Yesterday Coach Philbin announced to the football world that Ryan Tannehill will be the starting QB for the Miami Dolphins this season. Before the preseason started, I stated that he was a distant third in the Dolphins QB competition. However, after an injury to expected starter David Garrard and two solid performances in each of the Dolphins preseason games, it has become evident that the future is now. Philbin explained that his decision to go with RT as his opening day starter was because he felt that Ryan Tannehill gives the team the best chance to win, and he is right.
Unlike most rookie QB’s in this league who have to learn a new highly complex offense, RT has been blessed with the rare opportunity to step into an offense that is exactly the same as he ran at his alma mater of Texas A&M. For a franchise that has two hall of fame QB’s in Dan Marino and Bob Griese, it is unbelievable that RT will be the first rookie QB to open the season as the starter in the team’s 46 year history. (He is already poised to break a Miami Dolphin QB record in his first appearance of his career, hopefully this is a good omen.) However, the sports betting strategy is that RT and the Miami Dolphins are going to be in for a very long year, because the odds of immediate success are not favorable for a rookie QB. The combined record of starting rookie QB’s drafted in the past 2 years is a dismal 37-65.
Either way I like the move, because the only way for a young QB to truly learn and get accustomed to the speed of the NFL is to play. Phins news fans must remember to remain patient with RT this season, because he is going to make mistakes, however the key is, can he learn and become better from them? No matter how bad he may play during this season, the coaching staff and fan base has to remain committed to him. The positive thing is that RT seems to be a very confident young man, I just hope that when times are tough, that he can still maintain his confidence. That is the major downfall of Mark Sanchez, whenever he makes a bad play, his demeanor is so terrible that you can see the agony of it in his body language. As a result, Sanchez’s one bad play snowballs into an entire bad game. This will be the number one thing I will be looking at this season from RT; how he handles himself during adversity, because those are the initial signs of a champion. The sports betting strategy is that if he can maintain his confidence during the entire season, then there is a good chance that Miami may have finally found their first franchise QB since number 13.
