Joe Philbin creates a quarterback controversy in ten minutes

Written by Matthew Cannata | Twitter: @PhinManiacs
It’s amazing what kind of power words and social media has on the world. In just ten minutes, Miami Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin created a quarterback controversy by refusing to throw his support behind Ryan Tannehill and instead, dodging the question by repeatedly saying that the team will play its best 46 players, regardless of who they are. When those remarks hit Twitter, every national sports media outlet picked up on it within 20 minutes and the Dolphins are now dealing with this attention that wasn’t needed or wanted.

“We still have to remember we are 1-2 and this is a long season. We have to play better. I think the film says that and that’s what the plan is for this week. We have to play better and we have to get better quick. We are going to get our 46 best players to the game and we are going to utilize them the best way possible.”

Philbin did note that Tannehill has slowly improved and said that it’s still too early to draw conclusions about what kind of player he will ultimately be. He did hint though that he wasn’t happy with the fact that he is failing to push the ball down the field with the rest of the offense.

“His first year was his first year. His second year there was improvement in a variety of statistical categories if you are just looking at a piece of paper, and we are three games into this season. So I think it’s a little bit early to draw conclusions as to where he is in his third year,” Philbin said. “I would tell you offensively we have to score more points. We talked about it as an offensive staff. I think we had a touchdown drive, was it a 19-yard touchdown drive yesterday? That’s the only one in the game. It’s hard to win games in this league when that’s the only touchdown drive you put together is a 19-yard drive consistently. We missed a field goal. We had opportunities, so I wouldn’t draw too many conclusions about that. I thought he threw the ball much better in the first half yesterday and I thought he threw the ball better overall than he did in the week before.”

Before the press conference had ended, a reporter had given Philbin one more chance to clarify himself and one more chance to throw all of his support behind the current starting quarterback of team. Philbin didn’t budge and instead answered with the same type of response he had given before.

“We’re going to start our game plan for Oakland when I leave here and we’re going to decide what 46 players are going and how best to utilize them.”

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