Lazor: Tannehill has to practice at game speed

You've heard a lot about temp with this new Dolphins offense.

Players talked about today at the OTA. Get in the huddle. Get out of the huddle. That's what tempo meant today.

Eventually, the Dolphins will go no-huddle and then up-tempo will mean something -- as in trying to throw so much at the defense as to get that unit tired and into retreat mode.

The designer of this attack is offensive coordinator Bill Lazor. The player most responsible implementing it?

Quarterback Ryan Tannehill. And that is why Lazor believes Tannehill has to speed up in practice. He needs to practice at game tempo.

Eventually the other players will catch up.

Here's more from the Dolphins new offensive coordinator:

(On progression of offense) – “I feel better about it than the last time you or someone in this group asked me the question because we’ve had the chance to be on the field a little bit. The thing that was a lot different today was the fact we were able to go against the defense. A couple of things changed I think from what we were doing the last couple two or three weeks. The intensity level rose a little bit. I think what you saw was the guys struggling a little bit early on to be poised with some new coaches coming in and some new terminology, I think there was probably a little stress level and it was kind of interesting to watch them work their way through that and settle down a little bit as we went. Each guy handles that a little differently. These guys are pros, and I think most of them were really excited to get out today. All of them to me seemed really excited to get out there. There was a little excitement in their play. Now you get to see guys compete more. We did it on air the last few weeks. We are really trying to teach them the basic fundamentals. Now they’ve got to apply it to having a defender there. I thought it was a great first day. I thought the guys tried to play with great tempo. Just walking off the field, I haven’t had a chance to see a lot of the video yet, but I think some of the basic things that need to get corrected, number one, would be communication offensively. If we are not all on the same page, we’ve got a very low chance of being successful. Some of the times you saw some mistakes where we saw mistakes, we weren’t together. Who did the center call? What protection did he set? Was the quarterback together with him? Some of the calls are new for these guys. Some of the guys are new. Some people have been at it, (but) they haven’t played together before. I think we’ll get that point made real fast to them that they’ve got to get the communication ironed out right away so we are all together. But I thought the effort was great, and I was really happy with that.”

(On how he would describe the tempo of his offense) – “When you hear the word tempo being spoke about, there are probably a couple of different meanings. One of the meanings when we say tempo to our guys, we talk about from the break of the huddle until the snap of the ball. I think what you saw today, I believe you were there at practice, most of the day we were in huddle. Even when we are in a huddle, we talk about playing with a certain tempo when we break the huddle until we snap the ball. As we go forward, there will be some other times we will choose to operate a different way, and tempo will take on some other meanings. As far as the plays you saw and how fast the ball was out today, some of it is a nature of what we installed today. Day one teaching we always start by getting the hitch in. There were a couple of quick throws out to the receivers. Part of that was the nature of it, but in general our passing game the ball is going to come out on time. When number one is open, the quarterback is going to take whatever his set-drop is when the ball is coming out. If number one is one-on-one, we expect him to win so we expect to throw the football. Hopefully you see that a lot."

(On how long it takes for the talent to fit within his offense) – “How long it takes is a work in progress. It’s day-to-day. What we did today isn’t going to be good enough tomorrow. We made that clear to the players afterward. They’ve got to get better, and there is no ending point. When you ask how long does something take, that means at some point you will arrive. The mindset for them is that there is no end. We aren’t going to arrive. We are just going to keep going and keep getting better and growing. Talent-wise, I think we have what we need to be where we want to be. I feel excellent about how fast the receivers played today. There were a lot of good examples of the running backs running the ball decisively, not 100 percent. We’ll address that, but for the most part I thought we were pretty decisive with the football. I thought the quarterbacks were pretty decisive in getting the ball out. It was mentioned it seemed the ball was coming out on time. If you see them back there holding the ball or patting the ball, you will know that I’m not happy."

