The Miami Dolphins clinched a playoff spot on Sunday with losses from the Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos, and the question now becomes whether or not Ryan Tannehill will be able to help them in the postseason.
Tannehill has not played since he suffered a knee injury in Week 14. He confirmed he has a Grade 2 MCL sprain, but Pro Football Talk reports that he is also dealing with a partially torn ACL. The MCL will heal with time, but the ACL injury may eventually need surgery and could get worse without it.
If Tannehill does, in fact, have a tear in his ACL, NBC Sports Medicine Analyst Mike Ryan said the damage will never improve on its own. PFT’s Mike Florio reported on Monday that Tannehill is now considered day-to-day, and the Dolphins will try to determine if the MCL has healed enough for him to play with a brace.
Backup quarterback Matt Moore has led the Dolphins to back-to-back divisional road wins in his two starts filling in for Tannehill, and he has an impressive passer rating of 113.4 this season. It obviously helps that Miami has already clinched a playoff berth, as next weekend’s game against the New England Patriots no longer matters. Tannehill will now have two more weeks to heal before the team has to make a call about his availability for the postseason.
Obviously, the injury situation with Tannehill is not nearly as bad as the one another AFC playoff team is dealing with. Even if Tannehill is unable to play again this season, Moore has proven he is a worthy option.
