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@first paragraph: again, it's not that the structural factors working against Tannehill don't matter at all. It's that QBs have the power to show quite a bit even in bad situations. Thus is their influence over the offense. The drive stats and the individual stats tell the same story. I'm sure Tannehill not in the optimal position to succeed. He just still isn't close to CAM, which is no insult.
what?
Are you saying that because the fins are forced to lean on Tannehill, that he has more opportunity for success? Like I get that Tannehill throws more, but you're basically throwing out degree of difficulty and the effect of predictable play calling.
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Can you point me to examples of QBs who turned out to be very good, but were seriously been held back by a lack of run game? Genuine question. Can't really think of many offhand. Most still show quite a bit. (Not that Tannehill hasn't been decent individually this year, just that I'm not buying the lack of a run game seriously hampering him that much.)
I'm not really interested in researching this topic atm, but I can tell you that Rodgers' any/a dropped 2 yards from '11 to '12 after his offensive line and running game fell apart (not a dissimilar situation from Tannehill).
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He's a freak athlete who poses unique challenges to defense with his strength, speed, power, and arm. Tannehill is simply a different proposition. Defenses don't need to respect the threat of Tannehill running, whether scrambling or designed, to anywhere close to the level they're forced to respect Cam. Cam also throws an elite deep ball, though apparently that hasn't been effective through 24 attempts this season. Tannehill has good arm strength (though still probably taking Cam on pure throwing power), but hasn't, afaik, shown that same deep ability.
Yes, I've conceded that tannehill doesn't have cam's elite ability to carry the football. Cam's build and his ability to use it effectively when he has the ball in his hands is probably the biggest difference. Their arm strengths otoh are very similar. My eye test tells me Cam has the ~2nd strongest arm behind Stafford and Tannehill is in the next tier with Cutler/Rodgers/Flacco. "Good arm strength" does not do Tannehill justice. Regardless, the value of arm strength diminishes after a QB reaches a certain threshold. He can either make all the throws or he can't, and both of them obv have plenty of arm strength to spare. I do think Tannehill actually uses his arm strength to his advantage much more so than Cam, based on his willingness to attack tight windows. I don't concede that Cam has a better deep ball than Tannehill, though we probably don't have a decent enough sample size to differentiate between the two.
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Of course it is when one's rapid growth is from 25th-best QB in the league to something like 17th-best and the other's "plateau" looks something like 8th-best 8th-best 8th-best. Also, you keep ignoring the factors that haven't been in Cam's favor while embracing all that have gone against Tannehill. Newton's head coach is braindead. Newton's new offensive coordinator is an idiot, too, according to Panthers fans/his words/what I've seen. It doesn't seem at all like he's reached his ceiling of performance.
LOL gmafb. I'm well aware he's in that 2nd or 3rd tier of QBs and has been for his entire career. That doesn't mean he can't improve. He's always going to have a high floor because of his running and his effect on his team's running game. But his skill as a passer...his anticipation, his decisiveness, his feel in the pocket. He has plenty he can improve on.
Like you still haven't actually specified something that Cam has improved from year 1 to year 3. I ooh and ahh at his upside just like the rest of SE, but I don't see significant growth in his game.
His coaching certainly hasn't done him any good and it has perhaps stunted his growth, which is $ad because he has perhaps the rarest skill set itl.