Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Lagging behind
With a 5-5 record in a mediocre division, the Dolphins are statistically in playoff contention. But regardless of which quarterback is under center, Tannehill or Osweiler, the offense has failed to keep pace with the league.
things first. Tuesday was a good day at Dolphins camp. Coach Adam Gase pronounced quarterback Ryan Tannehill ready to play Sunday in Indianapolis. Tannehill said his pesky shoulder is healthy enough to throw the ball as needed.
“I’m excited,’’ Tannehill said. “We have a lot of football in front of us. Obviously, one game at a time; but I firmly believe that if we take care of business, then we control our own destiny.”
“The only thing he’s ever said to me is that he just wants to make sure that we’re winning,’’ Gase said. “I know he felt like him coming back, he can help be a part of that.”
So there was this nice, upbeat, the leader-of-the-band’sback feel inside the Dolphins as they play another 5-5 team looking to make the playoffs in Indianapolis. As there should be. As this Dolphins season demands.
Yet the comparisons stop with these teams at their records. Indianapolis has scored 10 touchdowns since the DolFirst phins last did. The Dolphins don’t scored points this season as much as given birth to them, considering the pain and anguish that seems to go with them.
Does Tannehill change that? Well, let’s let stats answer that. This team wasn’t scoring better under Tannehill in the first five games and a full complement of talent around him than it did with Brock Osweiler and an injured cast the past five games.
The Dolphins averaged 19.8 points in games Tannehill started. It averaged 20 points in Osweiler’s games. We can quibble over those averages. Osweiler, for instance, scored the lone touchdown at New England while subbing for Tan-
nehill. Linebacker Jerome Backer scored the lone touchdown in Osweiler’s win against the Jets.
But the idea holds. The Dolphins average 19.9 point a game this year. That ranks 26th in a league that is more and more about offense. And so even as the record says they’re in the playoffs everything else suggest they’re drifting further and further away from contending for anything significant.
Exhibit A for this style of play was Monday night’s showcase in which the Los Angeles Rams beat Kansas City, 54-51. The fascinating part wasn’t just the score, though it was the first time in NFL history a team scored in the 50s and lost.
It was how there was impactful defense. The defenses scored three touchdowns. The Rams created five turnovers.
The best player on the field was Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
But offenses win in this era. That’s just how it is. Scoring points is the starting point for contending, as this season again reminds us. It doesn’t mean every game will have pinball scores. It just means you have to bend that way, if the day takes you there.
Every contending teams also has a great quarterback. That’s no surprise, is it? Every rule has been bent to help the offense to the point Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young said his thought in watching Monday’s game was, “How do I get on the field?”
It’s a funhouse for great quarterbacks right now. Or should be. For the past few seasons the Dolphins’ braintrust that includes an offensive-minded coach keeps acting like it has that great quarterback.
It’s not just the results that say otherwise. It’s his health, too. It’s good news Tannehill is ready to play on Sunday.
No doubt. But opposite him is the kind of franchise quarterback in Andrew Luck who shows why his talent matters.
When Luck was injured last year, the Colts drifted to worst-team-in-theleague status. Now they’ve won four straight games in which they’ve scored at least 34 points. Again, that’s the trend. You need to score points. And you need a great quarterback to do that.
This is no secret to anyone, by the way. Gase was asked if he’d ever seen a team score 50 points like the Chiefs and lose.
“Close,’’ he said. “Dallas scored 48 (and lost).”
That was 2013. Gase was Denver’s offensive coordinator when it beat Dallas 51-48. The quarterback was Peyton Manning. The timeless lesson: If you don’t have a quarterback like that, you better keep trying to find one.