Brocktober may give way to the less phonetically pleasing Brockvember, with there being growing concerns about Ryan Tannehill's availability according to a report.
Cameron Wolfe of ESPN reported on Thursday morning that Tannehill is facing an "uphill challenge" with his shoulder injury and is unlikely to play in Week 8 when the Dolphins square off against the Texans on Thursday night.
Tannehill was ruled out for Week 7 against the Lions on Wednesday. When Miami hosts a second straight NFC North opponent coming off a bye, the Dolphins will roll out Brock Osweiler once again.
Dolphins coach Adam Gase, who was surprisingly snippy with reporters after Week 6's win over Chicago about Tannehill's injury, said on Wednesday that Tannehill "just can't throw."
This doesn't sound like a normal shoulder injury. And it means that ... BROCKTOBER LIVES.
Brock Osweiler said ‘Brocktober’ is his favorite pun off his name. His teammates and family/friends have had fun with ‘Brock’ plays.
— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) October 17, 2018
Does he know about the Brock Lobster? That's probably my favorite behind Brocktober. Osweiler acquitted himself well on Sunday, by the way. He ran Gase's offense well -- and of course he knows it, having played in Denver when Gase was the offensive coordinator under John Fox -- and dinked and dunked his way to 380 passing yards and three touchdowns.
According to NFL's Next Gen Stats, Osweiler's average completed air yards (basically how far the ball traveled vertically on average for his 28 completions) was 3.4 yards. Only Eli Manning (2.4) and Derek Carr (0.1, not a typo, seriously) were lower.
But that's OK in 2018. You don't need to challenge vertically on every single throw. You put guys like Albert Wilson in space and let them do work after they catch the ball.
All three of his touchdowns were delivered to receivers within five yards of the line of scrimmage.
Back to Tannehill for a second: this feels like a serious red flag situation. Tannehill popped up on the injury report late in the week before the Bears game, then was ruled out, then Gase is yelling about HIPPA laws that prevent him from talking to reporters (not true) and now he's battling to try and play in the near future, or maybe even this month? Yikes.
On top of that, the NFL is investigating the Dolphins handling of the injury report according to reports from NFL.com and the Miami Herald.
According to the Herald, the Dolphins claim Tannehill was injured late against the Bengals in Week 5 when his throwing shoulder was hit and he was unable to complete a pass. He was listed as a full participant on the injury report for Wednesday's practice after being sore early in the week.
"He was starting to feel better and then we went out and practiced on Wednesday and he was sore but he was fine," Gase said Sunday after beating Chicago "And then Thursday kind of came around and it just kind of got progressively worse as far as his ability to really throw the ball the way he wanted to. So we kind of were just making contingency plans in case it just didn't get any better."
Tannehill was also listed as a full participant for Thursday's practice and then as a limited participant for Friday's practice. He was given a "questionable" designation heading into the weekend and officially ruled out on Sunday morning.
In Vegas, the line jumped quickly, with the Bears moving from three-point favorites to touchdown favorites. Everyone was on the Bears in this one -- it ended up being a massive win for the sportsbooks and basically offset any losses from the rest of the day. People were not shy about fading the Brock Ness Monster.
But it didn't work out well, as Osweiler acquitted himself nicely. Now he gets a second chance to try and keep Miami afloat in the AFC playoff hunt and he'll do it as an underdog again, with the Lions favored by three points on Sunday in Miami.
If this Tannehill thing is legitimately bad, we might be seeing a lot more of Osweiler in the near future.
