Tyler Thigpen Likely To Start on Thursday Night

Added on Nov 16, 2010 by Scott in

NFL

The Miami Dolphins are smack dab in the middle of a quarterback quandary heading into Thursday night’s game versus the Bears. Chad Pennington is out for the season with the fourth shoulder injury of his career and Chad Henne is nursing a left knee injury which will probably keep him out of the lineup for at least one week. That leaves third-stringer Tyler Thigpen set to start his first game since 2008.

In limited action on Sunday, Thigpen completed 4/6 passes for 64 yards and a touchdown; he also ran twice for five yards. The fourth-year signal caller is known for his mobility and could be an ideal trigger man to run the Wildcat scheme which was resurrected in the victory over the Titans.

The Phins also inked journeyman Patrick Ramsey yesterday to add another healthy quarterback to the mix. Head coach Tony Sparano hasn’t ruled out Henne completely, but expressed confidence in Thigpen’s ability to lead the team:

“I’ve got a lot of confidence in Tyler,” Sparano said. “This guy has really been throwing the football well in practice and has made tremendous improvement. It’s one of the reasons why we repped him the way we did in preseason.”

Thigpen posted some solid numbers in 2008 with the Chiefs. In eleven starts, he tossed for 2608 yards, 18 touchdowns and twelve interceptions, in addition to 368 yards and three scores on the ground. He’s hardly a franchise type guy, but he could be an adequate fill-in for a couple games.

However, Chicago’s defense has been opportunistic with fourteen interceptions, and are also ranked second against the run. Making matters worse is the possibility Miami will be without stud left tackle Jake Long, who suffered what is rumored to be a dislocated shoulder. Bottom line: the Dolphins are a beat up team heading into a short week.

Source: NFL.com