Not much I can add here on either side of the argument. Mayock pointed it out perfectly last night - the o-line can't block and there isn't one vertical threat to open up the offense. Means decisions have to be quicker and you're throwing into an even more crowded space. That is a recipe for disaster for any rookie or most QBs for that matter.

Tannehill is not off the hook though. I'm not really blaming him on that first interception. A bigger, faster receiver could have caught that. Bess stumbled and Byrd flew in like Superman. That second interception was simply awful. That miss to Clay might have been the difference in the game. That is the type of stuff that makes me nervous.

He had some encouraging throws though. The PI play to Matthews would have been a huge gain. The deep throw to Hartline where the defender hit the back of his head before the ball got there would have been a huge gain. The TD pass to Bess was awesome.

Honestly, how many building blocks or keeper players are on this team? Tannehill by default because you want to see him after some seasoning. Hartline and Bess are perfect for their roles but are being asked to do too much this season. Pouncey is legit. Wake, Starks, Soliai, Dansby and Jones on defense.

You can't throw open receivers who lack speed and separation skills. Not that I want him back, but Marshall created a lot of easy targets for guys like Bess and Hartline. Ted Ginn allowed Bess and Camarillo to work a more open middle.

Tannehill has to take responsibility for throws like you mentioned but I noticed how tight the coverage was on his receivers last night. It goes both ways.

Kind of hard to do without any vertical threats. You know when you see Bess run a deep slant, you're lacking in major talent at the WR positon.

But your also not understanding how the West coast offense works. The bread and butter plays are short five yard passes. But those are easy to defend if you don't have to worry about vertical threats. Or play action.

Miami made no serious moves to get WR's this year. We don't have a TE who is a vertical threat. The kid only has Bess and hartline, for crying out loud. I would like to see him start thinking about using those legs more though.

Again, I completely disagree with anyone's assessment who claims these receivers don't get some separation a decent percentage of the time. I've watched the games. However, I will agree with you that a true playmaking WR will open things up more naturally.



Ummmm, how can you not blame him for that one? Nobody's holding a gun to his head to throw there. He should know the play wasn't going to work from the previous time they threw deep to Bess, not to mention being his teammate and understanding Bess's strengths/weaknesses. Want to use Bess on that play? Pump fake to that side then go somewhere else with it.

_________________

I could have worded that better. Yes, the pick is on him for throwing it there but the placement of the ball was pretty decent. Bess had a step on the defender but stumbled, if memory serves. It could have been caught and wasn't some errant throw like his 2nd pick.

You're larger point is correct. Why is a short, slower slot receiver running a deep route and why is Tannehill throwing it there? My guess is he saw Bess get behind the corner but its still not a high percentage play.

Look, it isn't the WRs. Rishard Matthews was two steps behind his guy last night and drew a PI. Two other deep balls were thrown to Bess. 2 to Hartline and 1 was another PI. On a night like last nigh instead of wasting first down on a run that wasn't going anywhere why not take 6 or 7 more shots deep? The deep middle wasn't even being exploited and the Bills were begging for it.

Mak, please tell him there is no such thing as a deep slant.

_________________

LOL Mak! You are one hot and cold guy!

Look at Peyton Manning's first year, and he had playmakers.

Look at Eli Manning's first year and he had playmakers.

Tannehill has NOBODY. No line, no running game and no WR.

Give it a rest.

_________________

it is amazing isnt it? Have to love our weak fan base. The rookie is making rookie mistakes, He's terrible!!!! Draft another quarterback pronto!!!! LOL

Don't blame the coaching, the awful offensive line and JV receivers.

There isn't reason to panic but I don't think drafting another young QB next year is unreasonable at all. Its the GB blueprint for having an insurance policy and you do it with the intention of still having Tannehill be the guy. Spend a mid or late round pick on someone to develop.

Outside of Brandon Weeden I can't think of a starting rookie QB in the last several years who has/had less to work with than Tannehill. You have to keep that in perspective.

heck! look at Eli Manning's 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th year and so on....
the guy throws 20 interceptions every year but he won a super bowl so all is forgiven.

I also believe in that Green Bay philosphy. Creates alot of trade power down the line too.

