The last time an NFL player intercepted double-digit passes in a single season was Antonio Cromartie with the 2007 San Diego Chargers. Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard reset that mark with his 10th interception of the year in the regular season finale in Buffalo.
Howard's 10 interceptions ties a franchise record set by fellow cornerback Dick Westmoreland in 1967.
"It was hard to get happy. Nobody wants to get beat like that," Howard said. "We came in trying to win the game and it didn't happen, so I didn't really get the feeling with the 10th interception that it was good enough."
Howard entered play in Week 17 allowing just 49.3 percent of passes targeted in his direction to go complete and limited opposing quarterbacks to a collective passer rating of 48.7 – both best among players with at least 40 pass targets, per Pro Football Focus. He also finished the season with 20 passes defensed, the most in the NFL and the most by a Dolphin since Andre Goodman had 19 in 2008.
Howard played 16 games for the first time since 2017. He played 17 games combined between 2018-2019, but still leads the NFL in interceptions over that span (2017-present). Playing all 16 games was one of Howard's goals this season.
"Just being able to say I played 16 games after the surgery I had … just coming from that and gaining that confidence, I want to feed off that and help the team win games," Howard said.
