Posted by Mike Florio on PFT: It usually doesn’t take seven seasons for a franchise quarterback to play that way, but the Dolphins seem to be willing to continue to wait for Ryan Tannehill to finally reach that level. Coach Adam Gase expressed ongoing belief in the 2012 first-round pick on Thursday, prompting a spirited back-and-forth with Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald. It started, via Salguero, when Joe Schad of the Palm Beach Post asked Gase to respond to those who have “seen enough” from Tannehill. Gase didn’t pull punches. “Well, I mean, what qualifications are we talking about with people saying that?” Gase said. “None, so I don’t really care what anybody else thinks.” Gase seems to be focused mainly on Tannehill’s performance since Gase arrived as head coach more than two years ago. “We’ve made a lot of strides since we started in 2016,” Gase said. “He had some good seasons before I got here, I know that. And we did some different stuff that year, we leaned on the running game and worked off the play-action stuff. He does a great job with the zone read stuff. “When you have an athletic guy that can move around as much as he can, and then his arm strength is something I’ve never been around before where we hit, like, the pass he did against Tennessee where he throws it 50-plus yards in the air and the guy never breaks stride. He has some rare qualities that you can’t find in a lot of guys physically. And the more he keeps playing, he keeps learning game to game.” As a result, Gase thinks Tannehill is still ascending. “[W]here’s our ceiling at?” Gase said. “I don’t think we’re close to it. I think we just keep getting better, keep finding ways to maximizes his skill set because it becomes a problem for the defense. It’s hard to defend him when you don’t know what he’s going to do. . . . Is he going to run a zone read? Is he going to sprint out? Is he going to run a naked? Is he going to go play action? Is he dropping back? Are we running the ball? There’s a lot of things you have to defend.” At that point, Salguero began to press Gase on Tannehill’s performance in 2018, and Gase began to push back. They were destined to agree to disagree, and then Gase took it to the next level. “You’re asking that question, you don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Gase said. “It’s hard for me to defend anything when you don’t know what you’re talking about. I mean, you don’t. I watch the film. We evaluate the scheme we’re asking him to do and he does a good job on it.” Salguero then pointed out that, ultimately, the results drive the analysis. “That’s fine,” Gase said. “That’s how you look at things. Everything is results to you. We’re going through a process because that’s what it is. That’s what a season is. It’s about trying to get guys to trend upward and we were headed in the right direction. We hit a speed bump with New England and then Cincinnati he’s playing well and we lose our left tackle and we make two bad decisions.” At some point, a long-term decision will have to be made about Tannehill. With so many capable young quarterbacks now entering the NFL every year, teams will need to be ready to throw overboard a guy who isn’t getting it done in favor of a new guy who possibly will.
I really appreciate the fact unlike Philbin, Gase has his guys back. Sooner rather than later he is going to have to move on. Maybe he knows it too but doesnt want to say publicly. Who knows.
Gase is doing Coach speak a day after Brock says he wants to remain the starter and not going to give it up without a fight Gase comes to sooth Ryan’s feeling. Let them fight for it. Gase is going to ruin his coaching career tying himself to Ryan.
Love him or hate him, THill IS on the roster, and his only real "competition" is Brock Assweiler. Nobody else is riding in to save the day, so Gase mostly has to say what he did. It's what is said after our season is over that matters more.
If he stays with Tannehill on the roster and they draft a QB i'm cool with it. I really hope they do realize now though that we need to start grooming a new QB because we have an aging Tannehill that now seems injury prone. I'd like to believe that Gase is a smart guy and I'd like for the Dolphins to actually build something with a coach over an extended period...just hope Gase is that guy and not someone that will make the wrong decisions.
This situation just gets more depressing every week. Adam Gase might be the most stubborn/dismissive HC I've ever seen. It's just the same relentless tired rhetoric. All I know is when everything was peachy keen (according to Gase) we marched into Foxboro and got slaughtered YET AGAIN! THAT WAS THE LITMUS TEST! The denial is just despicable already and I feel like this franchise is kowtowed to the boy genius offensive coordinator who preaches dreams of this amazing offense he supposedly runs in his mind ........ and of course a twice ACL injured QB who is now over the age of 30, with no playoff experience and a sub-.500 record. The combination as a whole is not working. The lone stretch it did was vs. sh*tty competition and the running game shouldering the heaviest load. Man as a sports fan, sometimes I dunno how much more I can take between the Suns and the Dolphins.
Here's the thing- it's a shame Armondo is so stupid. When Gase said that reporters don't know football and it's not on RT, he should have followed up by saying, "So you're telling us that the losses are your fault- not Tannehill's?"
This. These sorts of questions are almost pointless. There's no way the coach can give any other answer. The only reason I can think of for asking this question is in the hope that the coach, or whomever, trips up and says something unexpected. What I would really like if for someone to ask him about his specific play calling habits: Why all the screen/bubble passes when they almost never work? Why not run the ball more? Why those runs on third and long?
Well....We still need to draft and groom another quarterback unless they suddenly think Falk is the answer....I don't, but that's just me. The main thing I try and keep in mind with Tannehill is that until we have a better replacement for him, he will be our guy. With that said, I don't think Osweiler is better. We still aren't winning games and Osweiler is making some bad decisions as well along the way. I definitely want to see Tannehill back before this season ends. I was hoping it would be this week, but I guess it's Brock again (that's cool).
On a short deal sure. He has some potential, but if we are realistic, he didn't light the league on fire. He then suffered a massive injury and really hasn't shown any full speed game tape since then. Hes fine as a bridge, or to actually be a viable tannalternative if he is kept, but not as 'the guy.'