3 UP 3 DOWN
DOWN: Jordan Howard
It might have been hard to imagine that Jordan Howard could go any further down but he was a healthy scratch from Sunday’s game. Despite being the only real skill position player added in free agency this spring, Howard has been a major disappointment and has surely almost reached rock bottom.
While the Dolphins rush attack has been ok through 5 games, it is hardly world beating. So the fact Howard can’t even get on the gameday roster is a very disturbing fact. With 18 carries for 14 yards and 3 touchdowns on the season, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Dolphins shopping Howard this week, although the market is likely to be very thin given his production.
Unless there is some kind of conditioning problem that Jordan Howard has, he does look a lot slower than he has in the past, it’s hard to see his role in the Miami backfield. If there are no takers, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Dolphins move on from their free-agency acquisition in the next couple of weeks.
Jakeem Grant Sr.
Let’s start by saying I love Jakeem Grant Sr. and I think his is criminally underused. His speed on crossing routes is so little targeted, and he gets far too few snaps for my likely. That said, when he does get a chance he has to take it and catching just 1 of his 3 targets for a paltry 6 yards is really poor by mighty mouse’s standards.
Throw in a run for a loss of 12 (TWELVE!) yards, and a muffed punt return and things really didn’t go his way on Sunday. He now has just 9 catches on 13 targets for 88 yards and no scores through 5 games. While 15.3 per kick return and 6.2 per punt are serviceable it’s safe to say more was expected of Grant this season.
There’s still time for the speedster to prove himself this season, but with the likes of Lynn Bowden Jr, and Malcolm Perry on the sidelines waiting for a chance, Grant needs to take his chances when he gets them. With the offensive weapons all firing this week, it will get harder and harder to carve out regular targets so each one becomes ever more important for Grant.
Noah Igbinoghene
After another rough outing against the Seahawks, rookie CB Noah Igbinoghene saw just 10 defensive snaps the whole game as Nick Needham took nearly all of the nickel snaps (33) in the game. It was a sharp drop for Igbinoghene who had been tasked with filling in on the outside for Byron Jones.
With Jones back in the lineup it was expected that Noah would take up his more ideal position as a slot corner and we would see a bit more of what he has to offer. He has had two good games, and two bad so far this season, and while he only gave up 2 catches for 13 yards in this one, his lack of playing time, in a week where there was so little bad, earns him a 3 up 3 down down honour this week.
We’re sure there’s better to come for Noah Igbinoghene though.
There were so many good performances we couldn’t include in this weeks 3 up 3 down: Zach Sieler had his first whole sack, Jerome Baker with 7 solo tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL, and 2 QB hits, the whole of the offensive line, including rookie Robert Hunt making his first start and earning a 67.6 overall grade from PFF, and even Ryan Fitzpatrick who had one of his Fitzmagic games.
Emmanuel Ogbah deserves a special 3 up 3 down mention as his dominance on the defensive front was a sight to behold. In a normal week his sack, tackle-for-loss and pass defensed probably would’ve got him an Up award, but this was a very special weekend.
3 up 3 down will return after next weekends game against the Jets.
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