FanPost

Is Tannehill A Child of Destiny?


Congratulations, Ryan Tannehill! You were an Aggie, one of the best. By taking a well-earned starting QB position, you have indeed become a Dolphin. Funny, but from the time during your junior year at Kyle Field, when you took over at QB and started beating the likes of Nebraska, Oklahoma, and then Texas and got your team ranked 8th in the nation, I had a funny feeling (seeing as how the Dolphins were not getting it done at QB) that you just might be drafted by them in 2012. And you were. And I think it was destiny.

In 2012, it would be 13 years since Number 13 retired, and some (me, for one) figured the Marino "Curse" would only last 13 years. You were drafted at number 8--8 being the last Super Bowl won by the Dolphins. You wear jersey number 17--you are Miami's 17th starting QB since Marino. As with the only two great Dolphins QB--Griese and Marino--you were drafted in round 1. And your "learning curve" was shortened by the fact that your offensive coordinator is your former college coach using the familiar playbook, and your head coach is offense minded and pass-oriented. Both know how to develop QBs. As an added bonus (I think) you have fellow former Aggies to play with, Lane and Fuller.

So, how is this "numbers game" destiny?

I knew you would start for the Fins eventually, like the pundits thinking you'd maybe need a year to develop (but NOT because you only had 19 college starts--Sanchez had fewer and Sanchez was named starter almost right after he was drafted, and I think the Jets may now have regretted that decision!--but because it is not easy, IMHO, to adapt to the speed of the game when you are a rookie QB and even "sure fire rookie QBs"--think David Carr--can get shellshocked in their first year.

I'll tell you a secret: in a comment to a comment from CT1361, a coach, so he knows the game, I said I wanted Garrard to start against the Texans because I knew Garrard could beat the Texans...and then RT17 could start the rest of the year, fine with me. Here is where destiny comes in. Right before Exhibition Game 1, Garrard gets himself injured and can't play. Since Matt Moore was the listed number 2 QB he gets the start against Bucs but can not do very much, and DC$ missed a couple of 50 yard FGs. Hey, it's raining, right? Anyway, Moore looked like a number 2. Then you come on in the second quarter and after a 3 and out, you start behaving like a number 1 QB, and in Q3 you hit Clay in the end zone. You, not Moore, gets the TD, which is what a number 1 QB does. Then against the Panthers you start shaky and get sacked a couple of times but you shake that off and drive 'em down the field in Q2 and lead another TD drive. Moore comes in later and only gets a FG. In other words, Matt Moore really is just one helluva backup, but you, Mr. Tannehill? You are a starter! (and you, Mr. Devlin, will be a good backup sooner or later. You could even become like Matt Flynn one of these days if you get your chance.)

Destiny? So Garrard come onto the team after being out all last year, makes the starting QB position in training camp, but he knows he's just a stop gap, I am sure. He's gonna be 35 soon, right? His presumed backup, Moore, is well known for mediocre play in training camp, but he did go 6-3 in his last nine games last year so surely if something happens with Garrard he'll get the starting nod, right? Meanwhile, Tannehill is the MOST knowledgeable of the west coast offense and clearly is getting it while Moore not so much, so that when Garrard goes down (again, was that the flying fickle finger of fate?), who should wind up the season starter but the guy who knows the system, Tannehill?

So getting Garrard instead of Peyton Manning was fate. And not getting manning, who else but Miami would draft Tannehill with pick number 8 (a reach they called it) because (again, fate) Sherman had worked with the guy at A&M and (with no conservative Parcells to dictate to him) Ireland plus Philbin decides it is time to draft a round 1 QB precisely when Tannehill is available to be drafted? And the Dolphins are too high up in the draft order to get Luck or RG3, plus everyone knew the Browns would draft Richardson (and Weeden later) and no one else needed a QB in the first 7 draft slots...so Tannehill get drafted by Miami and then the guy he was eventually going to replace needs replacing a lot sooner.

Well, it coulda been another QB in this position. But any other QB but Tannehill likely would not have known the playbook as well, and therefore could not have led the team as well. Plus, Sherman (and thus Philbin) already had confidence in Tannehill where he might not have had that same confidence in, say, Weeden or Foles or Cousins or Osweiler or any other rookie QB.

So that everything that happened before and after Ryan Tannehill was drafted seems to have been destined to happen. After all, the law of averages or kharma says that all teams will have good years and bad years and it all balances out. The Steelers sucked for 40 years so, of course, they have to be good the next 40 (and the "next 40" is about over). There was a time the Packers sucked, and the Saints? Does their last four or so years of goodness outweigh suckitude for the first 38? Detroit has just ended a 50 year drought. The first four years of the Dolphins (66-69) was balanced by a great next four years (70-73), followed by a decent to good next 20 years, followed by a downhill next 6 or 7, followed by ten years of mediocrity at best, utter crap at worst, leading some to wonder if the Dolphins would ever reclaim that glory.

I think a new era and a new destiny is awaiting...and at the right time, for which AFC East team will be most poised to take over from the Patriots when Brady and BB fade into the sunset? The Bills? with Fitzpatrick? Are you serious? The Jets? with Ryan? Sparano? (Grunt and Punt with the Fist-Pump Stunt?) Sanchez and Tebow? Are you double serious? No! Destiny says it'll be Tannehill leading the Dolphins back to where they belong! Perennial playoff team!

Then we can sing, with truth, that ole' theme song: "And when you say Miami, you're talking Super Bowl!"

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of The Phinsider's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of The Phinsider writers or editors.