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ESPN Blog- Dolphins should start Tannehill

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DAVIE, Fla. -- I rarely flip-flop in the AFC East blog. But due to an unexpected set of circumstances, this is one of those rare instances.

It's time for the Miami Dolphins to start rookie quarterback Ryan Tannehill for the entire 2012 season. Yes, I said it. Now let it sink in.

Forget about my prior comments entering training camp. I previously wrote that Tannehill's two-day holdout and late arrival all but ends the rookie's chances of jumping two veteran quarterbacks in training camp.

But crazy things happen in the NFL -- especially if you're the Dolphins. Miami has had a topsy-turvy 72 hours that included projected starting quarterback David Garrard's unexpected knee surgery and receiver Chad Johnson's release following his arrest for alleged domestic violence.

No one saw this coming a few weeks ago. Now, the Dolphins must adjust.

Miami needs to be decisive. It's time to start Tannehill this week against the Carolina Panthers and get him three full preseason games with the first team in preparation for Week 1 of the regular season.

No. 1 overall pick Andrew Luck is starting at quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts. No. 2 pick Robert Griffin III is starting for the Washington Redskins. Even Cleveland Browns rookie Brandon Weeden, who was drafted 14 picks behind Tannehill, is starting in Week 1.

What are the Dolphins waiting for? It's time for Miami to play its rookie quarterback.

"It's possible, we'll see," Dolphins coach Joe Philbin said after practice Monday. "At this stage in the game we're going to let the practices play out. We're in no rush to name anybody. We [have a] game at Carolina on Friday and we’ve had two decent days of preparation so far and we have two more heavy practices coming up, so we’re going to look at how the guys play."

The days of waiting a year or two for a quarterback to develop are outdated. Coaches get fired too fast in the NFL to have their franchise player sitting on the bench for too long. Philbin gets one year as a grace period. After that, the pressure is on to win in Miami.

Philbin and Tannehill should go through this grace period together in 2012. Let's be honest: Miami is in a rebuilding year. This team is learning a new West Coast offense, a new 4-3 defense and doesn't have enough dynamic playmakers on either side to consistently win games.

The Dolphins are not a playoff team regardless if Garrard, Moore or Tannehill is the quarterback. Therefore, you're better off playing the rookie who can develop into your long-term solution. Philbin and Tannehill can take their lumps together this season and learn on the job. Then, the pair will be well-positioned to take flight for Miami in 2013.

Tannehill could be the best quarterback on the roster right now. He was certainly the most impressive in Miami's preseason debut. Tannehill was 14-for-21 with 167 yards and a touchdown. He showed many of the traits Miami raved about in the draft. Tannehill was poised, in control of the offense and made a lot of good throws.

"I try to be calm on the field," Tannehill said. " try to give off the essence of being calm in the pocket, being calm in the huddle. You know, we’re going to go down and score every drive. I just try to give confidence to the other players on the field."

Dolphins veteran quarterback Matt Moore was 7-of-12 for 79 yards and an interception. The incumbent had some good plays and bad plays. After the game, Philbin was asked how big the gap is between Moore and Tannehill.

"I don’t think it’s huge," Philbin said candidly. "I think it's relatively close, probably."

If that is the case, what is there to lose?

We know what Moore's ceiling is. He is 13-12 in his six-year career. Moore is an average starter but a good backup. He's never played in a West Coast offense before and you can see it in practice. In many ways, Moore is a square peg trying to fit into a round hole with the Dolphins.

Meanwhile, Tannehill has the potential to be Miami's best quarterback since Dan Marino. Why waste a year of that immense potential on the bench? Tannehill played under Dolphins offensive coordinator Mike Sherman in college at Texas A&M and knows this West Coast offense well. The progress Tannehill has made from minicamp in the spring to the third week of training camp has been impressive.

Garrard was clearly winning the quarterback competition before his unexpected knee surgery. At that time I thought the former Pro Bowler gave Miami the best chance to win. But Garrard's injury opened the door for the Tannehill era to begin. Miami should embrace this opportunity instead of running away from it.

Moore and Garrard both have one year left on their contracts. There is a good chance neither veteran quarterback will be on Miami's roster next season.

But Tannehill will be on the roster in 2013. And it's best for the entire Dolphins organization that he enters next season with a full year of experience under his belt.

"We'll just have to trust the gut. ... We'll see how it unfolds," Philbin said. "At that time, if there are no differences statistically, if it looks even and production is even, then I think we’ll have to go with a gut instinct on who can lead the team and give us the best chance to win."

Stop playing musical chairs with your quarterbacks, Miami. The future is now.

Start Ryan Tannehill.
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http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/46123/why-dolphins-should-start-ryan-tannehill
 
I agree. Lets just commit to the future and get the ball rolling. They have with Luck, Newton, and RG3.
 
Whats the rush? Let him hold a clipboard for a couple games. Moore may not be a seasoned vet, but he has experience and the rookie can learn something from him.
 
