Well, Ryan Tannehill is officially out of Miami and the reaction from the fans seems to be evenly split. Some think he got a bad deal and, to put it bluntly, others thought he was trash. I personally believe RT17 got the bad end of an incredibly raw deal. To support my argument here, we’re going to focus on the offensive coordinators and offensive line.
Offensive Coordinator
During Tannehill’s tenure in Miami there we’re 5 different offensive coordinators and none of them lasted longer than 2 years. Let me say that louder for those in the back. 5 OFFENSIVE COORDINATORS IN 7 YEARS! There is no possible way in hell you can develop a young quarterback into a franchise leader with 5 coordinators in 7 years, I don’t care who you are. You want other examples of how rampant coaching turnover equates to incredibly poor performance on the field? Look no further than Cleveland, Buffalo, Oakland, and Tampa.
Ever since I started following football, coaching turnover after a few years has never made sense to me. If you expect to build a championship caliber team, it’s going to take time. Time to get the right players with the proper skill set into positions to succeed. Everyone knows Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Offensive Line
Offensive line was always a huge issue during the Tannehill era. Now, for this half of my argument I’m only looking at the total number of times he was sacked in general. For those that are wondering, it was 248 times in 6 years (he missed all of 2017 due to injury). To address the porous offensive line, the team drafted a total of 5 offensive lineman since Tannehill came into the league. That number does not include Tight Ends or Mike Pouncey since he was drafted in 2011. As for off season free agent signings, Miami signed a total of 8 (I’m sure that number is higher, but I was able to verify at least 8 signings).
That makes a total of at least 13 offensive lineman acquisitions during the Tannehill era and only one is still with the team, Laremy Tunsil. So where is the disconnect with this team and the inability to acquire, develop, and retain offensive line talent? After taking the time to break down the numbers, I’m honestly shocked that Tannehill was able to remain healthy for as long as he did. The best year for him sack-wise was 2016 when he was only sacked 29 times (2.2 times/game), but he only played in 11 games, and his worst year being 2013 for 58 sacks (3.6 times/game).
Conclusion
In my preparation for this article, I spent some time floating around the Miami Dolphins fan pages reading some of the reactions to Tannehill being traded. Like I said in the beginning of the article, the reaction seemed evenly split. Of those that were happy to see RT17 go, it also seemed to me that they were only focusing on the big picture; wins and losses, touchdowns and interceptions. It’s the nature of the beast, though. This league is driven by results and if you’re not producing favorably, you will be replaced.
After looking over all of the numbers I firmly believe Tannehill got a raw deal. He was drafted in hopes of being the franchise quarterback and was held to that standard since day one. Unfortunately, every time he had any resemblance of a solid foundation under him, the proverbial rug was ripped out from underneath him with countless coaching changes and a revolving door of offensive lineman.
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I have been following pro-football for 48 years, college for about 25 years. I remember the eras where the likes of Terry Bradshaw, Fran Tarkenton, Sonny Jurgenson and Joe Montana ruled the air with their laser point accuracy or the gracefully timed arc for the deep ball. Later came Peyton Manning, who had an unprecedented college career at Tennessee, followed by the championships in Indiana and Denver to equal the two championships of his younger brother Eli who got them early in his career with the Giants. There are many others who excelled at the college level and then excelled in the pros. Tanneyhill is not one of those. He had enough time, but he didn’t have the raw talent. That’s where it starts and the Dolphins will perpetually be held to the highest of standards with on of the greatest QBs of all time to lead that franchise without ever winning a championship: Dan Marino. Let’s hold our QBs to that standard and not quibble over raw deals and missed opportunities. The curse of the Marino continues. God Bless.
Thank you- I totally agree with you- I have watched every Dolphins game available since the Sunday ticket, the end of the Marino era, the Fieldler years and all the rotating arms till Tannehill. I truly don’t know what the Dolphins were thinking allowing Philbust, Lazor and company hold him back, then to give him no protection and the ever changing coaching situation. It looked like Gase was finally going to get it going with the team and Tannehill, till Tannehil got hurt.
Then Gase made the worst choices possible to back him up and when Tannehill came back Gase’s conservative approach that he seemed to adapt over time did not change. Some mention Ryan’s yard per attemps, did they not see how many screens and short passes were called? Playing not to lose never works.
Tannehill did not call these plays- the coaches did. In my view he worked his tail off on and off the field and wanted to win with the Dolphins. It will be a long road now, Fitzpatrick, really? Tyrod Taylor, Bridgewater, RG3?
I hope the Dolphins put the cap money to good use moving forward and that includes an offensive line that can block as well as open for the run, what Tannehill had could do neither.
I said it when they wasted a perfectly good 1st round pick on him. He sucks and he will always suck. He was one book you could judge by its cover. I could see it in his eyes no passion, no toughness, no leadership skills plus he was illiterate couldn’t read a defense for nothing. He had seven years to prove me wrong and all you did was prove me right