He's a bit to shy to promote his own work, I'm not shy at all so I'll do it! http://blogs.thescore.com/nfl/2013/...-still-struggling-in-the-middle-of-the-field/ Not sure I agree, Tannehill's issue is not anticipation per se, it is ball placement and pace of the Wr. Ball placement=dude..throw it into the window, hit them in the chest when they are that wide open! Wr's pace=I study motion in terms of speed v opponents, I first saw this on the field when Dwight Stephenson would literally toss around a 300 pd NT just by getting his hands on him so fast, the NT was just helpless and tossed aside. Some DE's first step literally is as fast at the Tackle's backpeddle, when that happens it's pretty much over. THill will have guys playing fast, think Wallace and sometimes Hartline, and just botch the throw, Wallace due to his 4.2, BLine because his "keys" are so hard for a CB to read, his angular style is just not what they are used to keying off of. Read the hips of a Wr who runs like a string doll? Good luck with that..BLine moves like a puppet and it's hard for a Cb to read Anyhow, Tannehill has issues, where I disagree with Alen is Tannehill will make that throw even when he is not 100% about it.
Great read. Alen, if you read this, thanks for the article. And Pads, thanks for posting it. I can;t say I disagree with Alen. Alen, one question, do you think this lack of anticipation has hurt Tannehill's ability to connect with Wallace? From what I've seen, Tannehill has to wait until Wallace has already run several yards past a guy before Tannehill's brain believes his is open and feels safe throwing it… but then the range has gotten to be even further and the throw less accurate. I rawly if ever see Ryan anticipating "Wow, Mike has him beat!" when Wallace is almost even with a CB, or a CB has not turned his hips… THAT'S when Tannehill needs to load up and throw, hitting Wallace at 40-50 yards downfield. Instead, by the time Wallace is 5 yards beyond the guy it's just too damned late. Sadly, I agree with Alen that this isn't because of lack of experience. I also don't think experience improves it a ton. Maybe a bit, but not a ton.
The article relates to our inability to sustain drives, hi amount of 3 and outs, and being below the average in time of possession..
Eye opening article, Atleast I'm not alone in the Tanny needs to be better camp. Some feel like if he isn't throwing to Wallace he is Steve Young, this cut up disproves that. Good Job Alen.
Eh, need for Tannehill to "get it" if not, then move onwards One thing that does encourage me about the subtext is Wallace is still Wallace, it's not that he has forgotten to run his money routes, not completely, it's more he and THill have fundamental issues
considering we waited 20 years for a good QB (Penny's one season withstanding), I'm a little more willing to give Tannehill ample time to develop.
Well my eyes could be deceiving me but many of the passes in those clips - especially after the one minute mark - appear to be low percentage throws that were at risk of being picked off if the passes were made. Others, like the NE pass, we don't know if Tannehill was expecting the receiver to drop into that open middle spot as opposed to continuing to the right. I think this clip exhibits that there are some issues with anticipation but there are other issues at play such as familiarity with the receivers as well as Tannehill putting his head down in the face of the rush. These clips have to be taken with a grain of salt as the negative examples need to be compared to examples of positive anticipation over the middle. When the two are compared, you can then identify tendencies and possible issues. One example that come to mind was the middle TD pass to Matthews vs the Bucs.
Thanks for posting, Pads. And great write up Alen. Completely disagree with this. It is all about anticipation. RT waits too long until he sees the WR open and then throws it late. The only way to throw it late without throwing directly into a DB is to be a bit less accurate. When Tanny is throwing to an open player he's very accurate. His problems are mental and decision-making, not physical.
I had high hopes for Tannehill coming into this season but the more I see of him the more I think he'll never be anything other than average. The poor deep passes has been well documented despite fans trying to blame Wallace. There's also the token, terribly inaccurate come-back route to Hartline that he literally misses once a game. Go back and watch the tape, he misfires badly in almost every....single...game on that route. It almost cost us last week vs the Chargers. That's one of those anticipation routes. You'd think by now he'd have that play down, seeing how they run it at least 5 times a game. My other big concern with Tannehill is his tendency to lock onto Hartline. There's plays where he looks at nobody but Hartline, which is fine if he's open but as we seen last week on back to back throws, that's not always the case. He did it back to back plays last week and both were easy picks. He got lucky with the first one, not so much with the second.
I would like to see Ryan start to manipulate defenders with his upper body, pump fakes, shoulder fakes, he's not doing much if that at all, and imo, when you really start to see those things from your Qb you know the game has slowed down for him and he's comfortable seeing what's in front of him.
Just show me you have the quickness to react to the pressure on your own, and the quickness to get the first down..I'd be so happy to see it happen by him initiating the move, not coming from the rare occasion the defender misses the sack first then Ryan realizing he needs to escape.. Once I see that move I'll be on board.
They are low-percentage, but they're throws that good NFL QBs have to be able to make to attack the whole field. The good Eli Manning makes a living off these types of throws and changes that offense completely, whether it's to Cruz or those no-name TEs they rolled out for their first ring. Same goes for Brady to Gronk and even Amendola in these areas of the field, Manning to Thomas/Decker, etc. This Dolphins offense does not effectively attack the whole field, imo. We're fortunate that Tannehill is so good at out-breaking routes that we can get away with tight throws to the outside more often than most teams. But then you have defenses starting to jump those repetitive comebacks and stuff, like the Buffalo pick-6, for instance. What I think the article is missing is that most young QBs struggle with these high-level throws. Throws over the middle with your target heading away from you downfield are really difficult. You don't see Geno or Ponder or Locker or Kaep dropping dimes right on time over the middle. QB is a hard effing position to play with the speed of the NFL, and it's not like Tannehill can't improve. Again, he came in with a QB class that was way advanced; and for this reason, I think people feel more justified in nitpicking the game of our young QB who would normally be given time to develop.
