Miami Dolphins wide receiver Mike Wallace did what he has done so many times before: He ran fast downfield, streaking through the Jacksonville Jaguars defense, trying to create some separation using his world-class speed to help his team make a big play.
The result was something we have seen all too frequently in the past two seasons: a rainbow pass from Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill with no pot of gold at the end. Only a harmless thump of the pigskin against the turf.
To say Wallace is frustrated with the Dolphins offense would be an understatement.
"We didn't do nothing," Wallace told reporters after the game, per Adam Beasley of The Miami Herald. "Our offense was [expletive]. We've got to do better."
The main sources of Wallace's frustration are the lack of explosive plays on offense and the lack of downfield throws in his direction. But while the offense certainly needs to create more big plays, as evidenced by Tannehill's average of 6.6 yards per pass attempt (fourth-lowest in the NFL, per Pro-Football-Reference.com), chucking it deep to Wallace isn't the answer.
Anyone who believes that to be the problem is conveniently forgetting the struggles on deep passes last season. Who could blame Dolphins coaches for avoiding the long ball after last season, when Tannehill only hit Wallace on six of 36 deep attempts?
He caught a long pass against the Jaguars, netting 50 yards in the process, but that was not enough to sate his hunger for the long ball.
"That's what I do; I'm built for that,” Wallace said. "I'm not excited about [catching a deep pass Sunday]. That's what I do."
But that's not been what he's done since joining the Dolphins. And if you look at Wallace's statistics thus far, he's on pace for similar numbers to those he posted last year, despite roughly 13 fewer deep attempts in his direction.
Thus, it's easy to understand why Dolphins coaches would have their doubts about having Tannehill chuck it deep to Wallace on a consistent basis. Some folks may rally behind the idea that a few deep shots a game should be in order, if only to potentially get a pass interference call, but Tannehill simply hasn't been accurate enough on those throws to warrant such considerations.
Since entering the NFL, he has hit on only 43 of 138 passes that traveled 20 yards or more.
Tannehill's deep accuracy issues are evidence that the problem isn't the lack of deep attempts. The deeper problem is Tannehill's inability to take advantage of the routes Wallace is running by hitting him with accurate short and intermediate throws.
Here, we see Wallace running a dig route on 1st-and-10 with 8:01 left in the second quarter against the Green Bay Packers. There's an old adage for quarterbacks throwing a timing pattern in the NFL: "If you wait, you're late." That certainly applied here.
If Tannehill had thrown the pass at this moment, he would have hit Wallace at the left hash mark and given him room to run.
Instead, Tannehill waited for Wallace to clear the underneath linebacker, who was in zone coverage and wasn't going to funnel across the field with Wallace. That hesitation allowed Packers safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix to read and react to the route, coming downhill to put a hit on Wallace that forced the incomplete pass.
On 2nd-and-5 with 3:18 left in the second quarter against the Chicago Bears, Wallace lined up on the offense's right and ran a short curl pattern. The Bears cornerback, in a show of respect for Wallace's speed, gave him plenty of cushion off the line of scrimmage to get a free release. With the extra space, this was an easy pitch-and-catch for Tannehill and Wallace.
The only problem was, Tannehill made it more difficult than it had to be.
A low pass forced Wallace to go down to his knees to make the catch and prevented Wallace from getting any yards after the catch.
Perhaps the Dolphins should try to get Wallace involved more on screen passes, which would allow him to use his trademark long speed without exposing Tannehill's inability to consistently deliver accurate deep passes.
The Dolphins have carved out a nice role for Wallace as a possession receiver, not because they don't like his speed, but because that's what Tannehill can do successfully. There's no reason the Dolphins should feel sorry for how they have used Wallace.
Maybe another deep attempt or two per game would make a small difference, but the only thing that needs to dramatically change about the Dolphins offense is Tannehill's consistently inconsistent play.
Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained via team news release and all stats obtained via Pro Football Focus (subscription required).
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