Osweiler to start third straight game for Dolphins

Backup quarterback gets nod against Texans while Tannehill remains sidelined

DAVIE, Fla. – Brock Osweiler will start his third consecutive game for the Miami Dolphins.

Head coach Adam Gase said the 27-year-old quarterback will get the nod in place of Ryan Tannehill this Thursday night at Houston.

Osweiler is 1-1 as a starter filling in for the injured Tannehill. The seventh-year veteran has thrown for 654 yards and six touchdowns this season, leading Miami (4-3) to a 31-28 overtime win Oct. 21 against the Chicago Bears. Osweiler completed 22-of-31 passes for 239 yards and two touchdowns in a losing effort to the Detroit Lions last Sunday.

"He's done a really good job," Gase said Monday. "The Chicago game probably was one of the best games I've ever seen him play. (Sunday), he played really well. We didn't take advantage of it. We played really poorly on defense and we missed some opportunities to where we could have gotten off the field, and we wasted a good performance by him."

Thursday night's game against the Texans (4-3) will pit Osweiler against his former team.

"No emotion," Osweiler said. "This really is just another game, but it's the most important game right now on our schedule because it's the next one. Coming off a home loss to a good Detroit football team, this next game against Houston is very important to us. We need to get back in the win column and we know it's not going to be an easy task."

Osweiler signed a four-year, $72 million contract with the Texans in 2016 but lost the starting job after throwing a franchise-record 16 interceptions. 

"It was short," Osweiler recalled of his time in Houston. "It was one season. Other than that, I'm very proud of a lot of things that we accomplished. At the end of the day, in that one season, we won our division, we won a playoff game and that's what I remember."

Osweiler was traded to the Cleveland Browns but was cut before the start of last season, returning to Denver -- the team that made him its second-round draft choice in 2012 -- in a backup role.

Gase, who was Osweiler's quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for three seasons with the Broncos, said Osweiler's grasp of the offense is as good as his own.

"Next to myself, he probably has the most knowledge of the offense, knows all the ins and outs," Gase said. "This is what he grew up in. This is what he knows. He knows how to operate in it, work quickly, make the right decisions, get the ball out of his hand. It's not something that he has to think a whole bunch about."

Gase said the short week would make it difficult for Tannehill to return from the shoulder injury that has sidelined him, but he expects to have a better idea after the weekend.

Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill tosses the football during team practice, Oct. 22, 2018, in Davie, Florida.

In the meantime, Gase is just focusing on making sure Osweiler continues to do the things needed to win.

"The only thing I care about that he worries about is trying to make sure that we're in a good position to play well and he prepares the right way, and when we get to Thursday, he does a good job of just keeping that group together and focusing on one series at a time," Gase said.