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Another narrative that has taken off like wild fire and needs to be hosed down . . .
Ryan Tannehill is in the AFC Championship Game as the Tennessee Titans quarterback.
Adam Gase had him in Miami from 2016-18 and those teams were somewhat mediocre.
So that is leading to headlines like this in the New York Post – “Ryan Tannehill’s run causing more grumblings about Adam Gase.”
And they have plenty of company.
Hey, I’m no special pleader for Gase, but I think this whole angle is balderdash and poppycock.
First of all, he only played half of the Dolphins’ games when Gase was coaching Miami – 24 out of possible 48 – due to injuries.
So that in itself should through a monkey wrench into this whole argument that Gase didn’t get enough out of Tannehill in Miami.
And as I’ve said before, and this probably isn’t a popular opinion, but I actually think when Gase helped Tannehill on the field, helped his maturation process, and that has helped Tennessee this year.
Gase coached Tannehill hard in Miami, when he had him, and that tutorial is probably benefitting the Titans this year.
Look, I understand there are a lot of questions about Adam Gase as a head coach, and rightfully so, but his ability to coach quarterbacks shouldn’t be one of the question marks.
The man can coach quarterbacks.
Whether he can be a top-shelf NFL head coach, the jury is still out.
Another foolish narrative that took off during the season was that Sam Darnold took a step back under Gase.
Man, that is a stretch.
You can criticize Gase for a number of things, but his development of Darnold shouldn’t be one of them
Gase did a pretty solid job on this front, and the QB clearly improved down the stretch. He still has a lot of work to do, but he definitely didn’t regress under Gase.
Actually, in some of Darnold better games over the second half of the season, Gase did a terrific job of dialing up ideal first reads and the QB connected on them.
That is what good quarterback coaches/OC/play-callers do for their young quarterbacks, they make them game easier for them, with great first options.
As we have pointed out many times, Darnold needs to improve his ability to go through his progressive scan – one, two, three, check-down.
Too often he tends to lock on his first read, and telegraphs passes to that target, which is a common problem for young quarterbacks.
And we can never lose site of the fact that Darnold is still only 22-YEARS-OLD. He is still SO young. He got mono for goodness sake. Darnold is still a pup. The arrow is pointing up on this player.
In closing, I’m sorry, I just can’t get into this criticism of Gase related to Tannehill or Darnold
If you want to criticize Gase over some of his personnel decisions – fine (but that has now been taken away from him, so you have little to worry about). If you want to criticize him for some of his in-game decisions, like not going for it on fourth-down on the Jets’ first series in Buffalo, and deciding to kick a 51-yard field goal in the rain. That is fine.
But spare me with QB development stuff. That’s right in his wheelhouse.
January 13, 2020
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