Ryan Tannehill may not turn out to be the savior the Dolphins desperately need.
But with four games left in a season that’s all but over, including Monday night’s showdown against the New York Giants, Tannehill and the Dolphins offense want to set the record straight.
You can — and should — blame the players for the 5-7 season. But they were never really given the freedom to try things their way under former offensive coordinator Bill Lazor.
“There wasn’t much (player) involvement,” receiver Greg Jennings said. “Guys were feeling like, ‘Hey, you’re not going to listen to what I’m going to say anyway?’ It kind of poisoned the approach. Once you got the plays, the excitement wasn’t there.”
Lazor’s unwillingness to allow Tannehill to audible became a major story line in Lazor’s final weeks with the Dolphins.
Interim coach Dan Campbell fired Lazor after Miami’s Week 12 loss to the New York Jets — some said he should have been let go months earlier along with former coach Joe Philbin and defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle.
Quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor, who replaced Lazor as the team’s primary play caller, is seeking game-plan input from Tannehill and other players. He’s also giving Tannehill more freedom to change plays at the line of scrimmage.
Taylor said it paid off in last week’s win against the Ravens when Tannehill found rookie receiver DeVante Parker for a 38-yard touchdown. It was a play that Tannehill devised days before the game.
“It was a good idea,” Taylor said. “He took ownership in it and he and DeVante worked it. We knew it would be across the 50 when that play would get called. He and DeVante talked through the landmarks and it came up in the game.”
That doesn’t mean that the switch to Taylor is the cure all for Tannehill’s disappointing fourth season.
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But with four games left in a season that’s all but over, including Monday night’s showdown against the New York Giants, Tannehill and the Dolphins offense want to set the record straight.
You can — and should — blame the players for the 5-7 season. But they were never really given the freedom to try things their way under former offensive coordinator Bill Lazor.
“There wasn’t much (player) involvement,” receiver Greg Jennings said. “Guys were feeling like, ‘Hey, you’re not going to listen to what I’m going to say anyway?’ It kind of poisoned the approach. Once you got the plays, the excitement wasn’t there.”
Lazor’s unwillingness to allow Tannehill to audible became a major story line in Lazor’s final weeks with the Dolphins.
Interim coach Dan Campbell fired Lazor after Miami’s Week 12 loss to the New York Jets — some said he should have been let go months earlier along with former coach Joe Philbin and defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle.
Quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor, who replaced Lazor as the team’s primary play caller, is seeking game-plan input from Tannehill and other players. He’s also giving Tannehill more freedom to change plays at the line of scrimmage.
Taylor said it paid off in last week’s win against the Ravens when Tannehill found rookie receiver DeVante Parker for a 38-yard touchdown. It was a play that Tannehill devised days before the game.
“It was a good idea,” Taylor said. “He took ownership in it and he and DeVante worked it. We knew it would be across the 50 when that play would get called. He and DeVante talked through the landmarks and it came up in the game.”
That doesn’t mean that the switch to Taylor is the cure all for Tannehill’s disappointing fourth season.
http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news...rnallink_referralbox_free-to-premium-referral
