







MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – In a game that opened with heavy rain and closed with another torrent, Dolphins rookie quarterback Ryan Tannehill saw the ugliest cloud at the right moment.

Facing a second-and-8 from his own 30-yard line against the Atlanta Falcons, Tannehill dropped to pass and saw a blitz from his right and a defensive line stunt, a confusing combination for an untested QB. The usual alarms went off in Tannehill's head as he looked left to a wide receiver running deep. Before Tannehill did what everyone would have expected, he spotted the trap.

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"They had a cloud of defenders over the top of it," Tannehill said. "If I throw that pass out there, it's going to be a problem."

One of two things was going to happen: Either his receiver was going to catch the pass and get hit hard right away or, worse, the Falcons would pick the ball off and likely return it for a score.

That left Tannehill with an uneasy choice. Standing in the middle of the field was veteran tight end Anthony Fasano, who had opened the game with two drops, including a potential touchdown on the previous drive.

On this Friday night, in an exhibition loss, Tannehill made the right choice, hitting Fasano for a 9-yard gain. It's a decision that impressed and surprised Atlanta coach Mike Smith.

"Most young guys, most rookies, fall for the trap," Smith said. "That young man has a chance to be really good, maybe special."

Since Dan Marino retired after the 1999 season, 17 quarterbacks (the same number as years Marino played) have taken snaps for Miami. Prior to the Marino era, it took the Dolphins only two years to go from one Hall of Fame quarterback (Bob Griese retired after the 1980 season) to another (Marino was drafted in 1983). Like so many others born in the '60s, the Dolphins (founded in 1966) had never known suffering until recently.



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Now comes Tannehill, the 6-foot-4, 222-pound slinger from West Texas. Anointed the starter before the Atlanta game, his combination of arm strength and athleticism has excited a starved fan base. His mediocre numbers against the Falcons (11-for-27, 112 yards and an interception off a tipped pass) get adjusted to account for the lack of talent around him, particularly at wide receiver.

"For so long, you've had guys come in here trying not to make a mistake," former Dolphins defensive lineman and current TV host Kim Bokamper said. "This kid is coming in wanting to make plays."

But the thing that has earned Tannehill the job was closer to the former than the latter. First-year coach Joe Philbin and his staff made their decision based on Tannehill's ability to sidestep traps, like the one the Falcons set.

"We talk about how complicated football is and all the things that can happen, but really it can be very simple if you can just count to four," Philbin said. "You figure out where the numbers are. If the defense had more guys over there than you do, it's probably not going to be a very good result.

"Ryan has consistently gotten us out of a bad play or a bad situation with decisions he makes before and after the snap. I'm not saying he's perfect, but he has been the most consistent so far."

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