Miami Dolphins

The End to The Tannehill-Era

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

With his poor performance on Thursday Night Football, Ryan Tannehill has yet to prove to first-year head coach Adam Gase that he’s the Dolphins quarterback of the future.

As the country tuned in to watch Thursday night’s NFL game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Miami Dolphins, they may have witnessed the end of an era. With yet another poor performance, Ryan Tannehill’s future as the Dolphins’ quarterback is in serious jeopardy.

“It was probably one of the worst performances I’ve seen from our offense in a long time,” Tannehill told reporters, via ESPN’s James Walker. “We did some decent things in the run game. We just couldn’t get anything going in the passing game.”

Aside from a 74-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Stills on the Dolphins second play from scrimmage, the Dolphins’ offense was dreadful. After that play, which gave the Dolphins a 7-3 lead in the first quarter, Tannehill passed for only 115 more yards the rest of the game.

“Obviously he missed a couple of things early,” Gase said, via Miami Herald’s Adam Beasley. “When things start going bad, you want him to find that one throw where he can spring us loose.” The problem for the Dolphins, however, is that Tannehill failed to spring them loose, failing at just about every aspect of the game along the way. And for Dolphins’ fans, they’re growing tired of it.

Heading into his fifth NFL season, this was a crucial year for Ryan Tannehill. After four sub-par seasons and not a backup plan in sight, the Dolphins hired Adam Gase as their head coach to fix their problem. Known around the NFL as a “quarterback whisper,” many people inside the Dolphins organization thought Gase would help Tannehill become the franchise quarterback they so desperately needed. Thus far, the project isn’t working.

Despite the entire offense playing poorly, most of the blame falls on Tannehill’s shoulders for last night’s performance. We continue to see Tannehill’s inability to read the field, feel pressure in the pocket, and go through his progressions. Last night in Cincinnati was no different. On one occasion, Tannehill’s lack of awareness inside the pocket caused a fumble that the Bengals recovered, which negated a good drive by the Dolphins’ offense.

Of course, not all of the five sacks the Dolphins surrendered to the Bengals front four were Tannehill’s fault, but to be a successful quarterback in the NFL you have to be able to maneuver in the pocket. Twice last night, Tannehill made decisions you don’t normally see from a fifth-year starter. On one, as he was getting pummeled into the turf, Tannehill threw the football up for grabs. The throw, which could have easily been intercepted, is something you’re more likely to see on a playground than an NFL field.

The second one came in the fourth quarter with the game still within reach for the Dolphins. Giving into the pressure, Tannehill floated the football into a sea of Bengal defenders, which Bengals’ defensive back Chris Lewis-Harris intercepted. The interception, Tannehill’s fifth of the season, was the icing on the cake.

With four games under his belt as the Dolphins’ head coach, it appears that Adam Gase has yet to figure out what Ryan Tannehill does well. At this point, we don’t know if he ever will. Dolphins’ fans can only hope that Gase has seen all he needs to from Tannehill and has concocted a plan to bring stability to a position that the Dolphins haven’t had in almost two decades.