Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross says he will retain 39-year-old head coach Adam Gase.
Right, move.
Boring, but it's the correct call.
Welcome to the Miami Sports Weekly Rundown, I'm David Baumann.
It's never really a GREAT thing when your owner has to peek his head out of his castle to announce that he's retaining the head coach of a 6-10 team.
Ross said he'll also retain executive VP of football operations Mike Tannenbaum and general manager Chris Grier.
"Adam (Gase) is really a good football guy and I believe in him," Ross told the media following the Dolphins 22-16 season-ending loss to the Buffalo Bills.
"He is as disappointed as I am. I talk to him a lot. I think he recognizes we got to make adjustments and we will."
There are holes all over the roster, but the main adjustment will be at quarterback.
And that's the key reason Gase will return for a third season in 2018.
You see, Gase was brought to Miami in the first place so he could work with Ryan Tannehill.
The hope was that Gase would have the same success with Tannehill that he had with Peyton Manning in Denver.
And they did have a fine year together in 2016, which led to Miami's first postseason berth since 2008.
Tannehill's 93.5 quarterback rating in 2016 was the best single-season mark of his career.
So when Tannehill went down to a season-ending knee injury (and surgery) this past August, the 2017 season was over right then and there.
Lucky for Gase, no matter what happened from then on out mattered!
You might be thinking... Wasn't Jay Cutler brought in one a one-year, $10M deal in order to potentially save this season?
Come on... You knew Cutler was never going to cut it.
Cutler ended up playing sub-Jay-Cutler-football.
19 touchdowns, 14 interceptions, and a career-low 6.21 yards per pass. His 80.8 QB rating was his third worst single-season rating of his 12 NFL seasons.
He was OK at times. He was terrible at times. Surprise, surprise.
Beyond the quarterback position, things derailed everywhere.
It started with veteran linebacker Lawrence Timmons, who signed a two-year deal for $12M ($11M guaranteed), but then went AWOL in September. He'd eventually return to the team but didn't force a single turnover for the first time in his entire career. His 84 tackles were his lowest output since 2009.
Then in early October, a bizarre video surfaced of offensive line coach Chris Foerster snorting cocaine on the team premises. He'd immediately resign.
In late October, the Dolphins traded veteran running back Jay Ajayi, arguably the team's biggest playmaker, to the Philadelphia Eagles.
A bunch of key players underperformed.
For example, DeVante Parker, who was expected to have a "gigantic" season (not my words, those were the words of offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen), had a miserable year. Sure, he was banged up at times, but this former 1st-round pick might just simply be a bust.
The team was laughably undisciplined.
8.6 penalties per game ranked 31st in the NFL.
Then there were outbursts.
Receiver Jarvis Landry was seen yelling back-and-forth with Gase during the team's loss at Kansas City in late December.
Miami Sports Weekly Rundown: Miami Dolphins Coach Gase Gets Greenlight For Another Season
And running back Kenyan Drake threw a helmet and was ejected in the finale against Buffalo. That hurt the team's comeback attempt.
Now, discipline is a coach's responsibility.
That's on Gase!
But again, he's lucky to hold a free pass on the season thanks to his injured quarterback.
I think he owes Tannehill some beers this offseason.
And he better hope and pray that Tannehill's knee is 100% by next August.
If it's not -- he's in trouble.
If next year resembles this year even in the slightest, Gase won't survive the season.
David Baumann is a Sports Columnist for 305area.com and can be heard Tuesdays, 7-9pm, on EK Sports, 96.9 The Game FM Orlando (heard anywhere on iHeartRadio).
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