Ryan Tannehill – November 6, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, November 6, 2016
Postgame – vs. N.Y. Jets
Miami Dolphins Quarterback Ryan Tannehill (transcribed by Sara Perez)
(Can you describe the emotions? It seemed like a little bit of highs and lows for you guys. What was it like on the sidelines?) – “It was good. I thought we had good energy on the sidelines. Obviously, there were some frustrating points in the game. We didn’t make plays when we should have. Defense came up huge in the second half, so a lot of exciting there. (We) had some exciting plays by them. Obviously, the kickoff return there at the end was huge. There were some highs and lows, but I feel like we kept our good energy on the sideline, and we just knew we were going to find a way to win.”
(Offensively, you knew it was going to be tough going against that defense, especially running the football, but you guys kind of just stayed with it and stayed with it. When you went into this game, is that how you expected things to be?) – “We didn’t really know. We knew coming in that they were a good run defense, but so was Pittsburgh and so was Buffalo. We expected to come in and be able to run the ball. Obviously, we knew it was going to be tough – it’s not going to be easy – they have a really good front. We just kind of stuck with it. We didn’t have a lot of big runs, but we just kept sticking with it trying to make something happen. At the end of the game when we needed to get some first downs, we were able to do that.”
(Did it seem like in the fourth quarter that they were tired? I saw a couple of their guys calling out – calling out to the game – going to the sideline. Did it look like they were getting fatigued in the game?) – “I’m not sure. I’d have to ask the o-linemen. I think they did a pretty good job of playing us tough up front. I think at the end of the game, we finally got some movement and got Jay (Ajayi) free up to the safety. That’s what you want to do is get a big running back up to the safeties. We just kind of kept sticking with it, and when we needed a play, we made it happen.”
(You’ve always said that you try to take every game one at a time, but you have won three in a row now. You’ve come out of that 1-4 hole. Do you feel like you have momentum?) – “Yes, we have some momentum. I think we’re playing some good football right now. Obviously, today wasn’t as clean as we’d like it offensively, but we’re on the right track. We just have to keep progressing, keep getting better, keep pushing ourselves each and every day during practice and keep building on what we’ve done. Obviously, (there is) a lot of football in front of us, tough road trip coming up here in the next couple weeks. It’s going to be fun to see how we handle that road trip like a business trip and go out and play to win two games.”
(How about the change of emotions with the dropped snap, they go ahead, then all of a sudden the kick return, you go back 30 seconds, two touchdowns and you fall behind then you get right back on top?) – “That was wild. I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of a swing like that – I don’t think – at the end of a football game. Big credit to our kickoff return team just finding a way to make it work. I think Jakeem (Grant) on the one before ran around forever, and I think that played into effect of them getting a little tired on their coverage team. And the obviously, Kenyan (Drake) did a great job and the block team did a great job of giving him a crease. You have a fast guy (and a) crease like that, he’s going to take it to the house.”
(Grinding out a game like this where it was a dogfight for most of the way – you fall behind, you come back – what does that do for your football team – offense, defense, special teams, everybody?) – “When you face adversity and you find a way to persevere, I think it gives you a lot of confidence. The past couple weeks we’ve been down in games and there’s been no panic, there’s been no tremors on the sideline of, ‘Okay, here we go,’ or ‘What are we going to do now?’ It’s, ‘We’re going to be able to find a way to win the game.’ When you have that attitude, that mindset – whether it’s offense or defense – as a team if you have that mindset, you’re going to win a lot of games.”
(Were you aware that DT Jordan Phillips had soft hands and could jump like that?) – “I don’t know about the jump, but I knew he could catch. We’ve done some things last year where we put a d-linemen or an offensive linemen in to catch a punt or something, and he always looks athletic when he’s catching the football. I knew he could catch. I don’t know about the hurdle though; that was pretty impressive.”
(RB Kenyan Drake was just telling us that after the kick return touchdown he came back in here and actually threw up he was just so spent. Did you know that, and what did you say to him after he made that big play?) – “No, I didn’t know that at all, but that was a huge play for us. I congratulated him and told him, ‘Nice job.’ We needed that. It was a huge play. Whether (it is) a touchdown or a good return, when you get something like that – a big play on special teams, whether it’s early in the game or late in the game – it really does a lot for giving momentum on your side of the football. When you do that to go ahead and take the lead at the end of the football game, it’s huge.”
(You’ve won three games in a row in different ways. Does that lead you to believe that this is going to be the type of football team you’re going to be from here throughout?) – “I just want to be the type of football team that finds a way to win. I think at the end of the day, this team is willing to do whatever it takes to win, and you play to win the game, so I am more than happy to be a part of that.”
