An ode to former Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey
No matter your view on former Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey, he is a part of its history.
After leaving the Miami Dolphins, Chan Gailey, around his 69th birthday, has been and continues to be somewhat of a scapegoat. No one likes to lose their way out of a wildcard playoff round. And fingers will be pointed, that’s just how it goes.
Gailey might just lead the growing list of things that this fan base and pundits find Polarizing. I might delve into some of that later, but right now I want to look at his storied past a little.
During his tenure as head coach for the Cowboys, his team made the playoffs both years he was there from 1998–1999. After that, he became the OC for the Miami Dolphins under head coach Dave Wannstedt, where again he made the playoffs both years he was there. In 2000 they won a wildcard game over the Colts in overtime. This win marks the last playoff game won going back twenty years now, I need to go cry into a tissue now.
After a good cry, It’s time to place blame and point fingers. Did Gailey call different plays for Tua Tagovailoa than he did for Ryan Fitzpatrick? He claims it was due to the situation of the games played and the timing during those games when he was asked about it. This was a good coach speech response, but I’m not sure many of his detractors would buy it. A good effort on his part nevertheless.
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To look at the play calling of the two subjectively, Tua has played about ten games and Ryan Fitzpatrick has well over ten seasons of play at the NFL level. Ryan Fitzpatrick also has played for Gailey before when he was bouncing around the rest of the AFC East, so there is a familiarity there between the two.
Whether or not the play calling was skewed somehow, we may have some other problem arising, and it is following the timeline of a former Miami Dolphins quarterback. That QB is Ryan Tannehill, and what we are seeing unfold now, had also taken place with him during his earlier stint here.
Remember when Ryan Tannehill had questions on if he was proficient at throwing the deep ball? Did he not see or make the reads right to do so? Was the coaching holding him back? Do these questions sound familiar? We are reliving the same thing now with Tua Tagovailoa.
One other thing both Tua Tagovailoa and Ryan Tannehill might share is the changing of the guard at OC. This has been the trend with coach Brain Flores for two seasons running now. Although what we have in coach Flores seems to be far better than what Tannehill ever did during his time with the Miami Dolphins. Flores has shown me how he can adapt and change in order to stay relevant as a team to stay in the hunt for the playoffs, and many others will always see these changes as good, bad, or indifferent.