For the first time in a while I took off my aqua and orange sunglasses and see the team for what it is. We are not a playoff contending team no matter who starts at QB. I just can't fathom us getting a wild card spot with the teams we have to compete against in the AFC to get that spot. We are not better than the Broncos, Bengals, Steelers, Ravens, Raiders, Chargers, hell we might not even be better than the Bills and the Jets, and the Jets look ****ing pathetic this year.

With that being said the only benefit Tannehill gets if he sits out is that he gets to watch Moore play. That isn't much of a benefit considering Tannehill probably knows this offense better than Moore already. Moore is decent and all, but having Tannehill on the sidelines watching Moore play won't help him adjust to the speed of the game or read Defensive packages first hand as if he was standing behind center.

It would be a diservice to start Moore because he will have the "future of the organization" waiting in the ranks for him to screw up. If we do end up playing Moore, when would it be the appropriate time to replace him with Tannehill? When he fails? If he loses games? How many games does he have to lose? Does the coaching staff just arbitrarily pick a date when Moore no longer should start and play Tannehill for the rest of the season?

Rookeis have been able to come into the NFL and make an impact immediately. Play him, let him get the experience, he will benefit, and the team and organization will benefit much more in the long term than sitting him behind another patented Dolphin's stop-gap dead-end lame-duck QB.
 
eppym said:
Whats the rush? Let him hold a clipboard for a couple games. Moore may not be a seasoned vet, but he has experience and the rookie can learn something from him.
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I disagree. He should start if he earns it.
 
mialuv13 said:
For the first time in a while I took off my aqua and orange sunglasses and see the team for what it is. We are not a playoff contending team no matter who starts at QB. I just can't fathom us getting a wild card spot with the teams we have to compete against in the AFC to get that spot. We are not better than the Broncos, Bengals, Steelers, Ravens, Raiders, Chargers, hell we might not even be better than the Bills and the Jets, and the Jets look ****ing pathetic this year.

With that being said the only benefit Tannehill gets if he sits out is that he gets to watch Moore play. That isn't much of a benefit considering Tannehill probably knows this offense better than Moore already. Moore is decent and all, but having Tannehill on the sidelines watching Moore play won't help him adjust to the speed of the game or read Defensive packages first hand as if he was standing behind center.

It would be a diservice to start Moore because he will have the "future of the organization" waiting in the ranks for him to screw up. If we do end up playing Moore, when would it be the appropriate time to replace him with Tannehill? When he fails? If he loses games? How many games does he have to lose? Does the coaching staff just arbitrarily pick a date when Moore no longer should start and play Tannehill for the rest of the season?

Rookeis have been able to come into the NFL and make an impact immediately. Play him, let him get the experience, he will benefit, and the team and organization will benefit much more in the long term than sitting him behind another patented Dolphin's stop-gap dead-end lame-duck QB.
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imo i think tanny should start when the OL gels a lil bit more than they have because putting tanny out there and letting him get killed isnt going to help his stats or help him with the confidence that he could have if the OL was a lil bit more solid ,imo we dont need to put our franchise QB into a bad sisuation when we dont have to , i say if our OL is gelled by the reg season and if tanny keeps makin progress than let tanny take over and lead this team to the promise land.
 
Start Tannehill if he earns it dont sit him just because hes a rookie. We know what we're gona get w/ Moore. Id like to see Ryan get the nod and see what he has..Peyton MAnning once said start a rookie qb if you believe hes the future its the best way to learn instead of sitting on the bench. Moore is a glorified Tyler Thigpen..lol
 
If anyone thinks we have a better chance to win with Matt Moore they're nuts
 
jason_taylor said:
imo i think tanny should start when the OL gels a lil bit more than they have because putting tanny out there and letting him get killed isnt going to help his stats or help him with the confidence that he could have if the OL was a lil bit more solid ,imo we dont need to put our franchise QB into a bad sisuation when we dont have to , i say if our OL is gelled by the reg season and if tanny keeps makin progress than let tanny take over and lead this team to the promise land.
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Jason, when you wrote about waiting for the offensive line to gel more before starting RT, that got me wondering just how we did last year in protecting the QB. I knew we didn't do well, but i did not realize how bad :tubes:. We allowed 52 sacks last year according to ESPN's team stats for 2011 (see link below). Only Arizona and St. Louis did worse, but not by much. That's very worrisome. However, I also noticed that some of the worst and the best teams in the NFL last year were well represented at both ends of the spectrum. The best performance preventing sacks was by the Bills, and we all know how well they did last year. The Niners and the Bears were two of the better teams last year, but we allowed only a few more sacks than they did. And the Steelers were only a few better than they were.

So, although allowing a lot of sacks is NOT helping the team perform to its potential, it doesn't prevent a team from playing well in a season. Also consider this: the very best performance against allowing sacks last year in the NFL STILL allowed 23 sacks of their QB. For a season, that means we allowed only a little more than one more sack per game. Therefore, don't you think that we aren't really risking RT's psychological well being, or his physical health, much more with a weak offensive line? He's NOT really going to "get killed," as you say. And this is all assuming we haven't improved our offensive line by a few sack's worth already. I think these are things the staff will have to consider in deciding whether to let RT start if he proves he's ready.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/passing/sort/sacks
 
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