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Adam Gase: The NFL is a dink-and-dunk league[
www.nfl.com]
Miami Dolphins new coach Adam Gase will run the offense that best suits his personnel, despite the catcalls for more deep throws.
When asked about an offense that throughout training camp has been a series of mostly dump-offs, screens, and short-to-intermediate routes, Gase was adamant that he’s comfortable with an offense that exploits the horizontal aspect of the field more than the vertical.
“I’m fine with it. I’m the one scripting the plays, calling the plays,” he said Wednesday, per the Miami Herald. “I’ve had a little success with what we do. There’s a time and a place. There’s also a time and a place not to get sacked 60 times in a year, too.”
With questions on the offensive line, a quarterback in Ryan Tannehill who doesn’t own the most precise deep ball and superior intermediate route runners in Jarvis Landry and DeVante Parker, it’s logical Gase would stick with the shorter passing game.
The new coach earned his current gig in no small part because of his adaptability. The 38-year-old was the quarterbacks coach in Denver during the Tim Tebow experiment. As an offensive coordinator, he helped construct an offense that worked with Peyton Manning’s deteriorating arm strength. Perhaps most notably, Gase turned Jay Cutler into a game-managing quarterback last season, mainly with quick routes that got the ball out of the enigmatic passer’s hands quickly.
Gase’s game plan in Miami not only has to do with his own personnel, but how he views the entire NFL.
“The whole league is 10 yards and under. That’s what it is. Nobody is going down the field. There’s one team that does it really, maybe two. Pittsburgh and Arizona. Hold onto the ball and they chuck it down the field,” he said. “More teams than not, it’s 10 yards and under. That’s where all the passing game is. The D-ends are too good. If you want to stand back there and have your quarterbacks get your brains beat out, go at it.”
Gase isn’t wrong.
[zn note: this is where I think the author gets off base. YPA is not the only guide to this and in fact it's not a very good one. IMO it's percentage of attempts thrown in longer ranges.]The top five quarterbacks in yards per attempt in 2015 were Carson Palmer (8.7 YPA), Andy Dalton (8.4), Ben Roethlisberger (8.4), Russell Wilson (8.3) and Tyrod Taylor (8.0), per Pro Football Reference. Palmer’s 2015 season ranks 50th all time and nowhere near Sid Luckman’s top YPA of 10.9 in 1943. The likes of Tom Brady and Philip Rivers have made an art out of dicing up defenses with a diverse set of quick passes.
The NFL has gone from mad bomber to cerebral carver.
Among the top yards per attempt seasons in NFL history, Aaron Rodgers’ 2011 average of 9.2 is the only one this decade in the top 20 (T-15). For reference, Nick Foles’ magical — and aberrational — 2013 season ranks 23rd all time at 9.1 YPA, second only to 2011 Rodgers this decade (fourth-highest this millennium).
So, when you see the Dolphins’ offense sticking to the quick passing game, it’s not just Tannehill or Gase who are pro-dink and dunk. It’s the overwhelming majority of the NFL, including notable Super Bowl champs.
