Getty Images
Duke Johnson hasn’t been a member of the Dolphins for a long period of time, but he’s right at home in Miami.
Johnson grew up in South Florida and he left the University of Miami as the leading rusher in school history, so it was no surprise that the home crowd was ready to cheer him on in Sunday’s game against the Jets. Johnson gave them plenty of reason to do so.
Johnson ran 22 times for 107 yards and two touchdowns to help the Dolphins overcome two Tua Tagovailoa interceptions in a 31-24 victory that extended Miami’s winning streak to six games. Johnson said that playing at Hard Rock Stadium in front of a crowd cheering for him “reminded me of college” and head coach Brian Flores tipped his cap to Johnson after the Dolphins picked up a season-high 183 rushing yards.
“He played well,” Flores said, via Tom D’Angelo of the Palm Beach Post. “He definitely gave us a spark, ran it well, ran hard, picked up first downs, picked up tough yardage when they knew we were going to run it.”
Myles Gaskin, Salvon Ahmed, and Phillip Lindsay all spent time on the COVID-19 reserve list last week and that opened the door to Johnson taking on a bigger offensive role. The success he had with it should keep him in the mix even if everyone else is available in the weeks to come.
