Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Growing season
Dolphins making progress.
If anything, this Miami Dolphins season has shown us that tough times don’t last forever.
Despite their disheartening 38-6 loss Sunday to the Baltimore Ravens, which reminded fans how far this year’s Dolphins are from being a championship contender, we’ve been provided plenty of evidence that shows Miami is headed in the right direction.
While losing three of the team’s final four games and failing to produce the franchise’s first winning season since 2008 should be viewed as unacceptable, there have been plenty of encouraging signs.
Despite quarterback Ryan Tannehill’s struggles against the Ravens (three interceptions, one touchdown, 63.1 passer rating), there has been noticeable improvement in his play this season.
His pocket presence has gotten better. He’s making touch throws in the red zone like Sunday’s touchdown pass to receiver DeVante Parker for Miami’s only score of the game.
Tannehill’s overall passer rating has him ranked 19th in the NFL when it comes to starters. While we’d all love for him to be ranked higher, we are seeing growth in Year 1 of head coach Adam Gase’s offense.
Tannehill’s fourth-quarter passer rating
(92.3) has him ranked 16th. He is completing 63.7 percent of his passes in the quarter, and averages 7.34 yards during those attempts, which ranks him 13th.
He’s rated the 19th best quarterback when it comes to third-down execution with an 84.2 rating.
Tannehill’s become more aggressive as a passer, averaging a career-best 7.6 yards per attempt while completing a career-high 66.7 percent of his passes. He’s also on pace to be sacked fewer times per game (2.33) than every year except his rookie season, when he was sacked 35 times, or 2.18 per game.
And that’s despite playing with at least one – but often more— backups on his starting offensive line for all but four games this season.
The Dolphins have also established a respectable rushing attack that has forged the team’s identity.
Jay Ajayi, a 2015 fifthround pick who is blossoming into a potential Pro Bowl player in his second season, is on pace to rush for more than 1,200 yards.
Ajayi, who averages 5.2 yards per carry and leads the team with seven touchdowns, is the NFL’s top rated back when it comes to yards gained after contact, which indicates that he has the talent to be a featured weapon for years to come.
Once the Dolphins started committing to the run, and established a running-game identity, the season and the offense’s success took off.
And so have many promising NFL careers this season because Dolphins players are blossoming under this coaching staff. Just look at Miami’s secondary, which was viewed as the weakest unit on the team before the season began.
And that was before safety Reshad Jones’ season-ending shoulder injury, and cornerback Xavien Howard missing eight games with a knee injury.
Cornerbacks Tony Lippett and Bobby McCain, two 2015 fifth-round picks, are establishing themselves as respectable NFL players, which few expected.
Miami’s tight ends, another unit of concern heading into the season, have also become reliable without starter Jordan Cameron, who was placed on injured reserve after sustaining a concussion. Dion Sims is beginning to show the type of talent that could make him a full-time NFL starter, and MarQueis Gray and Dominique Jones have proven to be more than serviceable.
The overall development of young players serves as proof that the Dolphins are finally in the right hands. And more importantly, Tannehill’s growth indicates that Gase’ reputation as a quarterback whisperer has merit to it.
This team came into the 2016 season with issues, and at the early stages of a rebuilding cycle. Despite the six-game winning streak, nothing has changed regarding its position in the NFL as a mid-tier team.
The only way to reinforce that this isn’t the same floundering team of the past few years is to not repeat the December flops we’ve seen from the Dolphins this past decade.
Tannehill’s become more aggressive, averaging a career-best 7.6 yards per attempt while completing a career-high 66.7 percent of his passes.