Ryan Tannehill still playing for his job with the Miami Dolphins
Over the last month and a half of the NFL season, I have seen a major shift in the play of Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill. I know I am not alone in saying that for the first time in his NFL career, Tannehill is beginning to look like an NFL quarterback. Sure, he’s not the Dan Marino many in the organization have tried to play him up as, but he’s no Chad Henne either.
That begs the question. Has Tannehill done enough to secure his starting job and roster spot for next season? The answer is truly mixed. While Ryan has looked the part at times — such as in the last five-minutes against LA — he has also been an inconsistent threat. When it comes to playoff games, that inconsistency can be and usually is the difference between the contenders and the pretenders.
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During the Miami Dolphins current five-game winning streak, Tannehill has thrown for over 200-yards in three of those games. In that five game stretch, he has only throw one interception. That same stretch of games has also seen him throw for six scores. On the surface, these stats show solid if unspectacular play from the quarterback.
However, in the first two games of this five-game winning streak, Jay Ajayi rushed for over 200-yards and the defense played well. In the game against New York, Tannehill was pretty mediocre in finding his receivers. Though play calling was a bit to blame during that contest, Tannehill just didn’t look the part at times.
The game’s against San Diego and Los Angeles also showed weaknesses in his game. Though Tannehill came on late in LA to almost single-handily win the game for Miami, his early game performance was forgettable at best. So really, what gives here!
I would be willing to bet that a lot of Tannehill’s improvement has been brought on by Adam Gase. Slowly molding him into his type of quarterback, Gase is doing to Tannehill exactly what he did to Chicago’s Jay Cutler. Do what I tell you and don’t take unnecessary risks with the player or the ball.
Based on Cutler’s play this season, I think it’s safe to say that Gase was responsible for his solid if unspectacular play last season. As a head coach, will Gase be willing to accept this from Tannehill? Ryan still has some time left this season to continue improving. He needs to treat these weeks like his job depends on it. After all, it actually might.
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