Technically 3 bad games (Houston, Tenn, Buff) ..... Alas Houston as indeed his first game ever and I know a certain someone is gonna point that out even though he doesn't give other QB's time after they're thrown into the mix right away.

There were other so-so games where he could've put us over the top but didn't and that at the end of the day is what most people are waiting for as a sign.

_________________

I think the over reaction here is based on losing...just a hunch. Anyway, we all know there has to be a paradigm shift that takes place or there will be no confidence going into next season either. 1 or 2 rookies isn't going to fix the fact most of the veterans are on cruise control.

Then don't take a potshot and move on.

I'm giving Tanny a pass on the Houston game. Alas, only the naive would think a QB with only 13 starts and playing under his 3rd offense in 3 seasons after a lockout and no reps with first teamers is gonna light the opposition up after being inserted. Dream world stuffy buddy. This isn't Madden Football.

_________________

LMFAO ....

When he fails it's everyone elses fault.

When he lights it up vs. Arizona it's all Tanny.

Riiiiiiiiiight. The truth is inbetween. He's shown flashes, but at the end of the day has deserved nothing to be praised as a savior quite yet.

_________________

Yeah he has nothing around him. Drew Bledsoe had nothing around him until he got hurt and Tom Brady took over. He's had nothing around him for like forever. Who is there stretch the field guy again? Look, you can't just absolve the rook of any responsibility. Really, how come Hennes first year stats were better? Oh yeah, he was a year older. You can't win this argument guy. RT is the starter has had two very bad games against two very bad teams. The vets are laying down. So how do you fix it? Just continue status quo, draft a couple of rookies you hope turn out? Please, this team is sinking faster than the Titanic. You can ignore the water, most of us can't.

I feel like I've seen this conversation a million times post-Marino. We're always left to argue that the QB is not getting help from the O-line, RB's, WR's...... when HASN'T that been the case? Those QB's went on to do nothing even when they left here. Really wish the subject matter could change for once, it's so tiresome. LOL

_________________

Man if that isn't the truth. You know, if I saw a Luck-type of progression...lots of INTS mixed in with lots of TD passes, improvising, toughness, scrambling out of danger, a passion to win...I think I could live with some bad results. It is the whole aestetic approach that finally fell apart two weeks ago coupled with no TD passes or moments of joy inbetween. I saw one solid, grown up drive followed by another killed by a penalty. I'm ready for more of that. Take the kid gloves off and let him throw the darn rock until his arm falls off.

Talent or system?

Right now this team feels like a bunch of square pegs in round holes.

_________________

Dude this exact team went 6-3 down the stretch last season and rarely lost to a team it should beat. I might add they had a turnstile at RT. Quit down playing the signifcance of leadership. It is huge.

Amen to that.

Once we found our groove we squashed teams like a bug last year who were of the caliber of Tenn and Buff.

_________________

You'd be bitching about Andrew Luck too if he was our quarterback. Somehow you'd find a way.

Have I said anything to byotch about RT? I'm just stating facts. He wasn't ready. I was right in the preseason and nothing changes that. Since we're on this train, RT gets his shot. I'm defending his right to stay at QB. Should he be above criticism? No. You guys have precipitously jumped on anyone's jock if they so much as be critical about anything he does. I have a more realistic approach. He's there, needs to stay, learn, grow. My biggest complaint is Sherman not letting him throw on first down. I'm also not thrilled the way Philbin is losing the interest of the team. RT is down on my list of concerns.

You must've missed the 0-7 start when we were asking where Bush was. You must've missed it when Henne had a 90 QB rating and was still 0-4. Oh yeah, and BMarsh dropped 6 TDs in that span. Miami was awful. Until Moore turned them around.

I think Rock said it above...we've seen sparks ala the drive in Q4 last night. That was excellent. So it shows he can do it. This is a critical juncture of his career. He's hit a progress wall. The only way he gets through that is with reps...and the right reps. Throwing 40 times a game will help with a lot of that on first down. I think he's got it in him....just haven't seen him take over a game and dominate it. I've seen him play well when the rest of the team is doing well. We could over analyze this forever. ...right now, I'm more concerned about the coaching staff.

