Miami Dolphins, Ryan Tannehill Face Familiar Questions Entering 2016

It hasn't been the season the Miami Dolphins expected.

The Dolphins were supposed to be contending for the AFC East and maybe even the AFC as a whole. Ndamukong Suh's arrival and a plethora of new additions to the offense were supposed to elevate the consistency and overall quality of the team on the field each week.

Instead, Joe Philbin managed to dismantle all hope and expectation before being fired early in the year. Even though it wasn't the season the Dolphins expected, it can't have been one that surprised them. Too often over the past 20 years the Dolphins have endured some variation of this disappointment.

Because of that disappointment, the franchise will enter this offseason set to rebuild all over again. A new head coach is obviously required. Whoever the franchise hires will have to work with Suh and quarterback Ryan Tannehill, both foundation pieces who are locked in to long-term contracts.

Suh is a great player. Few would question that even though the Dolphins defense was terrible with him on the field this year.

Football Outsiders' DVOA metric that measures efficiency on a snap-by-snap basis ranked the Dolphins defense as the 28th best in NFL entering Week 16. The unit has given up 25.8 points per game (26th in the league) and 396.8 yards per game (30th). 

Individually, Suh has been an effective player this year. His impact has been extremely limited because the linebackers behind him have proven incapable of taking advantage of the space he creates. Pro Football Focus rated Suh as the Dolphins' best defender this year and as the third-best defensive tackle in the league.

While there is some debate over Suh's contract, it is widely agreed upon that he is a quality football player. The same can't be said for Tannehill.

The Dolphins starting quarterback is coming to the end of his fourth season in the NFL. He has thrown 2,172 passes for 14,781 yards, 85 touchdowns and 53 interceptions while averaging 6.8 yards per attempt and a 61.7 percent completion rate. 

After his third year, Tannehill's production reflected that of a quality starting quarterback in the NFL.

He threw the ball 590 times, completing 66.4 percent of those passes for 4,045 yards, 27 touchdowns and 12 interceptions despite being sacked 46 times. He also ran the ball 56 times for 311 yards and one touchdown.

Tannehill managed to put up those numbers with a limited supporting cast. Injuries depleted an already limited offensive line, and his receivers consistently struggled to get open or win at the catch point.

The quarterback was supposed to take another step forward in his development during his fourth season. The Dolphins drafted DeVante Parker while trading for Kenny Stills and signing Greg Jennings and Jordan Cameron, creating an impressive mix of youth and experience, along with an apparent upgrade in talent.

Stills and Parker barely played through the first half of the season. Both entered the season injured. Jennings couldn't beat out Rishard Matthews and his legs appear to be gone at this stage of his career, while Cameron's consistency dropped from what it had been in previous years.

Despite those issues, the Dolphins receiving corps as a whole had improved. The problem wasn't the receiving corps or Tannehill; it was, once again, the offensive line.

There shouldn't be questions about Tannehill's future in Miami. His performances have been good enough for the Dolphins to bring in a head coach who is specifically asked to build around the young starter. What needs to change is what needed to change last season: Tannehill needs better pass protection.

When the Dolphins were investing in Suh and adding more receivers, they completely ignored their offensive line. They didn't address their primary weaknesses on both sides of the ball, instead trusting the development of their younger players.

Younger players who have never shown enough to be trusted to develop.

According to Pro Football Focus, Tannehill was pressured on 40.3 percent of his dropbacks entering Week 16. That is the fifth-highest rate of all qualifying starters, and only the top five are pressured on more than 38.3 percent of their snaps.

Bill Lazor's offense incorporated a lot of quick throws. The Dolphins offensive line wasn't being asked to protect Tannehill for long dropbacks on slow-developing plays. Tannehill ranked in the top 10 for throws of 2.5 seconds or less, while averaging 2.56 seconds to throw, which is much closer to the fastest release (Peyton Manning's 2.31) than the slowest (Tyrod Taylor's 3.21).

Through 15 games this season, Tannehill has been sacked 44 times. He has been sacked 183 times over his career, 2.9 times per game.

In Week 16, the Dolphins played a team that has struggled to rush the passer all year. The Indianapolis Colts were able to sack Tannehill on six occasions. The offense as a whole was stagnant for most of the game, but Tannehill had orchestrated two excellent drives late to mount a comeback.

That comeback was ended by a sack that came when the Dolphins offensive line failed to understand the quarterback's cadence. Only the center understood when to snap the ball while the remaining four linemen watched as multiple defenders advanced on the quarterback in the pocket unopposed.

Tannehill never had a chance to release the ball, but this sack wasn't even the biggest indictment of the offensive line from that drive.

Credit: NFL.com

Having scored a field goal on the previous drive, the Dolphins forced the Colts to punt the ball back to them with only a six-point lead. The Dolphins began the drive on their own 20-yard line and came out with an aggressive, passing formation.

On the previous drive, Tannehill had thrown eight passes for 78 yards because he was given enough time to function.

Credit: NFL.com

Because of the play of starting left guard Dallas Thomas, Tannehill doesn't have time to function on this play. As the quarterback gets to the top of his short drop, Thomas is already sitting on the ground. T.Y. McGill had easily knocked Thomas to the ground with his power in one quick movement.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the line, right tackle Jason Fox had been badly beaten by a spin move. That defender was waiting to take Tannehill down even if he had escaped the first rusher.

There is a line of thinking that suggests sacks are a quarterback stat. The implication is that the quarterback controls how often he is sacked by getting rid of the ball quickly. That logic is poor because it doesn't consider the nuance of each play and differences in every scheme, as well as the quality of the supporting cast.

On this play, Tannehill didn't have a realistic chance of releasing the ball to an open receiver without risking a turnover. Even a quarterback with a quicker release wouldn't have had a smart throw to attempt on this play. There isn't always a way for quarterbacks to avoid sacks, especially when they play behind extremely ineffective offensive lines.

If the Dolphins want to contend in the AFC, they're going to need their quarterback to be at his best. To get him to that point, he needs to have a functional offensive line.

Even the superstar quarterbacks in the NFL need a functional offensive line to be productive. The first point made when Tom Brady struggles is always about the quality of his protection. Aaron Rodgers' whole season has been a case study in the importance of a quarterback's supporting cast.

Adding big names to flashy positions isn't what roster building is about. It's about building on weak spots to prop up the strengths you already possess.

Unfortunately, Mike Tannenbaum has a history of going for the flashier move rather than the smarter one, so the Dolphins may be doomed to repeat their mistakes. If that is what happens, then we can at least avoid elevating our expectations this time around.