Month: November 2016

Miami Dolphins Five Game Win Streak – Is It Ryan Tannehill?

Brian

Before the 2016 NFL season, I thought there was a realistic chance that the Miami Dolphins could start out 0-7. I figured Cleveland and Tennessee were toss-ups, but the rest were losses. Surprise! The Dolphins actually started 3-4, mostly because Cleveland is awful and Pittsburgh played like garbage.

In any case, the Dolphins recently went on a five game win streak. But is it due to their schedule, better execution or Ryan Tannehill playing like he’s worth his big time contract? Let’s take a look.

Schedule
The combined record of Miami’s last five opponents is 21-29. Yeah, not great. An easier schedule, they opened with Seattle and New England, has definitely helped them.

Execution
It’s probably no coincidence that Jay Ajayi started racking up yards beginning with that Pittsburgh win. He topped 200 yards in back-to-back games, cracked 100 yards in another and still managed 4+ yards per carry in the remaining two. Having a running back capable of that type of performance makes winning games a bit easier.

Ryan Tannehill
Oh Ryan Tannehill. My feelings about his contract and leading the Dolphins to a Super Bowl are well documented. Is his performance winning games, or is it more that he isn’t costing the team games?

Personally, I would say that of the five wins the one against San Diego can be attributed to Tannehill. He finished with a completion percentage of 70.8 for 240 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. In the other four wins, it looks like standard Tannehill. A couple of one touchdown, no interception games with average yards per completion in the five to six yards range.

Where does that leave us? Miami’s win streak probably has more to do with an easing of the schedule and Jay Ajayi’s performance than anything else. Which, honestly, was the formula I always thought the Dolphins needed to employ with Tannehill at the helm. Strong running game, aggressive defense and a quarterback that’s decently mobile and doesn’t make too many mistakes. Yes, that often means a razor-thin margin of error, but other teams have followed that path with great success.

Luckily, Miami’s remaining opponents currently have a combined record of 26-33-1 so they have a good shot at riding that formula to success for the rest of the season. Hopefully, Ryan Tannehill does his part of managing games.

LSWho? Why I Love Jim McElwain (and GMail)

Brian

Due to the unique circumstances that led to the postponement of the Florida versus LSU game, some of the narrative centered on the idea that the Gators and Jim McElwain were “scared” of the Tigers. That somehow they would do anything to remove LSU from the schedule in favor of taking an easier path through the SEC. That Jeremy Foley, one of the highest-regarded athletic directors in the country, would duck Florida’s permanent SEC West rival as one of his last decisions before retiring.

Yet, as far-fetched as it sounded at the time, that was still a big part of the conversation in the days before the game.

Somehow, Florida was able to overcome all of that fear and all of those injuries to execute a 4th down goal line stand for the ages.

Fear, and perceived disrespect, are powerful motivators.

Two things that stood out to me were: I loved Mac’s decision to put it all on that 4th down play. Earlier, it looked like he might try to preserve as much of the clock as possible, but Florida isn’t exactly a quick-strike offense. Instead, he leaned on the defense once more, and they came through again.

The second thing was that the late game push up front from the offensive line was impressive. After seeing inconsistent play there throughout much of Mac’s first year, primarily due to injuries, it was great to see running backs picking up big chunks of yards. Yes, not having to contend with Kendell Beckwith was probably a factor, but if anyone understands the importance of “next man up” it’s the Florida Gators.

I don’t anyone would argue that the SEC East has been down the past two seasons, but you still have to win games and that’s exactly what McElwain has done. Securing back-to-back SEC Championship Game berths is a great way to start your tenure at the University of Florida.

To close this out, I was searching through GMail the other day looking for an old GChat regarding McElwain’s hiring when I came across something even more interesting.

Apparently, back in April of 2012 (that’s 2 years and 8 months before being hired by Florida) I sent an e-mail to the Solid Verbal (love those guys, give them a listen) regarding Jim McElwain. Here’s an excerpt:

In your opinion, which newly hired head coach(I believe there are 28 of them for 2012) will prove to have the most positive impact on their program a number of years into the future? Obviously we have the big name coaches like Urban Meyer, RichRod, Mike Leach, etc. that should have some type of positive impact, but I was thinking more about some of the “lesser known” guys that might have less talent to work with in the beginning but long term could really build a competitive program. My picks would be Larry Fedora & Jim McElwain. I believe both of those coaches are good enough to bring in a decent level of talent, and make their respective programs competitive(at least within the “tier” that their program resides). Thoughts?

At that point, McElwain had just gone from offensive coordinator at Alabama to head coach at Colorado State. Three years after that he won the Mountain West’s coach of the year award. A little less than two years after that he beat LSU to take Florida back to Atlanta for the second year in a row.

Maybe I should be consulting college football programs on their head coach hiring?

In all seriousness, I love what Coach McElwain has done with the program so far and hope he continues on this upward trajectory.