Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill played well against the Buccaneers on Friday. But he can’t let it go to his head.
"He has steadily gotten better on decisions he makes," offensive coordinator Mike Sherman told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. "Any mistakes he has made early are probably overconfidence to make every throw on the field. I’ve been a part of that before, and it’s just a lot of confidence in your ability; you don’t want to take that away, but we have to minimize the risk factor. I think he’s done that and he’s minimized his mistakes."
The rookie and eighth-overall selection in April’s draft didn’t appear to make many mistakes in a 20-7 loss to Tampa Bay when he completed 14 of 21 passes for 167 yards and a touchdown. But most of those stats came against backups.
However, with an injury to QB David Garrard who was listed atop the depth chart last month, Tannehill and incumbent Matt Moore have split reps with the first-team offense during practice. It is unknown who will start against Carolina on Friday, only that Garrard is out two to four weeks with his knee injury and coach Joe Philbin hasn’t ruled out starting the rookie.
“We’ll just have to trust the gut; my gut instinct, Mike Sherman’s, the staff, everybody,” Philbin said. “We’ll see how it unfolds. At that time, if there are no differences statistically, if it looks even and production is even, then I think we’ll have to go with a gut instinct on who can lead the team and give us the best chance to win.”
Catching on: The release of receiver Chad Johnson could become a big problem for the Dolphins.
Let’s not even discuss if the decision to cut Johnson is having an impact on morale or dividing the locker room -- it puts a huge dent into an already thin position. Legedu Naanee and Davone Bess are projected to be the starters, but Naanee is more of a special-teams ace and Bess is coming off the worst year of his career and much better in the slot than he is split wide. Meantime, Brian Hartline has yet to practice as he is recovering from a calf injury.
Marlon Moore and Julius Pruitt are expected to come next, followed by Roberto Wallace and B.J. Cunningham. But none of the players had coaches very happy on Monday during the first practice after Johnson’s release.
“I wish we caught the ball a little better this morning, it appears,” Philbin said. “Some of them aren’t as well known, and maybe don’t have a history of production, but at some point you’ve got to have faith in people. I’m confident that we’re going to get good receiving play here.
For more up-to-the-minute news and analysis on the Miami Dolphins from blogger Dave Carey, follow @CBSSportsNFLMIA.
