example, when Miami played Philadelphia last season, Jerome Baker, since-traded Raekwon McMillan and Jamal Perry handled coverage of tight end Dallas Goedert, and he hurt Miami with six catches for 66 yards.
Rowe has only one interception in his 20 career games for Miami, and that was on a pass that Tom Brady intended for Patriots running back Sony Michel in the Dolphins’ regularseason finale last year.
Rowe returned that for a touchdown.
Against all opposing players this season, Rowe has allowed an 85.4 passer rating in his coverage area, with 11 receptions in 15 targets for 80 yards.
That’s solid but not as good as his 12-game work at safety last season, when Rowe allowed 22 of 42 passes in his coverage area to be caught for 200 yards, no touchdowns and an interception — equaling a 55.6 passer rating that ranked second best among all safeties with at least 40 targets in 2019, behind Denver’s Justin Simmons.
LEFT TACKLE IN FLUX
Starting left tackle Austin Jackson was not at Wednesday’s practice because of a foot injury, leaving his status Sunday in doubt. Brian Flores said Julien Davenport played well in his 25 snaps filling in for Jackson last Sunday.
Davenport would be the most obvious replacement for Jackson if needed, but Flores said Robert Hunt can play left tackle and is in the mix for playing time. And starting right tackle Jesse Davis said he played both tackle positions during Wednesday’s practice.
Besides Jackson, two others missed practice: linebacker Shaq Lawson (shoulder and undisclosed illness that is not COVID related) and tight end Durham Smythe (knee).
Receiver DeVante Parker (ankle), cornerback Byron Jones (who has missed two games with a groin injury) and guard Solomon Kindley (foot) were limited. Meanwhile, 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo — who has missed two games with an ankle injury — was set to practice on a limited basis on Wednesday and could start against Miami on Sunday if deemed healthy enough.
Though Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has given clearance to the Dolphins to fill all 65,000 seats at home games (per radio host Andy Slater), the Dolphins say they will stick with their 13,000 capacity — a number the Dolphins fell just short of achieving in each of its first two home games against Buffalo and Seattle.
“We’ll continue to follow CDC guidelines and put everyone’s safety first and monitor things as we go,” Dolphins CEO Tom Garfinkel said. “Right now, with positivity rates where they are, we feel that we can keep people safe in a socially distanced environment, which is our 13,000 capacity manifest.”
The Dolphins’ next home game is Oct. 25 against the Los Angeles Chargers.