Fins have Tannehill to climb
ONE OF THE most curious and confounding quarterback cases in the NFL is that of Ryan Tannehill. The Dolphins’ quarterback, statistically speaking, looks like he should be one of the league’s most coveted passers. He has completed 62 percent of his passes, thrown 93 touchdown passes to just 58 interceptions and has an 85.3 career rating in four-plus seasons.
Here, however, are some sobering statistics that leave you to wonder how good Tannehill really is: The Dolphins are 30-38 in his 68 career starts, 13-22 on the road and 7-13 since the beginning of last season.
He completed 66.4 percent of his passes, threw 27 touchdowns to just 12 interceptions and had a 92.8 rating in 2014 and the team went 8-8. Last season, he threw 24 TDs, just 12 INTs and the Dolphins were 6-10.
Is the Dolphins’ run of mediocrity, and sometimes worse, all Tannehill’s fault? Of course not. But when a team gives its quarterback a fouryear, $77 million extension (which Miami did for Tannehill last season), it expects that quarterback to elevate those around him, to be a differencemaker, to be special. Tannehill has not been special. He was worse than ordinary in Thursday night’s 22-7 loss to the Bengals, completing 15-of-29 for 189 yards with an INT and a lost fumble. Tannehill is in his fifth season and has not led the Dolphins to single playoff game.
One of the main reasons the Dolphins hired Adam Gase as their head coach after last season was because of his reputation as quarterback whisperer. He was brought in to develop Tannehill into a winning quarterback.
The Dolphins’ only win this season was in overtime over the lowly Browns. Tannehill has been mediocre at best (six TDs, five INTs). If this trend continues, it will be an indictment of Gase as a developer of quarterbacks, or of Tannehill. Or both.
Stay tuned, because here is the Dolphins’ problem: Though Gase recently has been threatening to bench players over poor performances, he pretty much has stuck with Tannehill. Who else is he going to put in when the team just invested $77 million into him?