Let the QB battle begin
Now that Ryan Tannehill has signed his four year contract, which appears to have included the ‘offset language,’ football gambling fans can enjoy the three horse race, which will decide the Miami Dolphins starting QB. Unfortunately for phins news fans there is no Secretariat in the trio, but at least there are competent thoroughbreds that can compete in the race.
Ryan Tannehill is probably a distant third in the bunch, largely because of his limited amount of experience at the Quarterback position. This year phins fans will probably see his wife Lauren Tannehill more on camera than RT. (You have to like that his wife’s initials are LT.) Phin fans should get used to seeing Ryan holding a clip board and wearing a head piece this year, because unless the Dolphins go 0-10 to start the season, there is not much of a reason, or way for him to leap frog over Matt Moore and David Garrad. Usually I am all for having a rookie QB get on the field as quick as possible, because nothing beats real time game experience. However, in RT’s situation it would be best for him to ride the pine, and just learn what it takes to be a professional this season. The one thing that can not be argued, is the fact that RT is a superb athlete. Over the course of his 4 year college career he started out as a wide receiver, and a pretty good one at that, catching 112 balls, for 1596 yards and 10 touchdowns. Quarterbacks must be on the same page as their receivers in order to be successful in this league, and it is definitely a positive that RT has the mental ability to think like a receiver, since he was one.
The harder part of this three horse race is distinguishing the starter from the back up. At the moment media outlets are saying David Garrard has the slight edge. To be honest I think both are serviceable, and either player will probably produce similar results. Competition breeds performance, and no matter who wins the battle both players will benefit. Personally, I thought Matt Moore played decent last season, and he definitely has a nice touch on some long balls, which was something that was lacking with the infamous Chad Henne. It would be nice to see Moore have a full year as the starter, to see if he can build off of a productive 2011 campaign where he had a 60.5 competition percentage, 2497 yards passing and 16 touchdowns. He also has the respect of his teammates, with multiple players in the past stating how they enjoy his fierce competitive tenacity.
David Garrard clearly has more experience and a more productive career then his counterparts, but his year off from back surgery is a huge question mark, to whether he can be the same player he was in the past. The thing is, when looking at his career statistics by season, there is nothing spectacular about them. It probably doesn’t help that he played for a mediocre Jacksonville Jaguar team. The one thing that is alarming about Garrard is that he tends to throw his fair share of picks.
NFL Football betting fans probably have Garrard as the slight favorite, but Matt Moore has my backing in this race. How about the rest of phins news nation, who do you think will win the starting spot, and who do you want to win?
