7 KEY QUESTIONS THAT WILL DETERMINE THE OUTCOME OF THE 2020-21 SEASON PART 4

BY ADAM GREENE

Ryan Tannehill was on his way to a solid career with the Miami Dolphins when the injury bug struck. He had played well under the head coach that drafted him, Joe Philbin, but Philbin’s Dolphins teams were mediocre. Tannehill alone couldn’t push them past consecutive 8-8 seasons.

Enter new head coach Adam Gase, now much maligned (and undeservedly so) and it immediately paid dividends in 2016. Tannehill was having the best season of his life, completing a then career-high 67.1 percent of his passes and leading Miami to an 8-5 start, only to get injured and miss not only the rest of the season, but the Dolphins’ playoff run as well.

His 2017? Injured and lost for the year in the preseason. His 2018, A 5-6 start and injured again, missing the last five games of the season. The team finished 7-9, but if Tannehill was playing, it’s a solid bet they wouldn’t have lost to a 6-10 Buffalo Bills team and a 5-11 Jacksonville Jaguars team. With Tannehill in the line up, they would have been, at worst, 9-7. They would have missed the playoffs, but Gase would probably still be the head coach and Tannehill the QB.

But, of course, that didn’t happen. After four full and healthy seasons to open his career, Tannehill was hurt three years in a row and Miami had seen enough of him and Gase, shipping them both out. Gase was hired by the New York Jets and Tannehill was traded to the Tennessee Titans for a sixth round pick.

We all know what happened after that. Tannehill took over for a faltering Marcus Mariota six games into the season and helped the Titans make it all the way to the AFC Championship game, where they were toppled by the eventual Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs.

But it was just 10 games. And while he was healthy throughout that run, he still hasn’t played a full season since 2015.

If the Titans are going to make another run, they need to answer the question…

4. Can Ryan Tannehill stay healthy?

First off, let’s talk about the Tennessee offense and the fact that they smartly settled their contract issues with running back Derrick Henry before it even got close to the danger zone. Henry led the league in rushing yards (1,540), yards per game (102.7) and carries (303). In spite of that ridiculous workload, he averaged 5.1 yards per carry and contributed 18 catches for 206 yards and two touchdowns in the passing games. He was, unquestionably, the team’s offensive MVP and keeping him running and happy will help Tannehill stay upright.

They took no chances with Tannehill hitting the free agent market even before that, signing him to a four-year, $118 million contract extension.

They spent their money the previous year to upgrade their offensive line, which obviously worked out pretty well and arguably stole the best wide receiver in the 2019 draft when they nabbed A.J. Brown out of Ole Miss in the second round.

The offensive weapons are there as is the protection for Tannehill to thrive. But he has to be careful too. The injury he suffered in the 2017 preseason was on a scramble in practice. Tannehill is actually freakishly athletic. He was originally recruited at Texas A&M to play wide receiver. The dude can run and do it with power. That’s just instinctual, but he can’t do that anymore. He has to be careful. How much of that the Titans want to tame down is up to them, but if they can keep him from running full bore in practice and trying to truck safeties in games, it’ll go a long way to keeping him on the field and their Super Bowl hopes alive.

Currently Tennessee is at +14000 to win the AFC Championship and +2800 to win the Super Bowl. Tannehill is +8000 to take the NFL’s MVP award.

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