Dolphins' depleted secondary becoming a primary concern

After the Miami Dolphins’ offense stalled in the second half of Sunday’s win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, the defense held on to get the job done with a secondary down several starters.

Though cornerback Xavien Howard is returning to form, Miami was still without cornerback Byron Jones (ankle) and fellow corner Nik Needham is done for the season with an Achilles injury.

Defensive backs Keion Crossen (knee) and Kader Kohou (oblique) were also inactive Sunday.

That resulted in Noah Igbinoghene playing all 75 defensive snaps, tied for a career high set in Week 4 of the 2020 season, with all but three coming at wide cornerback.

Igbinoghene, the 30th overall pick in 2020, had struggled to get playing time until injuries forced him into action. Igbinoghene was joined by Justin Bethel in the slot. Bethel, who is primarily a special-teamer, played 59 defensive snaps Sunday after playing just 14 all season.

Steelers rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett tested the two more often than anyone else on the Miami defense, and had success in doing so. Igbinoghene allowed six receptions on eight targets for 65 yards, and Bethel gave up seven receptions on nine targets for 54 yards.

However, both made key plays that were enough to help win.

Bethel intercepted Pickett in the first quarter to set up a Miami field goal, and Igbinoghene came down with the game-clinching pick in the end zone as the Steelers were driving with 18 seconds to go.