Miami Dolphins like Quinn Ewers' 'whippy release,' 'off schedule' play

MIAMI GARDENS ― Miami Dolphins rookie quarterback Quinn Ewers does not yet have the anticipatory passing skill that Tua Tagovailoa did, but...

"But he can make up for it," Dolphins passing game coordinator Bobby Slowik said. "You know, (Quinn's) got a really whippy release and he might throw it later, but it might get there at the same time because of how the ball just kind of fires off his wrist."

At his best, Tagovailoa had the super powers of anticipation, accuracy and timing, but his overall game regressed this season. And in the end, a lack of arm strength and mobility could not be overcome.

Ewers has one career start and was a 7th round pick from Texas.

But Miami knows Ewers has arm talent and the ability to extend plays in and out of the pocket.

"He goes off schedule and he really makes a heck of a throw to (Darren) Waller and makes a great play, but (Quinn) took a shot," Slowik said. "And it actually is shocking a little bit with young guys, that kind of gets you going, you know, and a lot of times it calms you down, if anything, and I felt that with him. And then he just started from operation on really owning everything."

Miami Dolphins ' Quinn Ewers makes second start

Miami coach Mike McDaniel said Ewers' very clean operation in his first start left him "pleasantly surprised." Added McDaniel: "That speaks to him being natural at the position. Being ready."

The Dolphins have not entirely overhauled their offense following a quarterback change, but they are tweaking things to benefit from Ewers' strengths.

McDaniel revealed that he and assistants Slowik and Darrell Bevell meet with Ewers for game plan meetings. He also said that he'll visit with Ewers to go over favorites the night before the game.

”I'm definitely involved, cause, man, I'm the one out there at the end of the day,” Ewers said. “They (design and call) the plays, but I'm the one getting thrown out there. So I think it's important at the quarterback position for us to tell them what we're comfortable with for sure.”

"We go through the top third down calls," McDaniel said. "And we talk about first and second down calls. And so I get a vibe of the types of plays players like."

Ewers clearly believes he belongs on the field.

"You kind of could see his attitude through the week," Slowik said. "He's got a little confidence to him, a little moxie to him."

Dolphins say rookie Quinn Ewers has 'moxie'

Ewers had big-game experience in high school (Texas Southlake Carroll) and college (Texas).

The arm talent and ability to extend plays is intriguing.

Miami is not scrapping the Tagovailoa-based offense, but they'll continue to lean into Quinn's strengths over the last two weeks of this season.

"There's a lot of plays that are good, but you can kind of focus in on what you actually want to do if you catch wind of a hair of conviction or confidence in something," McDaniel said. "So I think this game plan was a lot easier than last in terms of the way I like to do it is feature people, their skill sets, and where their confidence is, because you want convicted players playing convicted. And I think there was a lot of information gained in that first week."

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Joe Schad is a journalist covering the  Miami Dolphins  and the NFL at  The Palm Beach Post . You can reach him at  jschad@pbpost.com  and follow him on  Instagram  and on X  @schadjoe . Sign up for Joe's free weekly  Dolphins Pulse Newsletter . Help support our work  by subscribing today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Mike McDaniel: Game-planning for Quinn Ewers easier second time around