By Zack Cimini

notjustagame23@gmail.com

Results are supposed to dictate a decision to win a job. That is the normal case in a position battle in the NFL, especially at quarterback. Miami and the Tennessee Titans decided they did not need anymore game play to decide on their starting quarterbacks. They went the youth route and now both teams can move forward without the hassle of a weekly sparked debate.

How ready are both quarterbacks or will this year be weekly lessons of rough outings? Based on last years results by several rookies, the window to have a positive impact right away is possible. Preparation and training has come along way for talented quarterbacks. Still both will experience their fair share of mishaps.

It was not like either had a specific edge over their veteran quarterbacks they were competing with. Matt Moore was the veteran Miami had on the roster but had already leaned more in the direction of David Garrard before his injury. When Garrard went down, the job was basically Tannehill’s.

Tannehill looked much better in the first preseason game than he did against Carolina. The main reason for that likely has to do that he played against the first team defense against Carolina. He had a tough time finding passing angles to deliver throws, having several balls batted down at the line of scrimmage. Another issue versus Carolina was the lack of a ground attack to help Tannehill. Neither Reggie Bush or Daniel Thomas had an impact you would of liked to see to help Tannehill out. Bush’s carries went nowhere, and forced Miami to throw with Tannehill higher than they would of liked.

With a nucleus of wide receivers that are mainly possession receivers at best, Miami is going to need to throw a lot of quick outs and intermediate throws. The batted down balls Tannehill experienced against Carolina may become a trend, as defenses do not respect Miami’s receivers and know a quarterback is going to have a quick clock with that talent.

Brandon Marshall and Chad Johnson sound quite good right about now.

In Tennessee it’s a little bit different with Jake Locker. His preseason numbers have been paltry. In action though last year, Locker showed he has a lot of promise. The move in Tennessee’ s case was more based on timing than anything. Locker is going into his second year and they want to get the return on investment with him. Chris Johnson is showing that he is back to his old form, which will loosen up Locker’s immediate responsibilities.

With the attention on Johnson, Locker will get away with the dump off throws and scrambles that often hurt young quarterbacks. He will likely have numbers similar to what Andy Dalton did a year ago as a rookie. Mistakes may be a little bit higher as his accuracy is not as good as Dalton’s, but he will make up the fantasy numbers with his legs. If you have a safe bet number one quarterback, you can be at ease with Locker as a fantasy backup.

Pile up depth at other roster positions and grab Locker late.