is the offense flawed or is it Tannehill - maybe both

Issue 1: Why doesn’t Tannehill have the freedom to change to any play he wants?

As a Dolphins player explained, Lazor gives Tannehill two options on some plays (usually one run, one pass) and Tannehill can call either, depending on the defensive look. But he cannot call anything other than those two plays. But on many other plays, Tannehill goes to the line with one play and isn’t allowed to change that play at all.

“It’s a big mistake,” Gannon said last week. “If you can’t change protections and change plays on the fly at this level, you’re in big trouble.”

I asked Tannehill if he’s tempted to ask Lazor to give him permission to change to any play he wants or a lot more than two.

“We’ve had conversations,” Tannehill said. “But he’s the coordinator.”

This isn’t the way every team does it.

Receiver Kenny Stills, who spent his first two seasons in New Orleans, said Drew Brees had the authority to audible to any play he wants at the line of scrimmage. Does that make it more difficult or confusing for the other players?

“No,” Stills said. “It gives us an advantage because we can see what the defense is giving us” and the quarterback can then adjust.

Dolphins and former Green Bay receiver Greg Jennings said Aaron Rodgers “had a lot more freedom that Ryan does. We don’t run audibles here. The adjustments we make are with protection, not changing the play.”

So why don’t the Dolphins give Tannehill the freedom to change to any play he wants?

“When you do that, there’s two schools of thought,” interim coach Dan Campbell said Thursday. “When you do that, certainly Ryan can handle that mentally but you take the chance it slows him down in his rhythm. You open the full playbook up, those are sometimes the problems you run into. I’ll be honest with you. His first few years with Mike Sherman, he somewhat had that a little bit.

“He had a lot of options he could do. He did a good job of getting us into the right plays and protection, but we felt like it slowed him down a little bit with his rhythm. We felt like he could be a better passer by taking a little bit of a load off of him. And he is throwing the ball better.”

Gannon criticized the Dolphins’ restrictive audible policy after unblocked Eagles players sacked Tannehill twice on blitzes last week.

Tannehill said on the first one, which resulted in a safety, he had the option to make a short throw before the blitzer swallowed him up on his blind side.

That throw, if attempted, likely would have gone to tight end Dion Sims, who said his assignment on that play was to go out in coverage. “That was my fault,” Tannehill said.

But Tannehill said on the other sack, the play called by Lazor did not give him the ability to change to a quick, short throw, which seemingly could have helped avoid a sack.

“We felt we were all right on those plays, but they got us,” backup quarterback Matt Moore said. “Our execution has to be on point when we don’t have the freedom to change the play.”

Center Mike Pouncey said “me and the right guard [Billy Turner] have to do a better job coming over” and picking up the blitzer on those plays. He made clear that right tackle Jason Fox wasn’t to blame on either.

Lazor continues to play the semantic game with the audible issue, saying he believes there were four occasions last week when Tannehill changed the play. But he changed the play to a second option that Lazor had made available to him.

“I watched in the Jet game, him walk up, make the call, change it,” Lazor said. “He changes it with words, he changes it with hand signals, hopefully subtly. He audibled at the line of scrimmage against the Eagles. Certain play we could have called the play with motion or line up and shift to it, and he had a chance to call the way he wanted it to, run and pass. You know me enough to know I'm not lying.”

He's not lying, but he's telling only a small part of the story. And the full story is Tannehill cannot go to the line of scrimmage (or the huddle, for that matter) and call any play he pleases.

Issue 2: Gannon, like fans, wondered why the Dolphins --- on third down --- run so many routes that are short of the first-down marker.

Two issues are at play here: “Sometimes, we allow the defense to dictate our routes, and that’s our fault,” Stills said.

But Stills said other times, the routes called are intentionally short of the yardage needed to make the first down because Miami’s offense is “designed to catch and run.”

The Dolphins’ 5.8 yards-after-catch average ranks 11th in the league. But the Dolphins nevertheless are converting only 29.5 percent of their third downs, second-worst in the league and ahead of only St. Louis.

Lazor said on one occasion last week, a receiver did not run a route deep enough.

“There was a play run last week that was caught short of the sticks that was disappointing,” Lazor said. “Sometimes on third and long, we complete a decent number of passes that have been short of the sticks. He shouldn't be short of the sticks, but the guy getting the check down ends up getting [the ball]. If they cover what you have intended down the field, that happens.”

...he will spend plenty of practice time on quarterback runs. It’s something Tannehill is capable of doing it, and Campbell wants to see him do it more.

white1 wrote:It's still highly possible in my mind that Tannehill turns out to be a classic "coach killer".

Does just enough to put up stats suggesting he can be a top 10 NFL QB.  Plays lights out in a few games, offering hope he can gain consistency and perform at a high level more often.

In the end, folds in critical situations and makes enough mistakes to get the team beaten.

Bad recipe.

degarmo wrote:If they go out and get Sean Payton to coach this team and handle this QB, let's see what he can do. We don't rightly have any choice anyway because we're not getting a rookie to replace Tannehill next season anyway.

JMP wrote:Tannehill was absolutely awful today.  A few nice passes, and a whole lot of crap.  He basically pissed away the entire first half till that final drive (with a short field...)  We have a horrible OC and an hideously bad OL, but Tannehill clearly isn't the answer.

Degarmo wrote:I'm sure RGIII will be available.  I seem to remember a lot of folks salivating over him.

Degarmo wrote:I'm sure RGIII will be available.  I seem to remember a lot of folks salivating over him.

finfanatic wrote:

TWO A - Tannehill DOES not want to call the plays himself?  He is not confident enough in his ability to call the correct play, he would rather rely on Lazor?

I mean, WHY would an OC choose NOT to allow the QB to be more successful. Calling a play at the LOS to get out of bad play and into a better play or take advantage of a defensive shift seems to be the logical thing to do on offense IMO.

finfanatic wrote:So, I am thinking there has to be a reason. Either Lazor (and Campbell now, as well as Philbin of late) are complete morons, or there is something else afoot.

I doubt we ever find out though.

Unless one of these guys gets fired and is so mad he comes clean and spills all?