Miami Dolphins 1st Quarter Grades: Quarterback

While the Miami Dolphins are off enjoying some early season rest and the coaches are jumpstarting their Green Bay Packer game plan, we are going to look at the first quarter of the season and hand out some grades. I’ve pulled the pencil out and chicken scratched some reasons for this that and the other, then erased a bunch of stuff and then chicken scratched out some more. Only to turn around and type it up here. Taking a look at each position unit we will assess an honest grade that we, meaning I, feel is unapologetic and appropriate.

I’ll start with the quarterbacks.

This is strictly a judgement on Ryan Tannehill since he has taken all but mop up snaps this season. In the first game of the year Tannehill looked very rusty and out of synch. His second half of that game was much better than the first and while he didn’t shoulder the win against New England (I give that credit to Knowshon Moreno) he played well enough to get fans fired up and looking ahead at his progressive improvement.

Had I been able to simply judge the 2nd half of game one and the entire game of week four Tannehill would get an “A” review but sadly chunked in between those two games were Buffalo and Kansas City and let’s face facts here, he didn’t play well.

Tannehill is largely inconsistent. He shows the flashes of what you want in a top franchise quarterback but two series later it seems that he loses focus and reverts back to the ugly. Tannehill is unflappable in the pocket. He doesn’t panic under pressure and he doesn’t force throws to avoid sacks. His pocket presence is improving and he is starting to feel the game better especially on his blind side. The problem for Tannehill is when he isn’t under pressure. Simply put Tannehill thinks too much and he plays his best football when he doesn’t try to go to the game but instead let’s it come to him.

When Tannehill is flushed out of the pocket his accuracy is much better than it is in the pocket when he is under little to no pressure. While he can hit many of his passes he fails to deliver balls in stride when he isn’t moving with the receivers. It’s almost as if he can’t process where the receiver will be when he throws the ball yet when he is running lateral with the direction of the receiver his natural abilities take over and he can see the pattern clearly.

Another issue obviously is the deep ball. Tannehill has completed one pass for over 25 yards and that was a 30 yard strike against Oakland. In the first two games he missed, again, with Mike Wallace and sadly the team has not opted to go deep the last two weekends. That needs to change. The offense is far too predictable or will be without the threat of deep throws. What’s more depressing is the fact that if Tannehill is able to complete the passes the Dolphins record will significantly improve over the course of a season. Those are game winning types of touchdowns.

It’s not all bad for Tannehill. He is maturing in his 3rd season and there are slivers of on-field leadership starting to creep out of him. This is the first new system that he has had to learn since his first year in college when he was a WR and the offense he QB’d there was with Mike Sherman. Last season in Philadelphia the Eagles quarterbacks didn’t immediately adjust to the Chip Kelley style and we are seeing the growing pains of Ryan Tannehill learning the new reads, check downs, and assignment calls. If and hopefully when Tannehill gets this processed the offense could become very dangerous.

For the first quarter of the season Tannehill get’s a C rating from me but the good news is that he is ranked as the highest rated quarterback in the AFC East. Yes, he is ranked higher than Tom Brady. So for that alone, we will add a plus to the end of his grade. Call it our curve.

Final grade – C+

What to expect from the next four weeks:

Consistency – Tannehill needs to improve on his drive to drive consistency. The offense as a whole depends on his ability to make smart decisions and deliver the ball in a spot that gives the receiver the best chance for success. Dropped balls can kill a drive and those are not on Tannehill but he needs to be able to overcome those.

Leadership – He is getting better but better at slightly over a snails pace. That isn’t going to cut it. He needs to deliver strong words and strong performances to take this team out of the shadow that is Joe Philbin (more on that when I grade the coaches). This team needs a leader, vocally on and off the field. It’s year three for Tannehill and despite Joe Philbin’s failure to support his QB to the media, it’s his team. He needs to take control over his team. Is there any question who’s team it is in Indianapolis? No, it’s Andrew Lucks.

Accuracy – You could file this under consistency but accuracy is still a small problem that Tannehill needs to work on. He needs to start hitting his receivers in front of their bodies and not behind them. He needs to work out the hold ups in his brain that prohibits him from making the deep connections and after three years we still balls batted at the line of scrimmage.