Miami Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill returns, but how's the pain?

DAVIE — Ryan Tannehill is going to start a game at quarterback for the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, and there's a good reason why.

"It doesn't feel like I'm getting stabbed or anything like that," Tannehill said Tuesday. "It's a tolerable pain."

So after missing five games with a shoulder injury, Tannehill is ready to return for a critical road game at the Colts, with each team 5-5.

Tannehill was injured on Oct. 7 at Cincinnati, so Sunday will be seven weeks from the time of the injury. A few weeks ago, Tannehill tried to ramp up and return but his arm just wasn't ready.

"I just didn't have any juice on the ball," Tannehilll said. "So from there to here has been huge steps and now I'm OK if it's incremental steps."

Tannehill looked really good in the portion of practice open to the media on Tuesday. Tannehill revealed he's had sessions of more than 100 throws and feels fine.

"I feel confident and have made all the throws that I'm going to need to make over the course of the game," Tannehill said.

Miami was 3-2 in games Tannehill started earlier this season; 2-3 in game started by Brock Osweiler, who is less athletic, less accurate and has less arm strength.

The return of Tannehill gives Miami hope it can make a legitimate playoff run. They're tied for the sixth and final AFC playoff spot.

"I'm excited," he said. "We have a lot of football in front of us. Obviously one game at a time. But you know I firmly believe if we take care of business then we control our own destiny."

Though much-maligned, Tannehill has won 10 of his last 13 starts under coach Adam Gase, who described Tannehill as "juiced up."

"He’s been waiting for this week to come for a while," Gase said Tuesday. "The whole thing was us just making sure he stayed patient and with the program we had him on instead of if things didn’t go right leading up to this game and we had to take another week, he needed to understand that’s what it was. But that wasn’t the case."

The last six games would seem to be an outstanding opportunity for Tannehill to prove to the organization, and the NFL, that he should be Miami's starting quarterback in 2019.

"I play for the guys around me," Tannehill said. "I'm playing for the guys around me. I see how much work these guys put in. I believe in these guys. I believe we have a lot of football in front of us and we can go win a lot of football games. So I'm going to give everything I have to these guys and hopefully come out with wins."

Tannehill concedes he may not feel 100 percent healthy until next season. But even if he feels no better, he believes he can make it through the rest of the year.

"I think you have to step in and play your game," he said. "I feel confident. I don't feel like any aspect of my game is taken away. As far as running the football. Getting outside the pocket. I've been doing that in my rehab the past week, making throws outside the pocket and the doctor feels confident that it's not something that taking a hit running the football or anything like that is going to affect the injury that I had. So I feel completely confident that I can do all the things we do in this offense."

It did appear Tannehill was wearing some sort of black sleeve on his right arm. He feels he can throw without an arm-angle adjustments.

"It's been a long road to get back," Tannehill said. "That's where I'm at now. It was a tough five, six weeks of grinding. Of frustration. Of pain. Of working through things. To finally be healthy enough to play again I'm really excited."

Are the Miami Dolphins on track to meet their 7 goals to make the playoffs?