Ryan Tannehill – October 23, 2016 (Postgame)
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Sunday, October 23, 2016
Postgame – vs. Buffalo
Miami Dolphins Quarterback Ryan Tannehill (transcribed by Sara Perez)
(What did you think the chances of RB Jay Ajayi going back-to-back 200-yard rushing games?) – “I wouldn’t have said that it was going to happen, but just because of how rare it is, not because of not believing in Jay or the offensive line. We knew coming in that we wanted to establish the run and we did that, did it early just like last week. Like I said last week, Jay runs hard every week and they’re getting him to that second level and when you do that he’s going to punish those guys in the second level and make them miss and have those big runs. If the offensive line can do that every week then you’re going to continue to see big success from Jay.”
(From where you stand back there when you see that offensive line, how good have they been over the last two weeks?) – “They’ve been really good, both in the run and the pass game, just establishing the tone for the game early on. You can kind of feel as the game goes on, just wearing on the defense, having these long drives and rushing the football consistently, getting first downs, it really wears on the defense and you can kind of feel that on the field. I think once you start feeling that you know that good things are going to happen.”
(Talked to Head Coach Adam about patience in this game, patience with this running game, staying with it, not getting away from it, how did that feel to you that he was willing to just continue to feed that running game?) _ “It was good. We had good things going, so to keep going to it as the game goes on, like I said, that defense and that defensive front is going to get worn down. You should see more success in the second half if you’ve been running the ball well. We stuck with it, it was tough a couple times, you want to get drives going, but stuck with it, kept wearing on the defense and created some big plays that really won the game for us.”
(The touchdown to WR Kenny Stills, were they crowding the line of scrimmage? You felt it was just an opportunity to go over the top since they were playing the run hard.) – “Yes, they had seven guys in the box, base defense against our nickel package. They’re doing everything they can to stop the run, they’re going to make us throw it to win it, basically. It was a critical situation. They’re going to try to stop the run, it was third-and-six or –seven, so try to force you to pass it and make a play downfield. The offensive line did a good job, Jay (Ajayi) actually stepped up and blocked the linebacker in the hole for me and Kenny did a great job adjusting to the ball downfield and making a play.”
(On offense, have you found an identity?) – “I definitely think that we’re finding it right now, just establishing the run early in games and getting first downs, gaining first downs, getting the play action going and wearing on the front that way. Once you can do that, they can’t speed rush you on the edge quite as fast and you’re able to get things downfield. I’m excited about where we’re at right now.”
(From an offensive standpoint, I know everybody is beat up and they welcome the bye week, but is it, ‘Now we’re rolling,’ and now you have a week off, is the timing not great where that’s concerned as far as an offensive rhythm you have going?) – “No, I think it’s just fine. I think we’re excited to heal up. I think we’re heading to the bye week feeling good, kind of getting on a roll. It will be good this week to get healthy across the board, offense and defense, and come out and build on what we’ve done so far.”
(26 first downs for your offense, your drives were five first downs, six first downs, working down the field no big plays in particular, you like that style of play?) – “If it wins, I’m all for it. When you’re able to get first downs and move the chains, that’s what you want, you’re going to get yourself in scoring position. I think we have to do a better job offensively of getting touchdowns when we’re down there. We march down the field, we hurt ourselves a couple times getting penalties in the red zone and putting ourselves behind the chains. You do that, it’s tough down there. We’ll have to clean that up, keep ourselves just moving forward, chipping away and get the ball in the end zone.”
(I feel like we talked about this a little bit last week with the offensive line being healthy and you see the difference it makes. Coach Gase was saying it’s a big difference when you take a 3-step drop, you’re not getting smoked – his exact words – is it that simple, is it that night and day when you’re getting that type of protection?) – “It definitely makes my job a lot easier when you’re standing upright and able to go through progression. I think establishing the run game is huge, getting first downs on the ground, getting Jay going, wears down the front and we’re able to drop back and go through progressions. When you’re able to do that, escape the pocket a little bit, have some time to move around and get plays downfield. You do that, you see our playmakers make plays. Jarvis (Landry) had a big third down there towards the end of the game, I forget what the distance was, but they played coverage on it, the offensive line did a great job of giving me time able to escape and Jarvis got open down the field. When you have time to go through progressions, be able to move around a little bit, you’re going to see explosive plays and good things happen.”
(Describe the confidence level on the offense now, especially compared to earlier in the year when you weren’t scoring so much. What’s that confidence like and what’s the chatter like when you’re out there on the field and things are rolling like that?) – “Yes, we’re excited. I think we’re just staying the course. When things weren’t going well we knew we were building a good thing, we just had to keep staying the course and keep pushing to get better, pushing every day in practice and nothing has changed. I think having our five offensive linemen back is huge and that kind of sets the tone up front for us, but it’s the same thing every day in practice, we still have to be hungry, still have to come to work every single day and chip away and get better. We won a couple games, we haven’t got everything figured out yet, we still have a lot of things to clean up, but I’m excited about the progress we’re making and the success that we’ve had so far.”
(Coming out of camp I thought this was going to be a passing offense or more of a passing offense, you’ve had success running the ball, is this sustainable or is this kind of what you’ve had to do?) – “We’ll see. I don’t really know. I think at this point you want to stick with what’s working and we came out last week against a good defense and established the run early, so we knew we could do it. Same thing this week, good defense and we were able to come out establish the run early. When you’re able to do that you kind of want to stick with it and wear on that front and if you can wear on that front and make it a long four quarter game then you’re going to be able to have success in the fourth quarter when it matters.”
(You’ve been so durable throughout your career even when you have taken a lot of sacks and hits, this week going into this game did it pay any dividends being clean last week? Do you think it will also pay dividends going into the week after the bye?) – “Yes, it’s huge. I think when you can finish a game healthy and not banged up it just speeds everything up. You’re able to do a little bit more in practice, push yourself a little bit more in practice because you’re not nursing anything you’re able to just go out and do the things you need to do to get better. I’m excited about that, I’m excited about the way they’ve played both in the run game and pass game the past two weeks.”
