The Miami Dolphins believed enough in Ryan Tannehill to give him one of those massive, franchise quarterback deals everyone loves talking about. But at the line of scrimmage? Seems there’s not a lot of faith and trust in him there.
Turns out there’s not a lot of freedom for Tannehill at the line of scrimmage, getting a run and pass play from the offensive coordinator (Bill Lazor), and that’s it. Tannehill has talked to him about maybe getting a wider variety of choices and plays to choose from, but right now, he’s just the quarterback, while Lazor, with interim head coach Dan Campbell to his right, deciding it’s better if they keep things simple for the quarterback in his fourth season in the league.
Why simple? Campbell thinks is slows Tannehill and the offense down if he has too much freedom to make up his mind regarding what plays he gets to run. Obviously, it takes away his ability to see a defense in front of him and adjust. Maybe the Dolphins don’t think Tannehill has enough experience (or ability) to see what’s setting up before him, but maybe it is about keeping things quick and fast, although it hasn’t translated into anything special on offense.
The Dolphins are 4-5 so far this season, which is pretty much where they usually are at this point. With Tannehill at quarterback, the Dolphins are 23-25, and it looks like this season is another year of mediocrity despite big expectations. Tannehill not getting to do whatever he wants to on the field might be part of the problem for a team that’s played the last three games on the road, but we’ve seen there are other issues with this football team that are probably more urgent to fix., even if it might be a job that takes more than a week of training to pull off.