Gase says Tannehill has ‘rare qualities’
Dolphins coach contends injured QB has yet to reach his full potential
DAVIE Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill is injured with no timetable for his return this season.
Dolphins coach Adam Gase is preparing for his 24th game without Tannehill since taking the job in 2016.
But despite injures, the outside noise, contract situations and the Dolphins’ need for a franchise quarterback, Gase still believes Tannehill is his guy.
“[Tannehill] 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. That’s something to me that puts him in a position to where is our ceiling at?” Gase said adamantly Thursday.
“I don’t think we’re close to it. I think we just keep getting better, keep finding ways to maximize his skill set.”
Tannehill, who has been dealing with an unspecified right shoulder injury during his seventh season, will miss his fourth consecutive game this season when the Dolphins host the New York Jets on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium.
The Dolphins have not defined Tannehill’s injury other than a sore right shoulder. Tannehill has not spoken to the media since suffering the injury.
Tannehill may have begun some light throwing as he continues to rehabilitate the injury, but has not thrown a football during open portions of Dolphins practice in the last three weeks, since suffering the shoulder injury during Miami’s Oct. 7 loss to the Bengals in Cincinnati.
The Dolphins (4-4) got off to a 3-0 start, lost in blowout fashion at New England in Week 4, and blew a 17-point lead against the Bengals in Week 5.
Starting left tackle Laremy Tunsil suffered a concussion, leaving the game in the second half, which saw Tannehill commit two turnovers that resulted into touchdowns for Cincinnati.
The Dolphins have won just one of their last three games since Brock Osweiler has started in place of Tannehill.
“Everything is results with you,” Gase said to a reporter.
“We’re going through a process because that’s what a season is. It’s about trying to get guys to trend upwards. And we were heading in the right direction.
“We hit a speed bump with New England. And then Cincinnati, he’s playing well, we lose our left tackle, and we bad decisions.”
Gase praised Tannehill’s arm strength, his ability to move around in the pocket and to keep defenses off balance when he runs.
But the Dolphins’ results cannot be overlooked.
Gase has a 20-20 record since taking the Dolphins job. Tannehill has already missed 23 games due to injury — with 20 games missed due to knee injuries suffered in Dec. 2016 and Aug. 2017.
Still, Gase believes Tannehill can once again regain the form he played with during the team’s run to the playoffs in 2016.
“We made a lot of strides since we started in 2016. He had some good seasons before I got here, I know that,” Gase said of Tannehill.
“We did some different stuff that year: We leaned on the running game and worked off the play action stuff, and he did a great job with the zone read stuff. When you have an athletic guy that can move around as much as he can. And his arm strength is something that I’ve never been around before where against Tennessee, he throws it 50-plus yards through the air and the guy never breaks stride.
“I think we just keep getting better, keep finding ways to maximize 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.” make two Dolphins wide receiver DeVante Parker has caught 147 passes for 2,082 yards over the past four seasons.
It’s on Parker to use the final eight games to prove he deserves that $9.4 million, which would make him the fourth-highestpaid player on the roster, and Miami’s coaching staff plans to put him in position to do so.
The Dolphins intend to have Parker playing all three receiver spots, moving him around in the offense, much like Houston’s Deandre Hopkins and Cincinnati’s A.J. Green do, so defenses can’t lock in on him.
That strategy is somewhat of an admission that Miami’s coaches have been using him incorrectly.
“We just got stagnant in a lot of the stuff that we did with him,” Gase said.
The goal is to create more favorable matchups for Miami’s 6-foot-3, 216-pound receiver.
“He has size. He has length,” Loggains said. “Obviously we’re not the tallest receiver group and he brings something different that way. We’re going to keep expanding his role.”
The Dolphins are hoping Parker can replicate that Houston performance, and carry a passing game that is forced to play without Albert Wilson, who suffered a seasonending hip injury last month, and Kenny Stills, who is sidelined by a groin strain.
“Moving me to different spots so defenses can’t find a way to target you. By doing that, moving me around, putting me in the slot, doing different things,” said Parker, who averages 14.6 yards per reception, of his path to success. “It’s the same plays we’ve been running, just different spots.”