Where are those people that called me flat out wrong when I said he didn't play with anticipation? Great article Alen.
For those advocating getting rid of Tannehill if he doesn't become elite......really? If he evolves into a QB who's consistantly about the 10-15 range in the league, then he's the best thing we've had in 15 years hands down. You don't get rid of good because it isn't great when you've had crap for so long. It would be like turning down a promotion to a 40k job from min wage because its not 75k.
So I guess you settle for average in life.I have higher expectations.Keeping drafting until you find the guy.Tannehill is not it.
I am with you.I really thought this was going to be a break out season for him but I see just another average qb you can be 7-9- 8-8 every season but never be an elite with.His lack of a deep ball cost against tampa and especially today.Very disappointed!!Ready to move on from the GM to the QB.
exactly, this poster was settling for a 10-15th best QB? Not all of his problems are of his own doing, but Terrell Pryor and Mike Glennon should not have a better passer rating than you.
Settling for 10-15th best? That would be the biggest achievement for Miami since the late 90s, and there's zero exageration there.
If you have the 15th best QB in the NFL, you're going to be an average team over time. Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
Maybe, maybe not. What would both do behind this line? Would either of those QB's be where Tannehill is right now on this team?
This is like saying Ireland is within league average or slightly higher for his draft evaluations. It is ok to demand the best. Top 10 QBs outside of the best churn year after year. One year Schaub is top 10. Last year people, respectable people were calling Eli elite (pffttt). Flacco. If this isn't a blip on Matt Ryan's career then he's fallen out too. Philip Rivers was going undrafted in fantasy leagues this year. I want top 5 and we shouldn't stop looking until we get it (of course you don't ignore the other positions).
Agreed on continuing to look for talent at the QB position. But I do think Eli Manning has been well above average over the past 5-6 years. I'm not going to say that one bad year negates a good run like Eli has had.
He's not. That's my point. I listed a bunch of top 10-15 QBs that fade in and out depending on the year. Some were calling Eli elite after his 2nd super bowl. I say BS. Elite means there is no separation between you and the other top QBs. Nobod on earth would take Eli over those other guys
Just to follow up with myself here, we saw 13 first downs yesterday, 7 drives in their territory resulting in no tds, no tds in the fourth quarter for the 7 th strait game, we saw some inaccuracies down the middle if the field again, we saw some terribly timed sacks, and some short passes that were thrown regardless of separation.. Now I fully understand the complexities in this evaluation, variables that make it so difficult to assess blame, you have inexperience, you have a Qb who played wide receiver for two years in college, you have a system that seemingly wants the Qb to stay in the pocket and not use the full arsenal of weapons the player brings to the table, you have a JV offensive line blocking, and you average skill players with no rac ability.. All that being said, the Qb has to be able to understand down and distance, situational football, and manufacture first downs, this is the key to where he is now, to where's he's going to wind up in terms if his ceiling..he's got to understand that he must use his legs to compete at this level alongside the variables he's been given, we've got to see him do everything possible with his skillset..at this point and time, he is average, with better skill players and better Oline, that will go up ?of course, solely based on improved accuracy by having more time, better protection, and better Yac players who can turn his passes into something of their own, however, the evaluation for me personally, and has always been, is he the franchise caliber type, will a set of new variables be enough to propel him into that level with the same type of play, or do we need to see more intellect, athleticism, and instincts, more sense of urgency on every play?, I think we need to see more individually..imo to play playoff style football at the highest level, I haven't seen enough out of him YET, individually, to think that he can be that guy..every play in his mind needs to be played like its fourth down, because at this point he's not playing every play like it's fourth down.. I think if he could adapt to that mindset, we saw some things yesterday that give us hope that his ceiling is still in limbo, waiting to be determined, By no means am I giving up on him, I think he has improved since last year amidst all the negative variables, and there's something good about that, he's shown resiliency and toughness, and there's something good about that..but do we have the guy that can compete against Brady, Bree's, Rodgers,Luck for the next 3 to 5 years.?, cause it's about winnin a Super Bowl ya know, I think that comes down to what kind of Qb Ryan wants to be, if he's willing and instinctively starts to use his entire skillset to manufacture first downs, then I think he has a far better chance of becoming a great Qb then if he decides that he just wants to be a pocket Qb..
The problem with Qbs is that you have to draft one, wait 3 years (unless they are Ryan Leafesque) ....then try again. It isn't as simple as just drafting one every year or getting a new Qb every year. They need time to develop. And some Qbs haven't looked all that great in their first few years, Steve Young, Brett Farve, Drew Brees, etc, so you can't draft one and give up a couple of years later.
Yep if Tannehill isn't a franchise type player after 3 years then all bets are off. You draft one early and let them duke it out.
Well, to me the complete lack of a running game highlights THill's issues, add in a poor offensive line and it really heightens this issues b/c is it pressure, or is it just inherent inaccuracy? Every Qb will miss on some throws, real question is whether this is a flaw in THill that cannot be corrected, or is it the overall makeup of the offense?
