Miami Dolphins assistant coach tests positive for COVID-19. Here’s the fallout

A Miami Dolphins assistant coach has tested positive for COVID-19, and a Dolphins player has landed on the COVID-19 list, but the team said it would fly to the Phoenix area on Friday and that Sunday’s game at Arizona remains on schedule.

The coach is a defensive assistant position coach, according to a source. The coach, who is now in quarantine, has not authorized the release of his name and Dolphins coach Brian Flores declined to say if that coach is symptomatic.

The player who landed on the COVID-19 list is receiver Lynn Bowden Jr., but his case is not related to the assistant coach’s, according to a source. It was unclear whether Bowden had contracted the virus or instead has simply been in close contact with someone who has the virus, and Bowden’s camp declined to comment on the issue. Bowden did not accompany the team to Arizona.

Bowden’s absence leaves the Dolphins with five receivers for Sunday’s game: DeVante Parker, Preston Williams, Jakeem Grant, Malcolm Perry and Mack Hollins. Antonio Callaway, who is on the practice squad, was not on Friday’s list of players expected to travel, though everything is fluid on that front.

The Dolphins will be without running backs Myles Gaskin (knee) and Matt Breida (hamstring) on Sunday, leaving Jordan Howard, Patrick Laird and Salvon Ahmed as the three available running backs.

Friday marks the first time the Dolphins have had an issue with the virus since August. Bowden is the first Dolphins player to go on the reserve/COVID-19 list since linebacker Sam Eguavoen on Aug. 19. Cornerback Xavien Howard came off the COVID list on Aug. 27, the last time the Dolphins had any transaction involving the COVID-19 list.

“We all knew something eventually was going to happen; it wasn’t going to be a perfect season,” tight end Mike Gesicki said after learning that an assistant coach had tested positive.

The Dolphins said, in a statement, that “they are following all of the guidelines, including contact tracing, and will continue to work with the NFL, team doctors and our training staff.”

The positive COVID test resulted in the Dolphins moving into the league’s “intensive protocol” phase of COVID-19 response and resulted in two significant changes in Friday’s preparation:

1) The Dolphins changed their Friday practice to a walk-through. All players were required to wear masks during the session.

2) Though players could convene at the facility for an outdoor walk-through, no players could come inside the team’s Davie headquarters. All meetings were held virtually.

“I’m happy how we handled the situation,” Flores said Friday afternoon. “We’re in contact with the league and working in conjunction with the league. It’s 2020. ...We’re in a pandemic... Things are ever changing. We have to be able to adapt and be flexible.

“We wouldn’t fly if we felt there was a situation where we would create some sort of outbreak,” he said. “We can try to do everything right and it can still be positive. We can do our best to try to contain it. As long as we were sincerely trying to do our best to distance, wear masks, make smart decisions.... It’s nobody’s fault.”

Flores said he has a backup coach at every position who would assume another coach’s responsibilities if a coach misses a game due to COVID-19. Flores said he skipped a day of training camp to allow the team’s ‘backup head coach’ to coach the team but did not identify who that coach would be.

“This is something we talked about in training camp,” Flores said. “If I go down, everyone has a backup. We practiced it in training camp. We’ve drilled it. We know how to handle the situation. We have to put our players in the best position to have success. That doesn’t stop because somebody goes down. It’s no different than a player.”

The NFL has gone ahead with other games after an assistant coach or a player tested positive for the virus, so there is no reason to believe that Sunday’s 4 p.m. game at Arizona is in jeopardy at this point.

Cardinals linebacker Devon Kennard and cornerback Byron Murphy tested positive for COVID-19 during the team’s bye last week, but coach Kliff Kingsbury said this week that the virus has not spread beyond those two players.

“We have to take it seriously,” receiver DeVante Parker said. “Everywhere we go we have to wear our masks.”

JACKSON UPDATE

A source at Dolphins practice said left tackle Austin Jackson has looked physically ready to return from his foot injury and could get playing time on Sunday.

A decision on whether to activate Jackson off the injured list must be made by 4 p.m. Saturday.

If Jackson plays, it likely would result in shuffling along the offensive line.

With Gaskin going on injured reserve and Bowden on the COVID-19 list, the Dolphins now have three spots open on the 53-man roster. Davon Godchaux’s roster spot wasn’t filled when he went on IR on Oct. 16.

Beyond Breida, the only other player on the active roster who is in question for Sunday is cornerback Jamal Perry, who is questionable with a foot injury.

Arizona and former Dolphins running back Kenyan Drake was ruled out for Sunday’s game with an injury.

SAFETIES EXCELLING

The Miami Dolphins have permitted a 61.5 passer rating during the games that Byron Jones and Xavien Howard have been available.

But the credit goes far beyond Miami’s highly-paid cornerback tandem.

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 McCain the sixth-best safety in football and Rowe the 20th best.

Coach Brian Flores moved McCain to safety shortly after getting the Dolphins’ job and moved Rowe to that position a month into his first season, with then defensive backs coach (and current defensive coordinator) Josh Boyer getting some credit for those decisions as well.

Beyond effectively helping defend the deep middle over the past month, McCain has allowed only two completions in five targets against him, for seven yards, no touchdowns and an interception. That computes to an 8.3 quarterback passer rating in his coverage area - best among NFL starting safeties.

Rowe has a 66.6 passer rating in his coverage area. Since moving to safety last October, he has defended tight ends more effectively than anyone in recent Dolphins history.

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 31st and Rowe 55th against the run.

Dolphins rookie safety Brandon Jones ranks 13th in that category.

“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,” McCain said. “So just understanding the preparation that we have and whatever we do each and every week, it pays dividends on Sundays at 1 o’clock. We know, the guys know, but no one outside of this building knows how hard we work.”

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: Over the past three games, opposing quarterbacks haven’t completed any of the 14 passes that were thrown at least 20 yards, per the team’s web site.

“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.”

FINS FEATS

The Dolphins are the first team since 2004 to lead by 18 points or more at halftime of three consecutive games. It’s the first time the Dolphins have won three games in a row by at least 10 points since 2014.

▪ Per Next Gen Stats, Tua Tagovailoa’s touchdown pass to DeVante Parker last Sunday was the smallest window touchdown pass in the league in 2020. Parker had only 0.28 yards of separation from the nearest Rams defender.

▪ Emmanuel Ogbah’s four consecutive games with a sack is the longest by a Dolphin since Cam Wake had sacks in five games in a row in 2016.

▪ The Dolphins’ 11 sacks allowed are Miami’s fewest through its first seven games of the season since 2010.

▪ The Dolphins have scored at least 21 points in six consecutive games. It is the longest such streak since a six-game stretch in 2005.

▪ Miami has now outscored opponents by 57 points in the first half of games this season. It’s the second-best mark in the NFL after Baltimore, who are a plus 66 in the first half.

Here’s my Thursday Dolphins 10-pack, with lots of news on Tua Tagovailoa and many other things.

Here’s my Thursday piece on a new NFL rule impacting the Dolphins’ roster decisions this weekend, and ESPN analysts predicting playoffs for the team.