The NFL is a small world filled with irony and in the AFC East, history often repeats itself in weird ways. Nothing should surprise Miami Dolphins fans or New York Jets fans.
Miami fans have watched the Jets buy big-name quarterbacks to solve their problems, mostly from the Green Bay Packers. First, it was Brett Favre, and then, years later, Aaron Rodgers.
With Favre, the Dolphins ended his career with New York and knocked them out of the playoffs. Rodgers may have led a final Week 18 victory against Miami, but they were already knocked out, and apparently, only Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill cared, well, until the fourth quarter, at least.
The connections between the two teams continue with head coaches. Miami fired Adam Gase and New York went after him. Now, the Jets are hiring another new head coach with former ties to the Dolphins, as New York has hired Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn to replace Robert Saleh.
Former Miami Dolphins QB Dan Marino's "fake spike" against the New York Jets is still one of the best plays in NFL history
We have to go all the way back to Week 13 of the 1994 season when Dan Marino led the Dolphins into New York against the Jets. Marino threw four touchdown passes on the day, with every one of them going to former Miami wide receiver Mark Ingram.
The final touchdown lives in NFL history as "The Fake Spike." What is ironic about this? It was Glenn who was supposed to be covering Ingram on the spike, but he didn't really bother to cover him at all, giving the Dolphins the go-ahead touchdown with 22 seconds left in the game.
Once again, history is coming back into play in the AFC East where Miami hopes the New York media, the lack of a starting quarterback, oversized contracts, and uncertainty will derail the Jets again.
Glenn may end up being a good head coach. But, hopefully, it will happen on his next opportunity and not this one.