O-line works on chemistry
Larsen taking snaps at both guard positions, center.
DAVIE — Picking up the Dolphins’ offensive scheme is the easy part for new offensive guard Ted Larsen, who played in a similar offense for the Bears last year. The challenge is learning to play with left tackle Laremy Tunsil at one position and right tackle Ja’Wuan James at another.
L a r s e n , wh o s i g n e d a three-year deal in the offseason, is expected to be the starting left guard, but he is training at right guard and center as well. Miami is working to create a backup plan for center Mike Pouncey, who still isn’t full-go because of a hip issue, and 11th-year veteran Jermon Bushrod at right guard.
“It’s not super difficult,” L a r s e n s a i d o f s h i f t i n g around. “The transition’s been prett y easy.... Obviously you’re flipping sides, so some of the calls you’re used to hearing on the left side mean something different on the right.
“But probably more than anything, it’s just working with a different guy. Left side, you’re working with Tunsil and right side you’re working with Ja’Wuan, so you’ve just gotta adjust to who you’re working with and how you guys mesh together.”
His early impressions of t he o f f e ns ive - l i ne g roup the media Thursday. Admittedly, he pretty much threw a bunch of passes while seated in the pocket (although he looked pretty good in a drill in which he was required to look downfield while moving around obstructions).
Coach Adam Gase, who is perpetually positive and cooperative, seemed a bit annoyed at having to say (as he has again and again) that Tannehill seems just fine.
Gase said Tannehill has no restrictions and has shown have been positive. Bushrod, Pouncey, Kraig Urbik and Sam Young have all been in the league seven years or more, and the young players have been impressive.
The bond between Larsen and Tunsil, last year’s firstround pick, will be key. Tunsil is in his first year at left tackle after playing left guard last year, and if everyone stays healthy, he and Larsen will play side by side all year.
“T h a t r e l a t i o n s h i p, i t d e p e n d s h o w d e e p y o u no sign of shying away from pressure. Gase said all of these repetitions are valuable for Tannehill, because he’s able to learn more about the body language of his receivers and improve communication with his offensive linemen.
Dolphins defensive end Andre Branch said the defensive players have been told to stay as far away from Tannehill as possible and that they were scolded a bit for getting too close Wednesday.
A l l q u a r t e r b a c k s a r e off-limits to contact in OTA’s and minicamps and training camp and even during want to go,” Larsen said. “We work pretty well together. We’ve worked together in Phase 1 and Phase 2 (of the offseason program). I feel pretty comfortable with him and I think he feels the same with me, but there’s always stuff that you’re gonna figure out. You get to a point where you don’t even need to say much and you guys are both on the same page. ”
D-line scolded for getting too close to QB: Organized Team Activities are practices in-season. Perhaps there is just a bit of sensitivity (understandably) to avoiding Tannehill at all costs.
“I never want to be hit,” Tannehill said. “I’ll line you back there and let you be hit for a second. That can settle you down a little bit. Everybody else gets hit during camp. So it’s usually during that first or second preseason game when you go to the ground. And you say, ‘all right everything is fine.’ As far as the knee, that is a normal process.”
Tannehill said he’s felt normal since late January and that’s why he’s not overly usually pretty low-key for the Dolphins, but apparently their defensive line got a little too hyped in Wednesday’s practice.
There is a strict no-contact policy for quarterback Ryan Tannehill, just as there is for any other quarterback during practice. There’s a little more attention on Tannehill, though, because he’s coming off a season-ending knee injury.
According to defensive end Andre Branch, the linemen were playing a little loosely with Adam Gase’s instructions of “Stay as far away from Ryan Tannehill as possible.” Branch and his cohorts were reprimanded for cutting it too close Wednesday.
“We’ ve go t a f i n e l i n e between saying we’ve got the sack and saying it’s not a sack, so we let (Tannehill) know, ‘OK, this one was a sack, but I won’t come back here this close again,’ but if we get close to the quarterback, Gase will definitely let us know,” Branch said Thursday.
“We didn’t pay that much attention to it when (Gase) said it, but then we kinda got too close. So we won’t be getting close anymore.... We touched him a little bit. Just a little bit. But it won’t happen again.”
B r a n c h d e l ive re d t h a t back-and-forth with a laugh and emphasized later that no one ever actually delivered a hit on Tannehill. concerned.
“I really got comfortable with my rehab,” Tannehill said. “Just kept pushing and pushing and pushing. I felt I could make any cut. I trusted it. I was able to move without thinking about ‘oh, is something going to happen?’”
Tannehill says the brace he’s wearing in practice and will wear in games this season is better than the one he wore at Texas A&M because of improved technology. Tannehill says it will not negatively impact his mobility.
“I want to wear it now s o t h a t I ’ m c o mfor t a b l e throughout the year and it’s just second nature at that point,” he said.
Tannehill had a stem cell procedure that he believe has aided in the healing of an anterior cruciate ligament sprain, which by definition is a partial tear.
“I s p e n t a l o t o f t i me r e s e a r c h i n g a n d t a l k i n g to people that are familiar with all the different types of treatment,” Tannehill said. “And that seemed to be the best fit for the injury that I had. ... Your blood stream is carrying stem cells to any injury that you have all over the body. And the ACL typically doesn’t heal because of lack of blood flow. They’re just artificially becoming the blood stream to carry the blood cells to the location.”
Tannehill said this camp is about “fine tuning” because so many of the key concepts of Gase’s offense are now second nature. Tannehill says he’s thinking more about ironing out the details of the offense than his knee.
“I am back at 100 percent,” Tannehill repeated. “And I feel totally normal. There are really no more check points that I have to hit at this point.”