For the sake of discussion, let's say Tannehill was drafted right after Marino retired (2000). How would he have fared with that solid o line and skill players on offense along with that wicked defense that was in place (Thomas, Taylor, Surtain, Madison, Marion, etc.)?
Well, since he would have been about six days old, if that, I don't think he would have set the world on fire.
I would have to say he helps prevent the massive freefall that was 2004-2007. Now Wannys D and power running game would taken pressure off him as he developed, but DW couldnt get teams into that elite level. A new coach would have been needed at some point to put the team over the top. Who? Not sure, but the Ricky Williams and Nick Saban fiascos likely wouldnt have happened, keeping the teams longstanding winning tradition in tact, possibly landing bigger and better free agents. Hypothetical? Yes. Better than Fiedler? Yes. Could have been sweet.
which skill players on offense are you talking about besides ricky and an off and on chris chambers ?
We'd have had a better passing game. Period. Ryan is accurate. Jay was a good leader but his accuracy was below average and he made some rookie decisions a few times a game. That O-line was decent, but not in pass-pro. We should have drafted a legit QB a long time ago. Imagine Chambers with a passer ! He was never off and on by the way. If he was, it was due to the terrible passing, new system every year, etc.. The dude caught touchdowns like few else in the league at that time. Marty Booker was no slouch either. These guys got buried on our offense. Not having a QB and being content with that only got worse when the next guys thought bringing in washed up vets would cure that. We're in a better place now, but complaining is at an all time high ! If only we were this hard on the guys who actually dug the hole.
Lets be honest though, Chambers never lit the world on fire anywhere else. If anything he disappeared after Miami.
Im talking about a little before those guys. Veteran wrs Mcduffie, Gadsden, and Tony Martin with decent depth behind them. Lamar Smith was a pretty good and durable power runner along with Rob Konrad catching passes out of the backfield. Not calling them great by any stretch, just solid veterans who could help a young qb develop, but more of them. In my senario, i didnt assume the roster would be the same in the following seasons. But if it did, Tannehill, Chambers, Williams, and McMichael would have been a good mixture as a base to build off of.
He was one of my personal favorites. Seemed like he was always catching big passes down the sideline to beat the colts and young Peyton.
I expected more from him in san diego.... was it norv who traded for him ? In his defense he got there mid-season, wasnt used much in LTs/Gates shadow. Did have a stretch in KC where he showed flashes. As for Gadsden, was hoping Egnew could be that type of player. Moving on from that notion. Randy McMichael was a favorite too.
great hands no question, but 22 TD's in 6 years is also not a beast skill offensive output, so basically there was no skill player on offense worth a mention besides ricky, sometimes chris chambers and maybe because he won us a playoff game lamar smith, so tannehill would be in the same situation as he is right now
It is compared to what we have at the moment....sadly. Besides, I still maintain if we had one more just competent receiver besides Bess & Hartline, we'd have been in the playoffs.
Almost forgot Mare, just a kicker, but he was one of the most dependable kickers in the nfl at one point. He essentially was our offense at points in the Wanny era. Held the season field goal record at one point. More reliable than Dan "i should have been a" Carpenter.
Never mentioned him as a beast, or even great, the receiving corps as a whole is what i referenced. Bess/Hartline are solid, but those other teams had a combination of 3-5 solid vets and serviceable younger guys. I have no confidence in the Wallaces, Moores, Binns, and Armstrongs of the world. Those Wannstedt teams were leaps and bounds more talented than whats here now. RT17 would AT LEAST have them in playoff contention come the final week of the season.
lt jake long lg mark dixon c tim ruddy rg mike pouncey rt todd wade might have forgot about someone, but i think thats a pretty sick line
Ruddy is not a better C than Pouncey. I'd put Pouncey at center and Jaime Nails that one year he was a freaking animal at RG.
I have to say in all honesty I am not ready to annoint RT as anything more then a decent B/U QB who because of his age and inexperience has the potential to grow into something better. His surrounding cast did not help him much but the reverse can be said as well. He did not do much to help them either.
I agree to an extent. I'm pretty confident he can be more than a back up at this level, but at the same time I'm not ready to label him the answer.
[video=youtube;Fa3iU1fOffY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa3iU1fOffY[/video] [video=youtube;p3Z3jrQs73U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3Z3jrQs73U[/video]
What are you basing your optimism on? Not saying he wont, just curious why you think he is going to suceed. I like his poise and demeanor. He handles pressure well and avoids stupid mistakes. On the flip side: His play is inconsistent. He misses reads. All things considered he did better then I antcipated and I am hopefull that getting an off season of practice under his belt is going to benefit him. I am not ready to set myself up for false expectations. At this point I am not any higher on him then Matt Moore.
I think he fits the direction the league is going into. He's athletic as we know, so I think that will help tremendously. He can run the read option, or break loose when the receivers aren't open. We couldn't say that about Henne. I think the most impressive trait I saw from Tannehill was his ability to improve upon his mistakes. Now, he had his fair share of mistakes last season so he has to improve significantly, IMO. We'll see if he does. I agree about not setting myself up for false expectations. If he performs poorly again next season, I think we should probably start looking in another direction. He could pull an Eli, but I don't think we should wait and see if that will happen while not drafting another QB.
I mainly agree with this. However I don't believe he played poorly as a whole. Not to say he didn't at times play poorly. Let's be fair here. After week one he had a + TD/INT ratio. A massive percentage of his interceptions came in only 2 or 3 games, and I know you may disagree but Im of the opinion that the talent around him very much limited his TD total as the season wore on. I think we will all be pleasantly surprised next season.
I hope we are. What might help him the most is a TE who can threaten the seam and him having the ability to throw that pass at more consistency. When you watch a team like Denver, they hit these throws with ease. We need to be one of those teams.
Actually, he turned 12 in 2000. Born in '88. Had he been 6 days old, dunno where ya got that from, he'd be 13 now.
He had at least one pretty good season in KC, scoring wise. Of course we've been told by some around here catching TD passes are not representative of a WR's worth or ability. It just seemed like he disappeared because he was in KC. His combined 2007 stats between the Dolphins and Chargers was pretty good.
Everyone is talking about adding playmakers to the roster and everything we'll be fine, well some reservations I have about Tannehill are directly related to whether or not he has it in him to be a playmaker himself, very few times did he evade pressure with that athletic ability and make plays..evading pressure and quickness in the pocket is what I would be training this kid on all offseason, man I wish I was the strength and conditioning coach of our team..
I thought he did an amazing job with pocket awareness towards the later half of the year. One play stands out to me. I forget which game, but there was a relatively free rusher coming off the edge. Ryan slid his feet, shifted his shoulder, stepped up and threw a deep pass to Bess (I believe it was) who was held on his route. The last thing I worry about with Tannehill is evading pressure, that was one of his strengths in my eyes.
It depends on what level were talking about, there was subtle movement at times, but relative to his athleticism I think it's a weakness of his, and he needs to get better at because I think it's critical in today's game, especially when the level of competition gets better.
I know what you mean. A great example of that is what Luck did to use over and over again when we played Indianapolis. I don't think Tannehill is capable of that, to be honest. He doesn't seem to be have that quickness in small areas. He did show a great ability to move up in the pocket at the right time to evade the blitz.
Wannstadt would have benched him behind Fiedler, because Wanny always chose the serviceable veteran to start ahead of the promising rookie. Since Fielder was winning 10+ games a season Wanny would name him starter and RT would never get a chance to develop in game conditions, or if he did Wanny would bench him and bury him in the depth chart as soon as RT had a multiple interception game. After 3 years Rick Spielman would then trade RT for a 6th round pick.
