The Dolphins have seen their odds against the Seahawks continue to shorten, despite the absence of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, perhaps a symptom of the market overreacting to the downgrade from Tagovailoa to backup Skylar Thompson.
Miami opened as a +6.5-point underdog for this matchup in Seattle, but those odds have steadily shortened to market-best odds of +4.5 (-105) at FanDuel, as of Wednesday afternoon.
For Seattle, there's even a -4 (-105) swimming out there at ESPN BET — a precipitous decline from its market-best open of -6.5 (-110).
The odds had slid downward since open, settling at each key number of Seahawks -6 and -5.5 before falling to their current mark.
Yes, there are other factors at hand, namely injuries throughout the Seahawks defense. Three starting linebackers in Uchenna Nwosu, Boye Mafe and Jerome Baker are questionable, although their injuries didn't prevent the Seahawks from beating the lowly Patriots in overtime last week. Mafe and Baker were injured in last week's contest, while Nwosu hasn't played a game this season.
In addition, running back Kenneth Walker II missed last week's game with an oblique injury and is also questionable for this game. Starting right tackle George Fant rounds out the injury list for Seattle.
Meanwhile, the Dolphins mostly have Tagovailoa to contend with. Running back Raheem Mostert missed Thursday Night Football vs. the Bills last week, but practiced on Wednesday and is on course to return. Backup running back Jeff Wilson Jr. looks poised to play, too, after leaving last week's game. And starting left tackle Terron Armstead is day-to-day, but also on track to play.
For what it's worth, the Action Network's director of predictive analytics graded Thompson as five points worse on the spread vs. Tagovailoa before the season. That would indicate that with Tagovailoa in this contest, the Dolphins would be favored on the road, despite a poor showing vs. Buffalo last week.
