Bill Lazor on Dolphins' deep ball: 'We've got to figure it out together'

[FSU Truth]

Wallace made a killing off of having a Hall of Fame QB, and one who excelled at broken plays. Many of Wallace big plays were plays that Big Ben extended and Wallace happen to be left alone...very few were him catching a pass "in stride".

Oh well....I like the guys we have now, I don't think the deep ball is bigger issue then it is on other teams, much of what was made about the deep ball is attributed to the fact that the Dolphins spent so much money for that specific type of play and it never materialized like the hoped. Some of it on Tannehill, Some on Wallace, Some on the collapsing interior pocket, and a lot on the play calls during his time here.

 

[russianbear]

Wallace made a killing off of having a Hall of Fame QB, and one who excelled at broken plays. Many of Wallace big plays were plays that Big Ben extended and Wallace happen to be left alone...very few were him catching a pass "in stride".

Oh well....I like the guys we have now, I don't think the deep ball is bigger issue then it is on other teams, much of what was made about the deep ball is attributed to the fact that the Dolphins spent so much money for that specific type of play and it never materialized like the hoped. Some of it on Tannehill, Some on Wallace, Some on the collapsing interior pocket, and a lot on the play calls during his time here.

I think our WR group is without a doubt improved. Not necessarily on talent alone, but as far as attitude, and specific strengths that fit both into Tannehill's game and Lazor's offense.

Jennings is obviously an upgrade over Hartline and even more-so considering the ineffectiveness of Hartline with the route tree from last years offensive scheme.

Parker is a top notch talent, he's young, and his ability to win contested balls will help give us a big play threat without needing a wide open receiver downfield or a "in the pocket" deep pass from Tannehill because obviously his touch and arch on 30+ yard throws aren't his best trait.

Meanwhile Stills will still give us that deep threat "take the top off" speed with a bit more developed route tree and ability underneath. Not to mention he's about a gazillion times cheaper than Wallace.

So, yea. I think the deep ball will have a lot less spotlight on it this year. We should be able to move the ball down the field consistently, and very effectively with a number of different options. Very excited to see this offense get clickin'.

If there was ever a year to throw some dough on the Dolphins winning the Superbowl....the odds may make this year a decent look.

 

[One Love]

IMO, the time to figure it out was prior to last season when everyone saw that there was a problem with Tannehill hitting Wallace deep. Instead of fixing the problem, Philbin and Lazor went away from the deep ball and used Wallace on shorter routes. If you have a guy who can get past the defense, then something is terribly wrong if he's not scoring numerous long TDs. A few of those quick-strike TDs could have put Miami in the playoffs.

I'm not looking to place blame on the players (because IMO both Tannehill and Wallace are at fault), but the coaching staff failed the team by not fixing a huge problem. On any given Sunday there are always a few long TD passes from around the NFL shown in the Highlights, yet Miami had just one or two TDs from (barely) outside of the red zone over the entire season! Any decent Head Coach would have had his players working on a problem until they got it right, or replaced them with someone who could perform. Philbin, who wants an offense based on short timing routes, decided to ignore the problem since the deep ball really isn't part of his offensive philosophy.

Now, Wallace is gone and they have new WRs. It's possible that Wallace was the problem and now they'll be able to go deep. But, it could be that Tannehill just isn't good throwing deep. He has gone (somewhat) deep to other WRs in the past with success, so IMO it's either a problem strictly between Tannehill and Wallace, or Tannehill can only go deep on certain throws to certain areas of the field. It must be one or the other, and if the coaching staff still doesn't know what the problem is, then the problem lies with the coaching staff!

 

[Dr. Tomorrow]

No one finds it a bit weird that a starting NFL QB can't throw deep? I believe some 10th graders can do this. His stats are good and I get that but not being able to throw deep. I mean, when you're a kid, don't you just throw deep passes to your friends, like all day? It's a like a plumber who has trouble using wrenches.

 

[Travis34]

No one finds it a bit weird that a starting NFL QB can't throw deep? I believe some 10th graders can do this. His stats are good and I get that but not being able to throw deep. I mean, when you're a kid, don't you just throw deep passes to your friends, like all day? It's a like a plumber who has trouble using wrenches.

:crazy:

 

[Krateness]

No one finds it a bit weird that a starting NFL QB can't throw deep? I believe some 10th graders can do this. His stats are good and I get that but not being able to throw deep. I mean, when you're a kid, don't you just throw deep passes to your friends, like all day? It's a like a plumber who has trouble using wrenches.

Tom Brady...that is all...

 

[spiketex]

Wallace "self-proclaimed" that he is the fastest WR in the NFL. How will the deep ball improve with a slower K. Stills??? It all starts with # 17. Tannehill has to improve his deep ball accuracy plain and simple and the O-line has to give him more time as well.

Watch the Kenny Stills highlight video from New Orleans. He appears to have excellent hands and is very good at last second adjustments. He's also deceptively fast. I think that extricating us from the giant Mike Wallace contract and then trading for Stills as a low cost solution was really smart. Time will tell if it pays off but Mike Tannenbaum and Dennis Hickey deserve credit for engineering a solution to an expensive problem (Wallace). Don't be surprised if Tannehill really appreciates the diva's exit, because this was also about strengthening Ryan's confidence to become a top QB and not having to deal with steady "me first" selfish bitching. That final game against the Jets which led to Wallace not receiving a pass, imploding and effectively quitting may have been set up by Tannenbaum, Hickey, Philbin and Lazor. Anyway, it set things up for Tannehill to move on sans Wallace and get him a new and better cast of WRs which is lower cost.

