Starting Matt Moore would make no difference

Dolphins fans began chanting ‘We Want Moore’ during Sunday’s embarrassing loss to the Titans. Even if the fans got their way and Matt Moore emerged as the starter over Ryan Tannehill, the results would not likely change.

After five weeks of the regular season, it’s evident that the Miami Dolphins are simply not a good football team. Dolphins fans voiced their frustrations with ‘We Want Moore’ chants during Sunday’s eventual loss to the Titans that gave Miami a 1-4 record on the season. The chants were directed at the displeasure for starting QB Ryan Tannehill, and how the fans want to see backup QB Matt Moore take over starting duties.

It’s understandable that the fans have had enough and want to see a change. The Dolphins have not yet had a winning season with Tannehill at quarterback, and with just one winning season in over a decade, Dolphins fans have grown impatient. Unfortunately, any change the Dolphins may think of making at the QB position would have little to no impact at a turnaround this season.

Matt Moore has been with Miami since the 2011 season, in which he appeared in 13 games after a season-ending injury to then starter Chad Henne. Outside of Tannehill being fully healthy, the situation now is not much different than it was five years ago. Given the play of the offensive line, it’s a miracle that Tannehill has been able to stay healthy all this time.

Everyone has their own opinion on Tannehill, but playing behind this offensive line it should be unanimous that the man can at least take a hit. Tannehill entered this season with 184 sacks against him in his career. The Titans had six alone in Sunday’s contest, bringing this season’s total to 17 through five games. Some of those can be blamed on Tannehill himself for a lack of pocket awareness and/or not throwing the ball away. Still, the Dolphins offensive line is considerably weak that any quarterback would struggle with that kind of protection.

Moore, who is now 32 years of age, has had an industrious career in the NFL dating back to his days with the Carolina Panthers. He had the opportunity to reclaim the starting position when Tannehill was a rookie in 2012, but eventually lost the battle. Moore has been Tannehill’s backup ever since, sparingly playing. Dolphins fans like to remember Moore as the guy who gave the team hope, after the team fell to an 0-7 start in 2011, but finished the season going 6-3 in the final nine games. Moore himself lost his first three starts that year, but the strong finish looked like the light at the end of the tunnel.

Moore’s impressive finish had fans actually calling for the Dolphins not to draft Tannehill with the 8th overall pick in 2012. He may very well have been the better option in 2012, but Moore is not the same player he was. If he couldn’t take the position for at least a year from Tannehill while he continued to develop, then there’s no reason to give him the starting nod now. In his few appearances from the regular season and preseason since, Moore has been far from impressive.

It would actually make more sense in this situation for the Dolphins to promote Brandon Doughty from the practice squad to see what he can do when it counts. Doughty was impressive in his first preseason game, but showed he still has a lot to learn in the remaining three preseason games after that. Starting Doughty is far from ideal, and is essentially, throwing in the towel on the season. At this point though, Miami has nothing to lose and could benefit from developing the rookie quarterback who grew up a Dolphins fan.

Don’t expect anything like that to happen though as head coach Adam Gase already assured the media in Sunday’s post-game that Tannehill would remain the starter:

“No. He’s not coming out. You can ask me 100 times, he’s going to be in there the rest of the season.”

Tannehill was part of the reason why Gase came to Miami so it’s understandable why he’s not willing to give up on him just yet. It remains to be seen if Tannehill can maintain his starting position for the rest of the season, however.

A change may be welcoming to some, but an important note is that neither Tannehill or Moore play defense. Stating the obvious with that one, but the point is that Miami would probably continue their losing ways even if a QB change was made because the Dolphins defense really is that bad. Tennessee moved up and down the field against Miami on Sunday, and it’s been a reoccurring theme all season.

Tannehill and the offense may have problems staying on the field, but the Dolphins defense has just as much trouble staying off of it. The only game the defense looked good at any point this season was in Week 1 against Seattle. But even then, the Dolphins gave up Seattle’s only touchdown of the game when they needed a stop the most. Tannehill may not be bringing any game-winning drives to the table, but the defense isn’t stopping any of them either.

The same mistakes continue to be repeated and the losses continue to mount because of it. They occurred long before Tannehill got here, and will continue to occur until they are finally addressed. There is no doubt that Tannehill deserves some of the blame. Just not all of it.

I personally don’t believe that Tannehill is the answer at quarterback for Miami, but replacing him with Moore right now will not result in more wins. Trading for another starting quarterback likely does more harm than good as well. If the Dolphins were going to make any kind of playoff push, they would need to make a complete turnaround right now. Trading assets to bring in a new quarterback that has to learn the offense on the go is not expected to net those desired results.

The losing has grown tiresome, and whether you love him or hate him, Tannehill is likely in his last season with Miami. He might be the best quarterback the Dolphins have had since Dan Marino, but he still doesn’t have a winning season under his belt and fans have grown restless. Starting Moore isn’t going to turn things around either.

Chances are Miami will continue with Tannehill as the starter for the remainder of the season as Gase declared. He gives them the best to chance to win even though that doesn’t always seem true. Moore is a fine backup to have, but he’s never been competition for Tannehill. If Tannehill has any shot of keeping his job long-term, then the Dolphins need to make a complete 180 right now.

In order to do that, Miami will have to find a way to out duel the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers this coming Sunday. The odds will be highly stacked against us. Unfortunately, the schedule doesn’t get any easier. Dolphins fans may have to accept another losing season is in the works. Tannehill’s job may be safe for now, but the future is up in the air after this year.