MIAMI GARDENS — The question mark that is the Miami Dolphins’ secondary in 2025 offered an initial answer last Sunday that made Daniel Jones look like Peyton Manning in his Indianapolis Colts debut.
Jones, after a failed tenure as New York Giants signal-caller and cup of coffee with the Minnesota Vikings last season, lit the Dolphins’ pass defense up for 272 yards passing on 22-of-29 passing, throwing a touchdown and sneaking in two more.
In the first half of Sunday’s debacle of a 33-8 loss to the Colts, starting cornerback Storm Duck went down with an ankle injury. That meant veteran Rasul Douglas, who merely signed with the Dolphins on Aug. 27, was thrust into action early in his Miami tenure.
It should be Douglas opposite cornerback Jack Jones from the start Sunday as the Dolphins’ secondary looks to rebound against quarterback Drake Maye and the New England Patriots in the home opener at Hard Rock Stadium.
“It just wasn’t good enough,” Jones said of the Week 1 effort. “We didn’t make any plays. We didn’t get any turnovers. It just wasn’t good enough.”
That said, defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver still felt Jones had a decent outing.
“Very pleased with how Jack played,” Weaver said. “I thought Jack went out there, competed, was spot-on on his assignments, majority of the time. And he’s just a juice guy. Inevitably, he’s going to find the ball. It’s just what he does.”
Douglas ended up playing 60 percent of snaps within two weeks of joining Miami. Both he and Jones had a pass breakup. Douglas nearly had his go for an interception.
“Rasul, certainly, didn’t plan on playing him that much. I think it’s harder, particularly for an older player, just to come off the bench,” Weaver said. “He did a great job when he was in there. There’s still some scheme things that sometimes get lost just because it’s all new verbiage for him. But he’s a pro, and he’s leaps and bounds ahead of where a rookie would be at this particular point.”
Dolphins linebacker Jordyn Brooks has been impressed with how eager Douglas has been to learn Miami’s scheme in a hurry.
“He’ll be ready,” Brooks said. “He’s been meeting with us outside of mandatory meetings just trying to get caught up. It’s hard to come in here and play in this defense, specifically, and play fast and have the communication down when you’ve only been here for a couple of weeks.”
The two are aggressive cornerbacks, willing to bite on routes and take a chance to create a turnover. Douglas has 19 career interceptions, with three returned for touchdowns. Jones, in his fourth season, has four of his seven career interceptions taken back for scores.
“We go after the ball,” Jones said. “Me and ‘Sul are two guys who want to go get the ball, create turnovers and just make plays for the squad. I think it’s just pretty simple. Me and Rasul are just get-the-ball guys.”
What can help Jones and Douglas have opportunities to get the ball is if the Miami pass rush gets going. The Dolphins had one sack — from Bradley Chubb — and one other quarterback hit, on a blitz from nickel cornerback Jason Marshall Jr.
But a lot of that had to do with how the Colts were in control with a lead from the start.
“We didn’t get to pass rush,” said Brooks, highlighting that the Colts ran the football 40 times. “It’s just a lopsided game. When you’re playing that type of football, you can’t get to the pass rush. And when you can’t get to the pass rush, you can’t get opportunities to get interceptions and play that type of game when you’re playing from behind.”
The Dolphins mostly played zone with their secondary, which also features safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, had Marshall playing the nickel with Jones and either Duck or Douglas on the boundaries and saw safeties Ifeatu Melifonwu, Dante Trader Jr. and Ashtyn Davis all see the field.
Specifically, Weaver played more Cover 2 zone, with two high safeties, than any other NFL defense in Week 1.
“It’s based primarily upon what you’re getting from the offense,” Weaver said. “The weaknesses are going to be in the kind of between the hashes and that little low hole area. And then you got some fade to flat weaknesses, too. And you’re not going to be particularly tight if you don’t have vision on the quarterback as underneath defenders.
“I thought when we were in those particular coverages, we didn’t do a great job of having vision on the quarterback and melting with him.”
Weaver explained that the touchdown surrendered to Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. had to do with Melifonwu not positioning himself between the two vertical routes in his deep half of the field when Miami was in a Tampa-2 coverage. He credited Duck with a good reroute in his underneath zone.
Maye, in his opener against the Las Vegas Raiders, completed 30 of 46 passes for 287 yards, a touchdown, an interception and was sacked four times.
