Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Lazor likes the view from the Dolphins' sideline

BY NICK ST. DENIS

Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Bill Lazor experimented with working from the booth during the preseason.

Ultimately, he decided to stay down on the field. So far, it's working.

“The positive of being down (on the field) is that you can talk to the players," he said this week, via MiamiDolphins.com. "You can see the players, their confidence level and their reaction. Sometimes even though there are phones and there are headsets it’s just easier to do it fast, one-to-one.

"I’m probably able to get the plays in just a slight bit faster being down on the field.”

Lazor has been able to interact closely with quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who is completing 66.5 percent of his passes and has a a 92.1 passer rating while pacing the Dolphins to one of their highest-scoring seasons in the last near-two decades.

Miami also has the third-fewest offensive penalties in the league, which can at least partially be attributed to communication and having command of the unit.

With that, the plan is to keep Lazor at ground level until further notice.

“I think from the preseason, the players and Coach (Joe) Philbin felt better about it when I was down [too], so I think everyone was happy with that that way," he said. "There are different ways to do it. I’m sure we could do it the other way. Right now this is the way I’m comfortable with. I think everyone is.”

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