 

[Fins1971]

Personally I think it is a bigger issue than most on this forum. You have to be able to pickup some easy TD's with those long passing strikes. If you don't it will eventually catch up to you and your scoring will dwindle when playing good defensive teams. They play close to the LOS and the best plan is to beat them deep to make them back off. I did notice that a lot teams just let us run our short passing game for the 1st 3 quarters and let us be successful. But then in the fourth quarter they starting challenging us to beat them deep. We couldn't do it and that is why our 4th quarter scoring was near the bottom of league and our offensive production dropped.

In the last 3 years we only have (2) TD passes over 50 yards while passing the ball over 1600 times. That is not a good ratio.
By contrast the special teams has (2) TD returns over 50 yards in that same period with a fraction of the attempts.
The defense has actually outscored the offense on these 50 yard TD's over that 3 year period. They have 3.
In the same 3 year period we have (2) TD runs over 50 yards also.

When your defense and special teams are making more of these plays than your passing game it is a recipe for failure IMO. If we can get that one aspect fixed I think it will push us over the top and make us a playoff team consistently.

 

[russianbear]

Personally I think it is a bigger issue than most on this forum. You have to be able to pickup some easy TD's with those long passing strikes. If you don't it will eventually catch up to you and your scoring will dwindle when playing good defensive teams. They play close to the LOS and the best plan is to beat them deep to make them back off. I did notice that a lot teams just let us run our short passing game for the 1st 3 quarters and let us be successful. But then in the fourth quarter they starting challenging us to beat them deep. We couldn't do it and that is why our 4th quarter scoring was near the bottom of league and our offensive production dropped.

In the last 3 years we only have (2) TD passes over 50 yards while passing the ball over 1600 times. That is not a good ratio.
By contrast the special teams has (2) TD returns over 50 yards in that same period with a fraction of the attempts.
The defense has actually outscored the offense on these 50 yard TD's over that 3 year period. They have 3.
In the same 3 year period we have (2) TD runs over 50 yards also.

When your defense and special teams are making more of these plays than your passing game it is a recipe for failure IMO. If we can get that one aspect fixed I think it will push us over the top and make us a playoff team consistently.

what's the source of the info? only asking because I'd like to see where other teams line up with that 50+yard touchdown stat.

if we're talking double or even triple what Miami did, I would agree with the common testament that 6 touchdowns over 3 years still isn't a very big deal. the ability to lead consistent drives down the field, eat up the clock, and simply out-man opposing defenses is much more important than the occasional "quick strike" td of 50+ yards....special teams and defense are more prone to these kind of plays as well because they tend to be wide open interception returns, kickoff returns, etc. so, again, i think the stat of 50+ yard touchdown throws or passes is pretty irrelevant. However, after seeing who sits on top of that list I may be shown otherwise.

 

[Sarnics13]

You damn right he had an attitude because he getting paid a lot of money to make big plays!! But when your QB is unable to throw the deep ball it can be frustrating, guess who got all the blame "Wallace". All these questions will be answered soon will Tanny continue to miss the deep ball and will Wallace be able to catch deep ball from Teddy, only time will tell.

Where are you getting that? All sports media, the majority of posters on here and reporters are consistently labeling RT as "can't throw the deep ball".

Where do you get that Wallace took all the blame?? From the 15 or so people on here that defend RT?

 

[Yessir]

Tom Brady...that is all...

What about him? Brady re-wrote the record books when he had a legit deep threat.

That comparison doesn't hold much weight....among many other reasons.

 

[Bruzer]

What about him? Brady re-wrote the record books when he had a legit deep threat.

That comparison doesn't hold much weight....among many other reasons.

That's under selling Randy Moss's ability by saying just legit deep threat, he went up and after the ball and had uncanny ability to come down with it. Brady is good but you just have to toss it up to Moss. Makes it much easier to set records with someone like that than it would be if he was throwing it up to say Wallace or the other Speedsters out there.

 

[Fins1971]

what's the source of the info? only asking because I'd like to see where other teams line up with that 50+yard touchdown stat.

if we're talking double or even triple what Miami did, I would agree with the common testament that 6 touchdowns over 3 years still isn't a very big deal. the ability to lead consistent drives down the field, eat up the clock, and simply out-man opposing defenses is much more important than the occasional "quick strike" td of 50+ yards....special teams and defense are more prone to these kind of plays as well because they tend to be wide open interception returns, kickoff returns, etc. so, again, i think the stat of 50+ yard touchdown throws or passes is pretty irrelevant. However, after seeing who sits on top of that list I may be shown otherwise.

The source of that stat is the TD logs from the Dolphins for the last 3 years. New England runs the same short passing game that we do. Just last year they produced 3 of those 50 yard TD's in one single season despite throwing mostly short passes. All 3 came in tight games in the 4th quarter. All 3 games they won due to the big passing TD late in the game with defense pressing the LOS. Without those plays in the Buffalo, S.D regular season games they could have easily been 10-6 instead of 12-4. Then add in the TD to tie the Baltimore playoff game and you have 3 victories keyed by late long TD passes that burned the defense.

While 3 for NE to none for us isn't a huge difference it did add up to 3 more wins. If you don't think those late passing TD's are a factor in wins and losses then you must not be watching these football games. Had we been able to hit those passes in the KC, Baltimore and Detroit games in the 4th when they were pressing us I'm sure we would have made the playoff last year just like New England.

 

[Yessir]

That's under selling Randy Moss's ability by saying just legit deep threat, he went up and after the ball and had uncanny ability to come down with it. Brady is good but you just have to toss it up to Moss. Makes it much easier to set records with someone like that than it would be if he was throwing it up to say Wallace or the other Speedsters out there.

Not underselling Moss. He's the second greatest receiver ever, but it's no coincidence he had his best year ever with Brady throwing to him.

 

[LikeUntoGod]

Considering that RT has been taking 50 sacks a season I can see where having the time to throw the deep ball has been a problem.