Once again, the Miami Dolphins are talking about pushing the tempo with their offense. They're talking about getting to the line of scrimmage quickly and, many times, snapping the ball quickly, before the defense can get established.
"Tempo is important," quarterback Ryan Tannehill said. "We want to keep the pressure on the defense."
To do that, Tannehill must learn fast and play fast.
When the Dolphins tried to stress tempo under former offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, it turned out they didn't have the capability to pull off what Lazor wanted. Either the offense worked too slowly or the plays didn't unfold correctly.
But as the Dolphins try to establish a faster tempo this season they expect better results.
And much of that is because they expect Tannehill to be better than in past seasons.
"I think he's been a lot more vocal this year as a leader," center Mike Pouncey said. "Obviously, he's a good football player on the football field and he's always been a leader on this team.
"But this year I feel like he's bringing more _ more to the table, more than he ever has before as far as pushing guys and getting guys ready to go."
Similar words have been spoken about Tannehill in June each of the past three years, so the verdict won't be determined until the season.
But it's clear this offense belongs to Tannehill, who has been given more decision-making responsibility _ including the ability to audible _ than in any of his previous four pro seasons.
The Dolphins feel that will lead to more than the 19.3 points per game they averaged last season (27th in the NFL).
"There's a lot of freedom in what we do," said Tannehill, who threw for 24 touchdowns, 12 interceptions and an 88.7 passer rating last season, which ranked 21st in the league.
"I think that's going to make us always on the attack. We're not going to have to sit on our heels and feel like the defense is coming after us, and we have to figure out a way to make it work. We can put pressure on the defense by getting in a good play and always keeping the heat on the defense."
Tannehill has already impressed coach Adam Gase and offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen with his work ethic.
"He's extremely bright," Christensen said. "He's picked it up extremely quickly, faster than I would have said that a guy could."
And Tanenhill seems to have picked up a few nuances of the offense very well. For instance, a quicker tempo and sometimes going no-huddle doesn't necessarily mean the Dolphins want to snap the ball quickly every down.
"Sometimes we're going to get on the ball and snap the ball quickly, snap the ball with 30 seconds left on the play clock," Tannehill said.
"Sometimes we're going to get on the ball, use a cadence, use a hard count, see what the defense is in, adjust the play and go from there. Just because you're on the ball doesn't mean you're going as fast as you can all the way down the field. We're going to mix it up."
Those words please Gase, the first-year head coach who has built his reputation on his work with offenses, and quarterbacks in particular. He wants players to know that this is their offense.
"We want those guys to understand that the ownership is on them," Gase said. "How far we can take this thing _ our offense _ it's on them. It's how much they can learn. It's how much they can retain."
The Dolphins think they're on the right path to doing that with Tannehill taking on new responsibilities in this new offense.
"I think this is what he's been waiting for his whole career, is to go out there and be the guy to kind of call the show," Pouncey said. "We'll see how it goes, but we think he's going to do really, really (well) here."
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