The success of the Miami Dolphins' season will likely ride on the arm of Ryan Tannehill and whether or not he can improve the passing game. In the win over the Baltimore Ravens, the offense recorded just 86 yards in the passing game while Lamar Miller had to carry the unit for the game. Preparing to face the New York Giants, another weak passing performance will not get the Dolphins the win as the fantasy values of players like Jarvis Landry and DeVante Parker could drop as a result.
According to ESPN's James Walker, Rishard Matthews has not returned to practice and Parker is expected to get the start alongside Landry. Parker has been a bright spot for the Dolphins with two touchdowns in the past two games. The rookie is looking the potential next top receiving threat for the Dolphins which is a good thing if Tannehill can take advantage of it. For Parker's part, he told the media that he was confident he could begin to produce once he was fully healthy following foot surgery in the preseason.
"I'm fitting in pretty good, just playing how I should be, playing physical," Parker said, via the Palm Beach Post. "Whenever the ball is in the air, I just have the mentality that it's mine, knowing I'm going to get it. That's what I'm bringing."
While the Dolphins are getting good numbers from their rookies, they need Tannehill to take better advantage of it. The quarterback has been hot and cold this season with passing and Week 13 was a cold game. Tannehill had 86 yards spread to seven different players. Parker led the way with three catches for 63 yards while Landry had just two catches for five yards. It was not the ideal performance from a quarterback who is supposed to be the franchise star. Without Matthews, Tannehill is down a playmaker and must improve against the Giants.
"I knew that that type of game was the one that we needed to win that game," head coach Dan Campbell said, via the Palm Beach Post. "I was very confident in our defense and they played the way that I thought they would play. And offensively we did what we had to do. Certainly most games if you're throwing for 86 yards you're hoping you get three touchdowns out of those 86. But we'll be better in the pass game. And we'll complement the run game much better than we did yesterday. You would like to have a higher completion percentage. So when we do throw it we need to connect on those and you would hope those would be explosive plays as well."
Campbell is simply happy the run game was there to pick up the slack. Miller along with Jay Ajayi carried the load well and will hope to do the same thing against New York. If Tannehill has another tough day through the air, the Dolphins will do much more handing off leaving Landry and Parker hanging.
