Miami Dolphin Talk

By Brian Biggane Palm Beach Post

MIAMI GARDENS — Brian Hartline was easily the Dolphins’ leading receiver Sunday, with five receptions for 84 yards. But three errant Ryan Tannehill passes to Hartline prompted frustration.

“Against a team like this,” coach Joe Philbin said after the Dolphins were able to muster only one touchdown in a 23-16 loss to New England, “you’ve got to make those plays.”

Tannehill had a less-than-memorable first outing in what figures to be many head-to-head matchups with Tom Brady, completing just 13 of 29 passes for 186 yards while being sacked three times and fumbling once.

“We left a lot of things out there,” said Tannehill, who ran 2 yards in the second quarter for Miami’s touchdown.

“Coach says all the time, you’ve got to make the plays that are there. We battled, we hung in there, but it’s got to be consistent, it’s got to be four quarters, executing to the end.”

The Patriots’ Aqib Talib was assigned to cover Hartline, and the cornerback’s over-aggressive approach left him several steps behind when Hartline took off down the middle of the field midway through the first quarter. But Tannehill’s throw sailed over Hartline’s head and off his fingertips, and what seemed a sure touchdown that would have tied the score at 7 fell incomplete.

“I just overthrew it; it was a bad throw,” Tannehill said. “You’ve got to hit those; you don’t get many shots like that.”

“It’s tough,” Hartline said. “We’ll have to go back and look at it and adjust, see what I can do for him, because he’s got a lot going on.”

The Dolphins were again within a touchdown, this time at 17-10, in what proved to be a scoreless third quarter when Hartline came open again, this time down the right sideline. Tannehill’s throw wasn’t close, winding up several yards out of bounds.

“It was designed to be a hook (and) up,” Tannehill said. “I looked off the safety and set my feet to throw short (and) he stuck his hand up and went deep. I just didn’t get enough on it.”

Then, in the fourth quarter, Miami had a second-and-4 from the New England 7 when Hartline again beat Talib on a slant over the middle. But Tannehill’s throw was a split-second late and Hartline couldn’t get his feet down inside the back of the end zone. Tannehill was sacked on the next play and the Dolphins had to settle for a field goal that made it 20-13.

“It was a (defensive) look we weren’t prepared for,” Hartline said. “It threw me off a little bit and I think it threw him off a little bit, too. Just a little hesitation. We ran out of space in the back of the end zone.”

The Dolphins got inside the Patriots’ 35 on four occasions but three times settled for field goals.

“That’s a huge difference in the game,” Hartline said. “Seven points was the difference, and (our) defense was making them kick field goals. So if we could have taken four more points every score it would have been a different outcome.”

The one drive that did end up in the end zone turned out to be a case of Tannehill calling his own number. The initial play call on second-and-goal from the 2 was a Daniel Thomas run up the middle, but Tannehill faked a handoff and took off on a naked bootleg around left end. He leaped and was flipped into the air by cornerback Alfonzo Dennard at the goal line, but landed in the end zone for the second rushing TD of his career.

“It was a read play, so I had the option,” Tannehill said. “I thought I could get in and hold the ball.”

Asked what he was thinking when he was flying through the air, he replied, “Touchdown. I knew I got in, and I was pumped at that point.”

Tannehill also took hard hits on the four occasions he escaped pressure by scrambling, none harder than when cornerback Kyle Arrington blasted him at the sideline on a 4-yard run in the fourth quarter.

“He’s doing a better job (of extending plays),” Philbin said. “But obviously we have to educate him on when to slide, when not to, when to take a hit, when not to.”

Tannehill’s 66.2 passer rating was only his seventh-best of the season, but something he would likely have accepted if not for a few poor throws.

“We just didn’t hit the shots that were there,” he said. “The early one to Hartline, I’m still kicking myself. You have to make that throw.”