The Dolphins And Number 17…Is Today The Day?

We all like to look for something hidden meaning.   Anywhere and anytime we think we can spin it for something positive.  How many of us during the Dan Marino years longed for anything with the number 13 on it?  It’s logical in human nature to look for “signs”.  So is today any different?  When it comes to the Miami Dolphins we all want something to hang our hopes on.

Today, I give you the number 17.  Well, I don’t actually, Shannon Melanson Giordano on Facebook does.  Where she got it, I don’t know, but you all might actually care.

New broke today that Ryan Tannehill will start his first game, yes, it’s a pre-season game but a game nonetheless.  If he plays well, we can expect to see him start next week at home vs. the Atlanta Falcons.  That would be the third pre-season game and every indication would mean that the Dolphins would almost certainly be looking at the rookie to start the season.

So what about that “17”?

Well for starters, there have been 16 starting QB’s for the Miami Dolphins since Dan Marino retired.     Ryan Tannehill will be number 17.  Which matches the number of years that Dan Marino played.  17.  Was there a 17 year curse?

Tonight, Ryan Tannehill will start his first game for the Dolphins.  Today is of course August 17th.  While the game doesn’t start at 5:00 PM which would 1700 military time, the game on the east coast starts at 8:00 pm, but if you are on the west coast, the game starts at 5, or yep you guessed it, 1700.  I know, that is really kind of pushing it.

But look at this, the NFL has seen 16 straight seasons of five playoff teams from the previous year are replaced by five teams that did not make the playoffs the year before.  This would be year 17 and perhaps the Dolphins behind Tannehill could make one of those five teams.

Last year, under Tony Sparano, the Dolphins finished with yet another losing season, it was the 17th year since the team was transferred out of the Joe Robbie family name and handed over to Wayne Huizenga.

Want more?

This is Joe Philbin’s first year as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins.  17 years ago, the Miami Dolphins were saying good-bye to Don Shula who announced his retirement.  Who also happened to coach the ONLY NFL team to go undefeated at, yep 17-0.

In reality this of course is nothing more than blatant superstition and as I said at the top of the article, we tend to look at anything and everything that we can grasp onto to give us hope.

Even if that hope comes in the form of a number like 17.

Which of course, is the number that Ryan Tannehill wears for the Miami Dolphins.

UPDATE:  A few of our forum members have pointed out a few other little 17’s.

Dan Marino threw 17 passes in his first game.

Dan Marino had a QB rating of 117 in his first game

Dan Marino completed 17 passes in his first win.

Dan Marino was born in 1961, which adds up to 17

Dan Marino threw for a total of 61,361 over his career – which add up to 17.

There are 13 letters in Ryan Tannehill’s name.