Again the WR's not getting open thing is a fallacy. Some on here want us to believe they're always draped and it's simply not the case. However I will admit they are not open as often to be considered elite. When they are open it's up to the QB to make the right read and throw. For example the missed Charles Clay opportunity last night.

Regardless teams gameplan those elite WR's all the time, which forces the rest of the offense to adjust. So far the O-line has let the running game down, which has taken away the play-action pass ....which has in turn taken away our deep ball and without it Tanny is left to sit back and try to carve up cover 2's and zones ...... of which he has not shown he can beat.

_________________

Yes, he was running lateral & Merriman wasn't.

Thank you I hate when people try to say moore went 6-0 do the first 3 games he lost not count.

Yes, 0-7 start. That was all Moore's fault. He wasn't backing up Henne correctly on the first 4 and the next 3 were his first games under center in Miami. I did say 6-3 DOWN THE STRETCH. That would've qualified it for most people.

Matt Moore is undefeated this season.

_________________

I agree, Tannehill is burdened with leading a rebuilding football team where most of it's key pieces are leftovers from a different coaching staff/systems. While Tannehill does need to get more consistent in all aspects of his game (same could be said for any rookie quarterback), he's not the only problem right now. We have much bigger schematic issues at work right now.

Teams have figured out that Tannehill doesn't have a run game or elite wideout to fall back on, they know this, and they're stacking the box and leaving their safeties high to try and ballhawk. They'll shut down the run, keep the safeties high to prevent anything over the top, and force us to dink and dunk hoping it will eventually lead to turnovers. So far, it's been working. To make matters worse, our coaching staff has been unable to come up with a new gameplan that will allow Tannehill to mix things up and keep opposing defenses off balance and guessing. We're coming out with the same things week afte week and asking Tannehill to make it work, that just simply isn't a recipe for success. A quarterback change won't help that out. Matt Moore is competent enough to fix what is going on right now. Bottom line, the entire offense needs to get better from the top down, that includes Sherman and Philbin.

I didn't know how many innings he had to pitch to consider it a win.

For every one time they have a step on a defender, there is probably 5 times they do not.

Elite? Hartline is a joke as a No. 2, much less No. 1. He is a No. 4 at best. Bess is good, but replacing him with most anyone would not make us miss him. As a receiver Fasano is a good run blocker. Still hard to believe Miami's 3rd Rd pick still cannot steal a snap or two.

I hope people realize that this train isn't stopping. Tanenhill is going to be our starter for the remainder of the season. When you invest in a rookie starter, you had better be ready to saddle up with that guy. I'm confident that Philbin and Sherman have done that and aren't scared by the past couple of weeks. Neither am I. Perhaps the worst trait of many Dolphins fans is they are impatient, they never want to call things what they are. They are used to seeing the organization throw band-aids on a giant hole. We aren't going to do that anymore. Our new staff was brought in because they understand quarterbacks and what it takes to develop them. That means sticking behind them and developing them as quickly as possible. Tannehill is coming along fine. I believe he'll be much improved by the end of the season. Not only that, I think he'll be ready to lead a much improved offense next year after our staff has had a chance to field a proper team around him that is capable of running the type of offense our coaching staff wants.

So please, quit with the Matt Moore sillyness. He isn't playing unless Tannehill gets hurt. Moore isn't the answer. He's a journeyman backup, not a franchise quarterback. He'll be gone next year. The idea that one player can fix the entire offense shows the lack of intelligence some of the posters on this board have. If you truly watch the games this season you'd see that the Dolphins offensive problems the past couple of weeks go far beyond Tannehill. His rookie inexperience is only one small part of that equation.

What a waste looking at Merriman would have been

Safeties were never high on first down. There was always one coming to the LOS at the snap. No fear of deep ball. They'll keep seeing this until they attack the deep center part of the field.

Again, baseline. Moore played brilliantly against the Jets. Otherwise, Miami loses that game. There is no question that RT has the talent to become a solid NFL QB, but right now he's not even as good as his backup.

Agree.

Hartline is a good 2. He's not consistent enough to be a 1. Bess a good 3. Fasano is a joke at TE. He whiffed on a couple of blocks that got Bush nailed in the backfield. He dropped the only pass that hit his hands. Time to see if Egnew is a gamer.