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If the phrase “game-manager” can be a pejorative for a quarterback, then its converse, “gunslinger,” can be as well.

But Dolphins offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen thinks quarterback Matt Moore embodies all the positives that word suggests and none of the negatives.

“By gunslinger, it’s a complimentary phrase, and to me, he doesn’t have a fear,” Christensen said, via Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald. “For a lot of guys who haven’t played in four years, five years would come in there tentative and start taking check-downs. Would come into the second half of the last home game and take check-downs and be conservative and not want something bad to happen.

“When I use the term gunslinger, it’s a guy who just comes in and goes. Just goes. It’s not that he takes stupid chances. It’s not a derogatory. He walks down the Main Street of the Western and he doesn’t have any fear. He walks down the Main Street, the guy shows up and they have at it. That’s the mentality I think of with gunslinger. Not that you’re careless. It’s not a negative term to me. It’s a positive. There’s a bunch of quarterbacks in this league that come into those situations that he’s come into scared. Not necessarily scared, but scared to make a mistake. And checking the ball down, being overly conservative, not wanting to get hit.”

Christensen continued with the spaghetti Western theme, pointing out a number of key throws Moore has made since taking over in relief of the injured Ryan Tannehill, as signs of the right kind of aggressiveness.

“If I gave any indication that the term gunslinger was careless or a derogatory, . . . That definition of gunslinger would be unemployed,” Christensen said. “That kind of gunslinger would be dead because he got shot. Those guys are all extinct and three feet under now.”

So might the Dolphins’ playoff chances if they didn’t have Moore. His ability to come in on short notice and play well has been evident since his days with the Panthers. Earlier stints as a long-term starter didn’t go as well, but Moore has the gift of being to jump-start teams, and in the event of an injury to a starter, that’s usually exactly what they need.