The Miami Dolphins are pulling a page out of their old playbook under legendary head coach Don Shula. When the Dolphins take the field for Week 8 against the Los Angeles Rams, they’ll be mirroring the quarterback swap Miami saw take place back in 1983 — when a young passer named Dan Marino took the helm of the offense. Miami was 3-2 at the time and desperately needed some life in the team. Marino delivered.
Miami would finish the season 12-4 despite losing his first start, an overtime defeat to the Buffalo Bills.
And that very script is one the Miami Dolphins can hope to capture this season with their own shift to a 1st-round quarterback. The parallels are there, they are fascinating and if they materialize and come to life, we’ll all be convinced that this is the storybook transition Dolphins fans everywhere have been waiting for.
That quarterback change is just one of several that was referenced by ‘Good Morning Football’ as examples of what the Dolphins are hoping to accomplish this season over their final 10 games with a quarterback swap.
“It’s officially @Tua time in Miami.” 🐬
Time to take a look back at rookie QBs who got their first start MID-season 👇
📺: @gmfb pic.twitter.com/0tHPfadhDJ
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) November 1, 2020
If it were to materialize and we saw the Dolphins make the postseason, what terrific company Tagovailoa would be able to keep. Between Marino, Jackson and Roethlisberger, there’s plenty of NFL success that the Dolphins would be happy to see their own new quarterback mingle with as rookie bullpen quarterbacks to make the run from back-up to playoff starter. If the Dolphins could change one thing about how the script runs for Tagovailoa versus Marino? It would probably be the game result from the first start — Marino lost a heartbreaker in overtime.
These Dolphins would absolutely love a win today and do without the heartbreak of a Week 8 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. We’ll know soon enough how the Tagovailoa era starts; Miami kicks off at Hard Rock Stadium against the Rams at 1PM EST.
