Miami Dolphin Fans Welcome "Tannehill 2.0"
Pictured: Miami Dolphins 2018 QB Ryan Tannehill and WR Kenny Stills
Two weeks into training camp, Miami Dolphins Quarterback Ryan Tannehill is more solid than ever, and Head Coach Adam Gase is not only cheering him on, but praising his high performance as “mistake-free”.
“[In 2016,] we were all trying to learn the offense and I was trying to learn [the team],” Gase said. “That was the early stages of the offense. Really, once we hit the spring last year, [Tannehill] was just trying to fine-tune more the throws, the pinpoint accuracy. Instead of missing the throws a little bit, he was trying to put it exactly where he wanted it.”
The hopes of Miami’s success last season crumbled in August of 2017 when Calais Campbell’s 6-foot-8 300 pound body collided into Tannehill’s knee, bending it backwards and re-injuring his left ACL. Costing him the entire season, Tannehill didn’t play one second of live-action NFL football for 19 months.
According to Gase, Tannehill’s at the top of his mental game now that he’s had some experience in Miami’s offense, “He’s trying to see things and get us out of plays and make sure everybody’s on the same page. It’s slowed down for him mentally, as far as being able to communicate with guys, and if they have questions, that’s not going to mess him up for what else he has to do.”
It’s good to know Tannehill’s mind is right, but sceptics question whether his body can handle regular season games, especially after sporting a knee brace at practice Thursday. Coach Gase claims to be confident that his physical presence is all there too, “From what I’ve seen, it’s almost a better version. Because when you throw in tackling. Sometimes in practice, you’re like, ‘Yeah, we wouldn’t have got that throw off,’ and then in a game, he stands in there and takes a good hit. He doesn’t shy away from stepping into the throw and completes the ball. Some of the things that you think aren’t going to be real, they end up being real. He ends up making the throws that you don’t expect him to make. At the same time, I think his size and his ability to move, that’s beneficial to us because he gets us out of a lot of trouble and helps the run game as well.”
It was hard to ignore Tannehill’s knee brace label by fans and media Thursday, “Tannehill 2.0”. While he claims there was no purposeful message intended of the happenstance label, optimistic South Floridians hope that it’s a sign for a new and improved Miami Dolphins quarterback model into the 2018 NFL season.
If you're interested in attending a Dolphins game, Hard Rock Stadium is about an hour to an hour a half away from anywhere in Palm Beach County.
References: The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post, The Phinsider
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