Ryan Tannehill says that the offense still has emphasis on deep ball

Written by Matthew Cannata | Twitter: @PhinManiacs
Despite the actual lack of deep balls throughout each game the Miami Dolphins play, quarterback Ryan Tannehill says that they still put an emphasis on the deep ball but things just haven't worked out the way they have been called in the huddle.

“Yeah, that’s been a point of emphasis. It’s just a matter of having the whole thing play out with protection, the route, the throw. It’s a full unit thing and all the pieces have to work together in order for us to get the end result that we want. That will definitely be an emphasis as we hit this last stretch of our season.”

Earlier in the season, there were more deep passes called than the last few weeks but Tannehill says that he doesn't know why that is or whether or not the calls will increase as the season goes on.

"It is what it is. It’s something that we want to expand on. We want to have an explosive touchdown where you can have a one-play drive and hit a deep one and call it a day. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you get into the end zone as long as you get there. So we definitely want to work on that and hit those deep passes or an explosive run. But at the same time, we just want to get to the end zone no matter how we get there.”

When a long pass is called and when Tannehill misses on it, such as the deep throw to Mike Wallace in the game against the Buffalo Bills, how does he correct it and does he dwell on it throughout the remainder of the game?

“You definitely look at the plays you do well and the plays you didn’t do well in and look at the things. What made you mess up the play. Was it footwork? Was it just not anticipating the throw? Was it a bad strike point? Whatever it may be, you look at the things that kept you from making the play so that when it comes up again. Yeah, I was upset at myself. It was a big opportunity for us at the situation of the game to go up another score. He’s wide open. He couldn’t have run a better route and I didn’t get him the ball. Just as a competitor, I wanted to get him the ball, but you learn from it and you move on. You are ready to hit it the next time it comes up.”

It's evident that the Dolphins have been thriving on short and intermediate passes and should continue to do so while mixing in a deep pass here and there. They have found success moving the chains that way and shouldn't try to fix things that are broke. We'll see how it shakes out from here starting on Sunday against the Denver Broncos.

---