Osweiler comes up big in Dolphins’ thriller — and exposes Tannehill’s many shortcomings
MIAMI GARDENS — Where do you want to start with Brock Osweiler’s big Sunday? With his career-high 380 yards passing?
With that crucial two-point conversion he completed to the third option Miami Dolphins coach Adam Gase had never seen used?
Do you start near the end with his uplifting words after running back Kenyan Drake seemingly fumbled away the win — and then helped close out the win?
Maybe we should start before the start, when Osweiler was texted about mid-morning he’d be the Dolphins starting quarterback and drove to the game thinking of the opportunity.
“I started to get a little emotional,” he said.
No doubt a lot of Dolphins fans did, too, upon hearing Ryan Tannehill was out and Osweiler would start. Against the Chicago Bears’ backbreaking defense? After two Dolphins heartbreaking losses?
Throw in the season, right?
Throw Osweiler and keep throwing him, actually. He completed 28-of-44 passes for the 380 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions in the Dolphins’ 31-28 overtime victory. This was Matt Moore, Scott Mitchell or even — forgive the sacrilege, Earl Morrall coming off the bench and winning.
For one day, anyhow. That’s the good and the bad of Sunday. A career backup, a guy on his third team, just played a better game in his first start for Miami than the quarterback you’ve gifted seven years of starts. He exposed
Tannehill. Only once has Tannehill thrown for more than the 380 yards or three touchdowns Osweiler did Sunday. That was in 2014 in Minnesota (396, four touchdowns).
The troubled offense that lurched and went nowhere most Sundays with Tannehill suddenly looked in gear with Osweiler. The sack-producing offensive line yielded no sacks. Albert Wilson had 155 yards receiving. Frank Gore had 101 yards rushing. And four touchdowns? The Dolphins totaled one the past two weeks.
“That’s why we got him,” Gase said of Osweiler, though you can be sure Sunday went further than
anyone expected.
FOX commentator and former Dolphins and Hurricanes coach Jimmy Johnson made Chicago his “lock of the day” upon hearing Osweiler was starting.
Like you did. And I did, too.
This naturally leads to the question that goes nowhere: Is Osweiler the starter now? Even if Tannehill is hurt? And does the fact we’re asking this suggest how troubled the Dolphins quarterback situation has become?
Osweiler did this against the Bears defense, too. Khalil Mack entered Sunday with five sacks, four force fumbles, three tackles for losses, two French hens and a partridge in a pear tree. He had two measly tackles against the beat-up Dolphins line that, for
years, has been Tannehill’s excuse.
Hmm.
“I don’t know,” Gase said of neutralizing Mack, who did have an apparent ankle issue. “We had about four guys blocking him.”
Back to Sunday’s story. Back to Osweiler. He canceled other scheduled visits upon hearing the Dolphins wanted him. He liked Gase from their Denver days and, “knew this system,” as he said.
What does that mean? It means that two-pointconversion play when trailing, 21-19.
“I’ve been hearing that play get called since 2013, so I’ve ran through it mentally in my head probably at least 500 times even though I’ve never [run] it physically,” Osweiler said.
When the first two options
were covered, he rolled right and stayed patient to find Kenny Stills in the back of the end zone. Yet that wasn’t the pass to Stills that stuck out this crazy Sunday.
That came in on a third-and-11 pass in overtime. Osweiler threw to Danny Amendola but saw this pass tick off Chicago defender Adrian Amos Jr. … and sail through the air … right to Stills for a 35-yard gain.
“That’s when you know the football gods are on your side, when things like that happen,” Osweiler said.
That drive ended on Drake leaning in for the go-ahead touchdown and fumbling. And Chicago recovering. And lining up for a 53-yard field goal by former Dolphins kicker
Cody Parkey. This day was packed full of storylines, right?
Osweiler found Drake right then and said, “I know Chicago is going to miss the field goal, and I need you to play with the swagger and confidence you have all day.”
Parkey missed. On the winning drive, Drake ran for 4, caught a pass for 15, and ran for 3. In came rookie kicker Jason Sanders for the winning, 47-yard field goal.
“You know, today felt like a heavyweight title fight,” Osweiler said. “It really did. Nothing about this football game was perfect, but we continued to fight through the adversity.
“I threw two interceptions and no one blinked an eye. We just went back to work. I think that’s the sign
of a good football team.”
It was on a Sunday where Osweiler was Moore or Mitchell on their best days. He was the sub who did a star’s job for one Sunday. Don’t dig deeper than for him that right now.
Mitchell, if you remember, had five good starts as a backup. That caused a big buzz he could replace Dan Marino. But he couldn’t. Nor has anyone these past two decades.
The guess is the search will go on this offseason. Osweiler had a day to enjoy Sunday. He also had a game that exposed Tannehill. And, if there’s a debate of Osweiler or Tannehill being your starter, doesn’t that define where the troubled quarterback position is with this franchise?