Xavien Howard named AFC Defensive Player of the Week after dominant performance in Miami Dolphins win

The Miami Dolphins pulled off an impressive 22-10 upset win against the Baltimore Ravens last Thursday.

Dolphins defensive back Xavien Howard has been awarded AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors for his performance in the game against the Ravens.

Against the Ravens, Howard recorded five tackles while forcing a fumble and recovering one as well. He returned his fumble recovery 49 yards for a touchdown.

The 28-year-old led the Dolphins defense in what was arguably its best performance all season. Howard later revealed what he told the team after it beat Baltimore.

“You know, winning is fun, so we just got to keep that going and just try to control the things we can control,” Howard said. “Go back in the lab. Look over the stuff that we did wrong or messed up on and just try to get better each week.

“I’ve been feeling like that even when we were losing. I was feeling like we could compete with some teams. During this week Coach [Brian Flores] had mentioned, ‘Don’t be surprised.’ You know, a lot of people were shook that we ended up pulling this W off.”

Just four days before the Dolphins and Ravens faced off, it was reported that Baltimore had expressed interest in trading for Howard prior to the trade deadline. Of course, no deal wound up happening.

Thursday’s win put the Dolphins at 3-7 on the season. They have now won two straight games after opening up the season 1-7.

The playoffs still look like a long shot, but if Miami pulls off a couple of wins in their next games, they could sneak into postseason contention.