Dolphins defense
Sunday changes involved rookies.
DAVIE— Changes were expected for the Miami Dolphins’ starting defense, and those changes came Sunday, two of them involving rookies.
Cornerback Bobby McCain, the usual starter in the slot, was starting at boundary corner back opposite Xavien Howard. Rookie safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, the first round pick, started at slot in McCain’ s place, and rookie outside linebacker Jerome Baker, the third-round pick, started in place of veteran Stephone Anthony.
Gase hopes this allows the defense to perform better in Friday’s game at Carolina than it did in Thursday’s 26-24 loss to Tampa Bay in the preseason opener.
“We were not good in just fundamental things,” Gase lamented.
Gase said the defensive coaches, starting with coordinator Matt Burke, recognize the unit must be better than it was against the Buccaneers, when the starters gave up a six-play, 57-yard touchdown drive on their opening possession.
“We didn’t play aswell as we wanted to,” Gase said. “Matt wasn’t real happy, the coaching staff wasn’t real happy. We need to have a batter performance next game.”
McCain might be the biggest surprise among the new defensive starters.
McCain has flirted with the boundary cornerback position during training camp but spent most of his time, and most of his three-year career, inthe slot. Apparently the players fighting for that starting position — Cordrea Tankersley, Torry McTyer and Tony Lippett — have not played up to expectations.
McCain acknowledged there’ s a difference between playing the slot and boundary positions.
“Inside you have to be more of a navigator, more of a facilitator, I guess you could
say, an extra coach on the field, just getting the guys in the right position and making calls,” McCain said. “Outside, you’ve got to line up and play football.”
Gase said they’ve had their “ups and downs” with Tankersley, the 2017 thirdround pick who started 13 games last year. McTyer, who broke through last year as an undrafted rookie from Nevada-Las Vegas, has seemed to lose much of the momentum he’d gained early in camp. And Lippett, who led the team in interceptions (four) two years ago but has struggled to recover from the Achilles injury that sidelined him last year, has been limited recently due to a right ankle injury.
And there could be even more changes in the coming days as the Dolphins are set to meet with free agent cornerback Bashaud Breeland, according to a source.
Fitzpatrick got good reviews for his three-tackle performance against Tampa Bay. Fitzpatrick played mostly safety in that game, but he’s been switching between safety and nickel/slot cornerback throughout training camp.
“It’s a difficult position to play,” Fitzpatrick said of the slot/nickel position, “because at corner, you kind of have the sideline as a friend. At the nickel spot, you have nothing out there. You’re living on an island out there in the middle of the field, so you’ve got to know where your help is at and who’s doing what assignment. You’ve just got to know the concept of the defense rather than just your position.”
Baker, regarded as a pass defending specialist, has been relatively low-key in training camp, only occasionally getting snaps with the first team. But he stood out with his five-tackle performance against Tampa Bay.
“Obviously we saw Baker play pretty good,” Gase said of the Buccaneers game.
Anthony, who lost his starting job to Baker, was impressed by the rookies.
“Two good ones,” he said of Fitzpatrick and Baker. “Minkah, the first thing that jumps off is knowledge. He understands the game. And Bake just goes, baby. He’s fast, he’s twitchy and he makes plays.”
Baker, who teamed with middle linebacker Rae kw on McMillan at Ohio State as well as against Tampa Bay, acknowledged his speed helps his game greatly. But he didn’t seem overly impressed by his performance against the Buccaneers.
“I did my job,” Baker said. “That was the only thing I did, but that’s nothing to really brag about. That’s what you’re supposed to do.
“You definitely want to make plays and fine-tune the little things — hand placement, getting lined up right. That’s what I’m focusing on going into Game 2.”