Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Chan Gailey has been at this for quite a while, now. Gailey has been coaching long enough to say he served as John Elway’s quarterbacks coach in the late 1980s — and here he is all these years later stepping back into a coaching role with the Miami Dolphins as a play caller. Gailey’s short-lived retirement may have recharged his batteries, but Gailey’s offense will retain a critical component with Miami in 2020 — it is going to continue to allow his players the chance to execute while simultaneously giving them the freedom to do it with their own style.
What exactly does that mean? Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick has plenty of experience playing for Gailey — and he offered some context regarding route freedom during a recent press call.
“Stevie Johnson in Buffalo was a guy that didn’t really play a whole lot and as soon as he got with Chan and Chan gave him the freedom to be creative on some of his routes and do some things that were a little unorthodox, it really catapulted his career,” said Fitzpatrick.
“So players love playing for him because he gives them freedom – a certain amount of freedom, not a whole lot.”
Gailey was asked on his press call yesterday to expand on that route freedom his offense provides — and why his offense allows receivers to be creative in the first place.
“The great receivers I’ve been fortunate to be around through my years – and I’ve been doing this for 40-something years now – they’re artists,” Gailey explained.
“They run a route and they never paint the same picture twice because of the way the defender is, because of the route they’re running, because of whatever it might – the coverage – they paint a different picture every time and if you take an artist who knows how to get open and who knows what he’s doing versus a defender and you try to fit him into a box, that’s where you make the guy less of a player than he really is. I want guys to be able to go out and be creative. I tell them, ‘you’ve got to be where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there, but how you get there – that’s up to you.’ So we give them the freedom to go get open and then we think we have talented enough quarterbacks that can see that and get them the football.”
The appeal to this style of play is that is allows receivers to do what is natural to them. By knowing the timing and knowing their objective, there can be less thinking involved and players can become more instinctive in how they attack defenders. And for the quarterback, timing should be uninterrupted because he’s working to a spot on the field to attack with the ball — not waiting for his receiver to hit a certain step or break off of his route stem.
How quickly the Dolphins will be able to create the chemistry between passer and receiver to allow this all to work without hiccups? That’s the magic question — and the variable that may end up determining the Dolphins’ early-season success in 2020.