After completely giving away the momentum from a Week 1 win over New England with two terrible losses, Dolphins coach Joe Philbin had to know the heat was going to start coming on him.
And nothing in the NFL – outside of something in a more serious realm – consumes attention like a quarterback controversy. So the Dolphins created one.
What turned this week's drama into a total fiasco, in which the media speculated that Ryan Tannehill was close to losing his job, was that nobody believed it. Tannehill hasn't been very good yet this season, but he wasn't losing his job to Matt Moore. Everyone knew that, and it was no surprise when Tannehill took all the starter's reps in practice and the players seemed genuinely baffled by the whole thing. But hey, nobody was talking about Philbin and his job security and how defensive players were very unhappy with the game plan against Kansas City, right?
I don't know that Philbin was the root of the made-up controversy. But he did nothing to put a rest to it either, speaking ambiguously all week about who would be the quarterback and never putting an end to it. And then Philbin apologized for the whole thing on Thursday, which is even stranger.
“The function of the head coach is to create an atmosphere free from distractions,” Philbin said, via Chris Perkins of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, “and to the degree that I contributed to any of those distractions, intended or not, doesn’t really matter. That falls on me. It’s my responsibility. So certainly I accept that responsibility as the head coach."
OK, Joe. Sure. And when the third-year quarterback is the most rational voice on the situation, more than the head coach and leader, you know there's a problem.
"Obviously, it doesn't feel good," Tannehill said of not getting Philbin's public support as the starter, via the Sun-Sentinel. "It creates a bunch of stir and a bunch of distraction in the locker room, mostly from the outside coming in, and guys having to deal with the distraction of it. So it's not a good feeling, but he's been clear with me and I know where I stand."
There are three reasonable explanations here, and none reflect well on Philbin. First is that he really considered benching Tannehill, making Tannehill a scapegoat for the team's failures when he doesn't deserve it. Or perhaps Philbin didn't really realize what his non-answers would create, which is pretty inexcusable for a leader of a football team. He undermined his young quarterback, which is a terrible move whether malicious or not. The other explanation is that Philbin either started the controversy or saw what was happening and never stopped it because hey, better Tannehill get the heat than him, right?
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No matter, it's pretty clear that Philbin better figure out things, and fast. You can't throw gas on a quarterback fire every week to keep the attention off your own shortcomings.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
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