Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Matt Moore deserves more
But he probably won’t get a chance to take over the reins instead of Cutler
Adam Gase must be terrified of Matt Moore.
There’s no other way to explain why the Miami Dolphins head coach refuses to hand Moore the keys to the Dolphins’ lemon of an offense, even though Moore seems to be the only person who can get it out of neutral.
Moore doesn’t execute the offense as designed. Moore plays an unorthodox game. Moore isn’t disciplined enough to be an NFL starter.
That’s the justification — or excuse — the team has privately and publicly used for why Moore can’t, won’t, shouldn’t be the team’s starter unless Ryan Tannehill, and now Jay Cutler, are medically prevented from playing, like Cutler was in the second half of Sunday’s 30-20 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after he was diagnosed with a concussion.
Moore’s critics will use his performance against the Ravens earlier this season, which featured one legitimate day of practice for that Thursday night game, as the reason he should remain a backup if Cutler clears the NFL’s concussion protocol program by next Sunday’s road game against New England.
After all, Moore’s success could make Gase’s advocacy for Cutler seem irresponsible, as if possessing one of the NFL’s worst offenses — or being the coach of a team that committed a jaw-dropping 17 penalties against the Bucs— doesn’t already do that.
But here’s the cold, hard truth about this disappointing Dolphins season. We’ve seen enough of Cutler, who possesses an 82.7 passer rating from his nine games, to know this franchise isn’t going anywhere with him as the starter.
Cutler throws about half a dozen inaccurate passes off his back foot each game. He’s thrown terrible interceptions like the one that ended Miami’s first drive, and spoiled a red-zone opportunity.
And he hasn’t been able to make Miami’s big-play passing game come alive, which just so happens to be Moore’s specialty, which was evident from the bombs he connected on Sunday.
Last year’s Dolphins offense didn’t have much going for its, but they feasted on big plays, primarily in the passing game. Moore, who played in the final four games of 2016, had plenty to do with that. His aggressive nature suits this offense, and makes him exciting to watch.
Moore has taken over for an injured Cutler in the second half twice this season, and both games resembled offensive explosions for the Dolphins’ otherwise popgun offense, which has consistently misfired all season.
“I think sometimes the defense sees Matt come in and they think, ‘Backup quarterback, let’s put some pressure on him.’ ” said receiver Kenny Stills, who can credit Moore for his best NFL game considering it produced a career-high 180 yards on seven receptions. “Matt does a good job of getting rid of the ball and letting us make plays.”
Moore downplayed his 106.5 passer rating from Sunday’s game, as he often does.
“When you’re down, obviously you have to push it a little bit,” Moore said.
You don’t stick around with one organization for seven years ruffling feathers. Hell, if Moore plays this situation out right he might get his fourth contract out of the Dolphins.
That’s a backup quarterback’s dream, but Moore deserves more.
Moore deserves a legitimate chance to become the Dolphins’ starting quarterback, which is something he’s never had, and probably never will with Gase.
“There was a lot of good. A couple of things that [I] wish would have happened different, especially down in the red area,” Gase said, referring to Moore leading Miami’s offense inside the 20 on his first two drives, but failing to produce touchdowns. “Instead of kicking field goals, having opportunities for touchdowns [is ideal]. But he went in there and executed as well as he could.”
And that’s just it. Moore will never do enough. He’ll never be good enough, just like this offense.
“Matt’s a guy we are familiar with,” said receiver Jarvis Landry. “We just so happened to get the ball after the half so he went out there and we didn’t miss a beat.”