Tannehill needs to write ending Dolphins desperately need healthy QB

DAVIE — First things first. Ryan Tannehill desperately wants to come back. You know it. I know it. Adam Gase knows it, even to the point the Dolphins coach has stopped asking how his quarterback’s shoulder feels because, well, there’s no point by now.

There’s no apparent progress, either. Tannehill says it hurts every time he throws a football. He says he’s taking a few days off from even trying. He says he can’t do anything that involves lifting his right arm overhead.

But then in the next breath, Tannehill repeats what Gase confirmed and has been discussed for a while: The plan is for Tannehill to return after the bye week to play in Indianapolis on Nov. 25.

“That’s the goal,’’ Tannehill said. “The goal right now for me is to get back on the field, use these next two weeks to get healthy, get back into throwing, get sharp and be ready to go.”

Then he said something that made you wonder whether this season will end like so many others involving Tannehill without any certain conclusion of what’s to come.

“Obviously, it’s not set in stone,’’ he said of that plan for Indianapolis. “We’ll have to see what happens, but that’s my goal.”

Here’s the hope: This really happens. It really needs to happen, too. Tannehill needs it. Gase needs it. This team, this season, this front office, this franchise’s owner and everyone in No. 17 jerseys watching all the ups and downs and stagnant flatlines over Tannehill’s seven seasons needs it, too.

Because here’s the other scenario: They finish some mix or all of these final seven games with Brock Osweiler at quarterback. They sweep Buffalo, as they should no matter who’s quarterback. The Bills might not score another touchdown this season if Nathan Peterman remains the quarterback.

That gets the Dolphins to seven wins. Never mind five of those wins would be against the Raiders, Bills and Jets, who could draft first, second and third next April.

The Dolphins might muster another win (or two) at Green Bay, Indianapolis or Minnesota or more likely against Jacksonville or New England at home. (As every Dolphins fan knows, they’re 4-4 over the past eight years at home against New England).

It’s the NFL. These things happen. And if this teams finishes 7-9 at worst or 8-8 as expected now or by some miracle 9-7, they can legitimately claim that were it not for Tannehill’s shoulder and some other significant injuries on offense, they’d be contending for the playoffs.

The question, of course, isn’t if this is realistic. Nor is it to dismiss winning. It’s just to wonder where this leads. It’s to ask if this encourages more illusion in this franchise, as in previous offseasons.

Take the quarterback. My thought is seven years is enough. Seven years of waiting for the eternal answer from Tannehill is an answer itself. Who gets eight years?

But this is why you’d like him to return and write the ending himself. Wherever it goes. However it ends. The last thing you want is for there be just enough uncertainty from those making decisions to put the garage band together again. An eight-year itch?

As of now, no one knows if this shoulder heals, either.

“We took a rest period of 10 days and tried to get back into throwing and it just wasn’t there,’’ Tannehill said. “We backed off again, now we’re resting again, trying to just get it to heal up because every time the arm goes through that motion, it stresses that capsule. That’s the goal right now is just to let that thing tighten back down, heal up and then get back into throwing during the bye.”

In too many ways, Wednesday told the story of the Dolphins in recent years. On one side of the Dolphins facility, there was unnecessary drama coming to an end as safety Reshad Jones said he didn’t quit and had, “no regrets,” after refusing to re-enter the game last Sunday after just 10 plays.

On the other side, in an interview room, Tannehill talked with a sense of frustration about being unable to play the past four games due to his injured shoulder. He wants to play. You want him to play.

All stories, after all, need an ending.