Ryan Tannehill – October 16, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 16, 2016
Postgame – vs. Pittsburgh
Miami Dolphins Quarterback Ryan Tannehill (transcribed by Sara Perez)
(A little different than last week, you were protected well today. Can you talk about the job that the guys up front did for you?) – “Yes, (the) guys up front did a heck of a job all day – first and foremost, running the football. They pounded the guys up front and created running lanes. Jay (Ajayi) ran hard, (the running) backs ran hard, just falling forward (and) getting those tough yards. In the pass game, they kept me clean. I was able to go one-two in my progressions, and when you’re able to do that, you can actually throw the football and make a few plays. (It was) huge having those starters back in the lineup for us and the whole front just played really well today. Guys played hard the whole game; tight ends stepped up. Dion (Sims) went down and had MarQueis (Gray) and ‘D.J.’ (Dominique Jones) really step up and come in and play well for us. I think it’s something we can build off of, for sure.”
(How comforting was it for you to walk into that huddle and see those five guys there all together for the first time this season?) – “It’s huge. It’s huge. Just having our starting line in the game is huge. The ability obviously, to protect, to push in the run game, obviously changes the whole game for us. The confidence I had stepping into that huddle was huge. We had a couple of guys go down at times in the game and had (Kraig) Urbik and (Anthony) Steen come in there at different times, and ‘Bush’ (Jermon Bushrod) move out to tackle. So, (they) still got shuffled a little bit, but they had kind of set the tempo, the tone for the game early in the game and so when we had those other guys step in, they did a good job too.”
(When you come into this game, did you have any thought that you’d have RB Jay Ajayi rush for 204 yards in a game like this against a physical defense like Pittsburgh?) – “I probably wouldn’t have said 200. I knew we were going to come in and be aggressive rushing the football, but when you can rush for 200 yards – I don’t know how many total we had – but when you have a guy go over 200 yards and definitely the team over that, you’re going to be in a good position to win a lot of games. Obviously, you’re not going to be able to do that every week, but if you can establish a run like we did today, get positive yards in the run game, get first downs in the run game, it really opens up a lot of the playbook for us and things down field. It takes pressure off the pass-rush and the receivers because there’s just more time to get them the football.”
(This seems like the first game all season we’ve been able to see Adam Gase’s offense through 60 minutes and a lot of different things out there. Were you happy being able to get everything, to do the different plays, to do the different things that he wants to bring in this offense and see it out here today?) – “Yes, it’s huge. When you’re staying on the field converting third downs, getting first downs on first and second down, it’s huge. You get some momentum, you get to run more plays, have more chances to have explosive plays and that’s what we’re looking for. I think all year we’ve been looking for our offense to come out, play well and keep the defense off the field. We’ve had our defense on the field way too much through the first quarter of the season and really that’s kind of what we’re looking for – to get a lead, to get our defense some rest on the sideline, let our pass-rushers come out and pass-rush. So, you can kind of see when we get in that position what can happen.”
(Early in the game you were moving the ball, but you had a penalty that erased a touchdown, you had a dropped touchdown pass and you were settling for field goals. Was there a concern that we’re not maximizing, this could come back to hurt us later on?) – “Honestly it never crossed my mind. Obviously, (we were) frustrated to leave the field without scoring a touchdown when you have opportunities to; but I felt confident in the way we were moving the football, the way guys were making plays that, ‘Hey, it’s a long game of course.’ As the year goes on, sometimes those things are going to hurt you. We need to be able to make those plays and get it corrected; but the way the guys were moving the ball up front, the time they were giving me in the pass game, just gave me a lot of confidence that we were going to be able to move the ball the whole game and get down there and have other opportunities. We came into this game saying, ‘Hey, let’s move the ball and get points.’ So, coming away with a field goal when you’re down and tight is not what you’re looking for, but we were moving the football and getting points and now we just need to be better with our efficiency once we get inside the red zone.”
(Ryan, is this an indication of what this team can be and what does it mean for your team going forward?) – “Yes, it’s definitely an indication. Like I said, we finally played complementary football – we let our pass-rushers rush, kept them off the field, moved the ball on offense, converted on third down and kind of played the way we want to play. It’s definitely a glimpse of what we can do, now we just have to build off of it and show up every week like this.”
(Ryan, besides the obvious, not getting sacked, your uniform stayed clean – does your body feel different right now even after a game like this where you’re not taking those hits?) – “What do you think? (Laughter). We’ll line you up there and let you get hit a few times (laughter). (You don’t have any red blotches on your body) – “Yes, not too bad. Like I said, it’s a different game whenever you’re able to go through a progression and not get hit, give me a clean pocket to let our receivers get open, able to go one-two to three in the progression and that’s huge. You’re able to just keep getting positive plays and not have that negative setback that makes it second-and-long, third-and-long. When you’re in third-and-manageable, you’re going to have opportunities to keep moving the chains.”
(LS John Denney had spoken to the team yesterday, is that accurate?) – “Yes.”
(What did he say, how did that come across, longest tenured player on the team.) – “Yes, we have a player speaker every Saturday night. It was John’s turn and he did a great job. Just telling us you reap what you sow and if you want to expect success on the weekends then you have to put in the work during the week and it’s a true statement, no matter where you are in life – whether you’re playing football or working in accounting. The work you put in is going to directly affect the success you have. It was good – a guy who has played a lot of football, been around, seen a lot of good football players throughout his time here and it’s a great lesson to live by.”
(You’ve mentioned the word ‘confidence’ and how the blocking up front gave you more confidence and allowed the team to build, can you explain to folks that don’t play, that haven’t played how that affects performance, how that affects how you feel about the game and your job?) – “Yes, it’s huge. Just knowing that you’re going to have time to get to number one, to get to number two in the progression is huge. Just having that confidence that you’re not going to have a free runner come and hit you before you’re able to really do your job. So, it’s huge and I think our guys set the tone early with doing that and then were consistent throughout the game.”
(Ryan, it’s a pretty muggy day out there, did you sense the defense wilting in the second half a little bit? They were on the field a long time and they looked like they were gassed.) – “Yes, it’s big whenever you can put those long drives together (and) keep pushing the ball down the field. I think right at the end of the half, we were on the goal line after the big play to Jarvis (Landry) and I saw a couple of their linebackers puking on the field. When you get in that position, when you’re able to use South Florida to our advantage – we train in this every day and we’re ready for it. So, obviously it does affect us too, but we should be in better shape and able to handle it better than anyone that comes down here. So, we need to be able to use that to our advantage and to do that, we have to stay on the field and keep marching the ball down the field and we did that today.”
