For four years, Tannehill had been average at best and often times a liability, but under the supervision of Gase, who came to the team with a reputation as a quarterback guru, the fifth-year passer found himself enjoying improvement in a number of important categories.
Gase oversaw Tannehill’s progress by accentuating the quarterback’s skill set, namely his mobility. By moving Tannehill even one or two steps inside the pocket, the Dolphins found they could gain a half-second advantage in designing plays downfield.
With extra time came better efficiency: Tannehill enjoyed a career-high 93.5 passer rating and boasts personal-bests in completion percentage (67.1), percentage of attempts that went for touchdowns (4.9), yards per attempt (7.7), and was sacked a career-low 29 times.
Those achievements look even better when judging how badly things started: Miami began 1-4 with Tannehill throwing six touchdowns against seven interceptions and was the second-most sacked passer (17) in football, after Andrew Luck.
The Dolphins’ offense enjoyed a major turnaround after a schematic shift towards the running game, led by Jay Ajayi, the only back in the NFL to rush for over 200 yards in three games this season. But eventually, as things balanced out, Tannehill found more success, compiling 13 touchdowns against just five interceptions after Week 5.
He improved particularly in the red zone, where he completed over 68 percent of his pass attempts, and where he completed 11 of his eventual 19 touchdown passes. Dolphins quarterbacks on the whole completed an NFL-best 72.5 percent of their passes inside the opponents’ 20, with 15 total scores and no interceptions.
Gase has proved his mettle as a quarterback guru in his first season with Miami. Now the question is if he can do it again.
