Moving McCain, Rowe to safety pays big dividends for defense
The Dolphins’ highly-paid cornerback tandem of Xavien Howard and Byron Jones has helped fuel a pass defense that has allowed an 87.8 passer rating against opposing quarterbacks, which is sixth-best in the league from a defensive perspective.
But the credit goes far beyond those two.
The Dolphins are getting their best safety play in years, even after moving on from former Pro Bowler Reshad Jones this past offseason.
Pro Football Focus rates Bobby McCain the 11th-best safety in football this season and Eric Rowe the 24th-best among 87 qualifiers.
Coach Brian Flores moved McCain to safety shortly after getting the Dolphins’ job in January 2019 and shifted Rowe to that position a month into his first season, with then-defensive backs coach (and current defensive coordinator) Josh Boyer warranting some credit for those decisions as well.
Beyond effectively helping defend the deep middle, McCain this season has allowed only three completions in seven targets against him, for 18 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. That computes to a 10.7 quarterback passer rating in his coverage area, best among NFL starting safeties.
Rowe has a 74.1 passer rating in his coverage area with an interception and one touchdown allowed. Since moving to safety last October, he has defended tight ends more effectively than anyone in recent Dolphins
history.
On Sunday, he limited well-regarded Chargers tight end Hunter Henry to one reception for four yards. Earlier this season, he allowed only one reception for 12 yards against 49ers Pro Bowl tight end George Kittle.
“They’ve grown together over the course of the season,” Flores said Thursday. “Communication has gotten better. Not just those two. It starts with those two.
They’ve both done a good job from that standpoint. As far as their play, it’s been solid also. Like everything else, it can get better.”
There was some concern about how two former cornerbacks-turned-safeties would hold up in the running game. And while neither is as skilled a run stuffer as Reshad Jones was, they haven’t been exposed much, either.
Among 85 NFL safeties, McCain ranks 37th and Rowe 62nd against the run, per PFF.
Dolphins rookie safety Brandon Jones ranks 25th in
that category and has been receiving regular playing time as the No. 3 safety, ahead of veterans Kavon Frazier and Clayton Fejedelem.
McCain, who had been a competent nickel cornerback and also played some boundary corner under Adam Gase, never expressed any resentment or concern about moving to safety and appreciates how it has worked out, both for him and Rowe.
“Kudos to E-Rowe, kudos to Coach Flo, Boyer, everybody for putting us [in this position],” McCain said this week. “We’re still learning. E-Rowe is learning, I’m learning little things that can make us better each and every week.”
“I’m very fortunate — very, very fortunate — to be able to be here with the Dolphins during the tenure of my career, and it’s taught me a lot of lessons. The preparation, whatever we do each and every week, it pays dividends on Sundays at 1. We know, the guys know, but no one outside of this building knows how hard we work.”
Rowe, meanwhile, stands alongside linebacker Kyle Van Noy as the best New England Patriots imports during Flores’ 22-month Dolphins tenure.
Rowe’s five passes defensed against the Rams were tied for the most by a Dolphins player since at least 2000 and were the most by an NFL player this season. The last time an NFL player had at least five passes defensed in a game was last December, when Indianapolis’ Pierre Desir had five against Carolina.
And this is a credit to the Dolphins’ defensive backfield: Opposing quarterbacks recently failed to connect on 14 consecutive passes that were thrown at least 20 yards.
“That’s one of the pillars that we have here is just defending the deep part of the field,” McCain said. “If you can do that and you can keep guys in front of you and make tackles — make sure tackles and take out all of the leaky yardage — it’ll make you play better as a defense.”
The Dolphins tried to sign veteran safety Devin McCourty in free agency in March but he quickly re-signed with New England.
But everything might have worked out for the best for Miami, with McCain and
Rowe both playing clearly above average at a position that has undergone a dramatic transition, with Minkah Fitzpatrick’s trade to Pittsburgh last September and the jettisoning of more rugged safeties Jones and T.J. McDonald, who hasn’t played in the league since Miami released him 15 months ago.