Being Realistic about Ryan Tannehill

Going into this pre-season, many Dolfans put their Tannehill jersey orders on hold or perhaps on layaway until the pre-season revealed the truth about the Dolphins quarterback competition.  While many outsiders claimed that Garrard would be the starter, others such as Pro Football Talk said the competition was a sham, however there was a small segment of Dolfans that went from start Garrard to start Tannehill because of this idea we call rebuilding.  How did we arrive there?

We didn’t want the status quo as fans in Matt Moore.  We saw that last year and wanted something bigger and better despite the inexperience in Tannehill going into the season.  We gambled on the future!

So here we are.  Ryan Tannehill has 1TD passing, 1TD rushing, and 4 INT up until today.  He’s thrown for 615 yards through 3 games.  He’s accounted for 1 win versus a bad team in the Raiders.

What’s realistic about Ryan Tannehill?  

Right now he’s not been given the talent to operate effectively in the NFL.  He has yet to complete a pass longer than 35 yards in the air.  We want him to do well as fans, but he hasn’t shown he can provid flash backs of Dan Marino!

Tannehill makes some interesting decisions, last week when he clearly had no play down field out of his own endzone in the second quarter, he lobbed a pass into a covered Anthony Fasano and was picked for his first pick six by La’ron Landry.  In that instance, I’d suspect an experienced QB would just throw it away.  

This game was dictated by field position.  The Dolphins averaged inside the 10 much of the second half.  Mostly due to penalties or fair catching a ball that could end up in the endzone.

Has Ryan Tannehill thrown out of his endzone to end up with a TD at the other end?  Not in this game and certainly not this season.

So, here is what we know about Tannehill, he has to bounce back from being a behind the scenes game manager.  He needs to stop forcing the ball on 3rd down.  Tannehill needs to use his legs more frequently to get yardage.  Even dumping it down is fine as long as it avoids a sack or interceptions.

Right now Ryan Tannehill is a rookie and we all can expect adjustments this week or one big ass kicking versus Arizona.

You want realistic?  Tannehill is a game manager that will be the starter this season as the fan base will be led through peaks and valleys of his season.  This season is about Tannehill.  That’s it.