There's a chance Ryan Tannehill could need surgery on his ACL.
The Dolphins quarterback suffered MCL and ACL sprains in last Sunday's 26-23 win over the Cardinals, and his leg was in a cast last night during Saturday's 34-13 victory against the Jets. Tannehill is planning to rest and rehab the partial tears in his knee, but if it doesn't help, ACL reconstruction is possible, a source informed of the situation told NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport.
Tannehill is already "very uncertain" to return this season, per Rapoport, but if he goes through with the surgery, he'll clearly be out for the remainder of this campaign. Backup signal-caller Matt Moore has shined in relief thus far -- he tossed four touchdowns against the Jets.
"He was awesome, and I expected it to be that way," Moore said after torching the Jets on Tannehill's help from the bench. "We talked about a few little things like IDs on the defense, what he saw from the sidelines, how he saw the backside cornerback playing. 'Hey if you see this again, we could probably get this look.' Extremely helpful, and I expected that. That's who he is."
The fifth-year product out of Texas A&M is having a career-best season in accuracy under first-year coach Adam Gase, completing 67.1 percent of his throws. Tannehill is also averaging a career-high 7.7 yards per attempt, while throwing for 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
It will be interesting to see how the Dolphins decide to handle this situation down the stretch, as the team is 9-5 and in playoff position, but can't afford to risk further hampering the recovery of their franchise quarterback.