(On what he needs to get from Mike Pouncey with a young offensive line around him) – “Every once in a while I’ll walk through the locker room, but not that often. But I’ll see him all the time in the meeting room and I’ll see him all the time on the field. In all three of those cases, whether it is the locker room when I’m in there or on the field, I expect him to be a professional. I expect him to kind of live up to what the billing is, and the billing is a guy who was just in the Pro Bowl and a guy whose teammates, coaches and everyone in the organization looks to as a leader. So to me the bar has already been set. Mike and I walk into this professional relationship with a real clear picture. I’ve got real high standards as far as what I’m expecting from the center, and we are going to put a lot on the center on the practice field and on the game field as far as setting the tone for our offense, making calls, (and) getting everyone on the right page. One of the most exciting things for me is the day I first spoke with Mike. I spoke with him on the phone, and I laid out what I was looking for. He was very excited to do it. I think he’s taken that bull by the horns. He’s the right guy to get that done for us."

(On how the draft impacted what he wants to do with the offense) – “Well after one day on the field against the defense, I should go back (because) we had rookie camp also, a lot of time on air. I feel excellent about how we’ve addressed the offensive line. I think we’ve brought in talented guys both in free agency and the draft. It was no secret that was probably the number one most talked about issue when I got here as well as the personnel of the offense. All signs point to us having the pieces in place. How they work together, who is on the right, who is on the left, all of that stuff will get worked out. That’s why we practice. You walk onto the field today and you look at the bodies, and you all have been around. You’ve seen them. As you watch them move, you say, ‘OK these guys look the part. They move like they are supposed to move.’ Now we’ve got to get them doing it the right way.”

(On what the key was to helping Nick Foles in Philadelphia transform from a rookie to second-year Pro Bowl quarterback) – “If it was one key, it would be easy and we could bottle it and sell it, right? Each guy is different. I think that is important. I think it is important to set a standard for someone to make it very clear. I think as a coach, whether you are the position coach or directing the offense, you’ve got to do a couple of things. Number one you’ve got to be a great teacher. You’ve got to make it very clear for them, and I’ll answer specifically with the quarterback position, you have to make it very clear what you expect, not only what to do but how to do it. Number two, you have to be very demanding. Now if you are demanding but you didn’t do a good job explaining how you want it done, then you are just a jerk that kind of goes and yells all the time, right? But if you do a great job teaching it but you don’t hold them to a real high standard, then their play is only going to reach a certain level then it is going to stop. But if you can do a great job teaching what I want done, exactly how I want it done and then hold it to them every single day. There is no magic. It’s a formula, and every guy has different traits that need to be improved than others, but if the quarterback is accurate and decisive, you’ve got to feel like you can work with him, you can mold him, you can push him (and) you can take him. Sometimes it takes a pat on the back. Sometimes you have to hold his face to the fire. Every guy needs different things. You might need  different things on different days, but that’s what we are here for.”

(On where Ryan Tannehill needs to improve) – “I would say I put a lot more credence or a lot more emphasis right now on what we’ve seen on the field than studying tape. We’ve watched the tape, and we’ve watched the deep throws, the short throws, the good throws, the bad throws, and at some point we just couldn’t wait to get on the field. But as we are on the field, we started right from the very beginning with how we want them to play physically, and it’s no different than when we take my 9-year old son, and if he’s every going to be the quarterback, how we are going to start with him, playing with great fundamentals, the footwork, the pace, playing on a certain tempo. As I finished playing the practice video from today, I want to see the ball coming out on time, letting his football tell him when it’s time to throw it, and I want to see that he trusted us that this is how it all fits together. The quarterback has got to play at game speed every day in practice. The receivers will catch up to him. The quarterback has got to play at game speed, and that’s the first thing we are trying to do with Ryan from the very beginning, play at game speed every day and what does that feel like? The only way to learn it is to do it.”

(On the three wide receivers that were injured last season and how they are doing in OTAs) – “I can’t talk about where they are in the rehab process and all of that. I can tell you that I’ve seen all three of them work. They are all doing it, I think the correct term is as able, go as able as they come back. As professional players, as receivers, they’ve got to be experts on their body. They’ve got to know. Now we have a lot of professionals working on them as when to push, when to pull back, when they rest, but when they come out and put the helmet on, when they go to run a route on these fields for the quarterbacks, they’ve got to do it full-speed. I trust them. I trust it when they go out there to do it full-speed it’s because they can, and when it is a time when they can’t that they pull back. I think you probably saw Armon (Binns) more than the others in the team period today, but I hope as we go we continue to see all of them more and more. I think they are focused. When I’ve seen them work, I see guys who are eager to get out there on the field with the quarterbacks, which is what we need. We’ll all get better when we are all out there together.”