This was one odd scene. Miami Dolphins rookie linebacker Jerome Baker stood doing interviews with the winning football tucked under his left arm. Cornerback Xavien Howard sat at his locker talking up Sunday’s four interceptions.

And Reshad Jones’ locker was empty.

Rookie Mikah Fitzpatrick smiled and said, “I have a headache,” after playing three different positions in the secondary. Defensive coordinator Matt Burke walked by with perhaps his first smile in three weeks after the Dolphins’ 13-6 win over the New York Jets.

And Jones, who typically talks for this defense, spoke volumes by an absence that started in Sunday’s first half. He quit on his team. He was in on 10 plays and refused to play more. He committed the biggest sin in pro sports by deciding he wasn’t playing anymore.

“It sounds like he pulled himself out [of the game],” Dolphins coach Adam Gase said. “So I’ve just got to find out what happened there.”

Injury related?

“I’m not sure,” Gase said.

But he pulled himself out?

“Yep, I haven’t gotten into it,” Gase said.

Here’s the story: The Dolphins wanted to get Fitzpatrick on the field more than half the time he played in the embarrassing loss to Houston. As they should. As his talent demands. The low total was because he only played slot corner in the nickel defense. If teams wanted, they could personnel him off the field. And, well, Houston wanted that because it had receivers running free all night.

To put Fitzpatrick on the field more meant taking someone off the field more. That someone was Jones. He was subbed out in the base defense for Fitzpatrick. That changed Sunday, as Fitzpatrick played 98 percent of the defensive plays (65 plays in all).

So Burke, made a target in recent weeks, decided to make some tough calls and this was the most obvious one.

Jones then made a call himself.

He pulled himself from the game because, well, he was being pulled from the game. Again, no injury — except hurt feelings. And it couldn’t have soothed his soul after the previous weeks’ embarrassments to see the defense carrying the day.

Four interceptions. Four sacks. No touchdowns. Only two measly field goals surrendered. And it stopped the Jets on 11 of 13 of their third-down opportunities. The defense that collapsed in the last couple of games made a stand on Sunday.

“We answered today,” said Baker, whose 25-yard interception return was the day’s only touchdown.

Let’s not play pretend, though. The Jets’ pop-gun offense had as much to do with Sunday as anything the Dolphins did. Repeat this kind of performance against Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay next Sunday and rosy adjectives will be typed your way.

Here's 20 things we learned in the Dolphins' 13-6 win over the Jets (Omar Kelly, Steve Svekis) (Omar Kelly, Steve Svekis)

“That’s NFL team out there, anything can happen,” Howard said of the Jets.

The Jets have limited playmakers, a rookie quarterback, a bad offensive line and are 2-11 on the road after Sunday over the past three seasons. The Dolphins are 15-5 at home in that span. That gives this day some necessary context.

The Dolphins held serve on Sunday. They’re 5-4. But when you don’t score an offensive touchdown, when a 35-year-old Frank Gore is your feature back (20 carries, 53 yards) and when you’re 3 of 16 on third-down conversions, it’s hard to conclude much was solved in this win.

Even on defense, there’s the Jones question. Teammates will excuse almost anything. Legal issues. Moral questions. Youthful mistakes. But if you won’t go out and play when asked, that’s where the line is drawn.

Tackle Ja’Wuan James returned Sunday after leaving with a knee injury. Cornerback Bobby McCain is playing hurt. Cam Wake has a knee issue and is back. You can go down the roster with this. And Jones won’t play?

“We’ll be fine without him, if that’s what happens,” one Dolphins official said.

Jones, you see, hasn’t always been a great pro. He’s regularly late for meetings and been fined repeatedly in recent years. He’s freelanced on defense in manner teammates have wondered about. But he’s also made a lot of big plays and been a Pro Bowl safety.

The larger issue: Why does this drama keep happening around this team? Jay Ajayi was traded. Jarvis Landry left. “Culture” was the big project last offseason. But in the past few weeks, defensive tackle Jordan Phillips was cut, receiver DeVante Parker’s agent called out Gase for not playing him (Parker on Sunday: One catch, eight yards) and now Jones pulled himself from the game.

One thing you’ve become accustomed to around the Dolphins in recent years is odd drama even on their good days. And Sunday was a good day. A win against an AFC East rival. A respite from bad news. A chance to right this season.

Gase wasn’t apologizing for pulling Jones and playing Fitzpatrick more. Nor should he.

“That’s what we had to do to win the game,” he said.

The question now is what happens to Jones. Is he welcomed back? Or does that empty locker become the last statement of another good Dolphins career that ended all wrong?

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dhyde@sun-sentinel.com