Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Miami’s QB backup battle too close to call
DAVIE — The battle to determine who will serve as Ryan Tannehill’s backup this season for the Miami Dolphins is entering the third quarter, and no clearcut leader has emerged.
David Fales, an NFL journeyman who spent most of last season with the Dolphins, has outshined Brock Osweiler in camp, and his performance in Miami’s 26-24 preseason loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was impressive (106.2 passer rating).
But Fales failed to keep the momentum going in Friday’s 27-20 loss to the Carolina Panthers, completing only 1-of-6 passes for 6 yards and throwing an interception.
Osweiler, who has thrown the most interceptions of the quarterbacks during practices, struggled against the Buccaneers, producing a 58.2 passer rating. But he completed 10-of-13 passes for 68 yards against the Panthers.
“We keep telling these guys, how we’ll make decisions is the guy that gets the team in the end zone,” offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains said, explaining his barometer last week.
Fales led the Dolphins on touchdown drive in the Tampa Bay game. Neither quarterback led Miami on a scoring drive against Carolina.
So far Osweiler has completed 20-of-34 passes for 151 yards. He is averaging 4.44 yards per completion, has been sacked three times, and owns a 69.6 passer rating for the two games.
Fales has completed 9-of-17 passes for 121 yards. He’s averaging 7.12 yards per completion, has thrown one interception, been sacked once, and owns a 51.3 passer rating.
The loser of this competition will likely be waived Sept. 1, when teams must trim down their training camp roster to 53 players because the Dolphins typically carry two quarterbacks on their 53-man regular-season roster, and one on the practice squad.
However, Miami kept three quarterbacks last season because of injuries to Tannehill, Jay Cutler, who started most of last season because of Tannehill’s knee injury, and Matt Moore, who served as Miami’s backup since 2011 but wasn’t re-signed in the offseason.
“Every day in the National Football League is a competition. Regardless of starters, backups, whatever. You’re always competing to be your best and to compete for a starting job,” said Osweiler, who has started 25 games in his sixyear career with the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans.
Coach Adam Gase said that the competition will take place all preseason. During the first preseason game, Miami rotated both each series. During the second game, Osweiler got three series, and Fales got the next three series.
Bryce Petty, who owns a 88.9 passer rating in his brief playing time in the two preseason games, has handled the final series for both contests. So far, Petty, who started seven games in his three seasons with the New York Jets, has not gotten in the mix to serve as Tannehill’s backup. He hasn’t worked with the second-team offense once since training camp opened.
Saturday night’s preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens will likely feature Tannehill playing the first half, and maybe a series in the third quarter. That means Fales and Osweiler won’t get much of an opportunity to showcase themselves. However, Miami’s Aug. 30 preseason finale on the road against the Atlanta Falcons will likely be their showdown.