Miami Dolphins’ interim head coach Dan Campbell’s impact has certainly been felt. The Dolphins are 2-0 under their new head man and scored a franchise-record 41 points in the first half en route to a 44-26 victory over the Houston Texans on Sunday. While Campbell has wasted little time turning heads in Miami, Sunday’s rout may wind up serving as a turning point for fourth-year quarterback Ryan Tannehill.
Since being selected eight overall out of Texas A&M in 2012, Tannehill is the only quarterback to start for Miami and probably the best the Dolphins have had since the legendary Dan Marino called it quits after the 1999 season.
For much of his career unfortunately, Tannehill has played second fiddle to other quarterbacks from his draft class like Andrew Luck and Super Bowl champion Russell Wilson. Luck and Wilson however, aren’t the only two quarterbacks that Tannehill has played in the shadows of.
Since his retirement in 1999, every Miami quarterback has played in the shadow of Marino and with good reason. During his playing days, Marino rewrote the NFL record books and revolutionized the quarterback position in the National Football League. On Sunday, Tannehill decided it was time to make his own history.
Tannehill finished the day 18-for-19 passing for 282 yards and a career-high tying four touchdowns. His 94.7 percent completion rate was the highest in NFL history (minimum 15 attempts), besting Kurt Warner’s 24-for-26 day from 2009. Tannehill also completed a league-record 25 straight passes, going back to last week’s victory over the Tennessee Titans.
In the 10 seasons prior to drafting Tannehill, the Dolphins had just one quarterback start all 16 games in a season and that was Chad Pennington in 2008. Tannehill has never missed a start during his NFL career and has brought much-needed stability to the quarterback position in Miami. After a record-setting performance on Sunday, there’s renewed hope that Tannehill can eventually bring the franchise something it hasn’t had in over four decades. That’s a world championship.