Ryan Tannehill – September 23, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Postgame – Oakland Raiders
Miami Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill
I guess your small guys came up big today so to speak.
RYAN TANNEHILL: They played great for us. We have known the talent they have had since the spring and saw flashes the last few games. Jakeem has had a couple big plays for us – the return in the first game – Albert made some big plays for us, but today they really came out big for us, some explosive plays. They combined on the reverse pass there, obviously saw both of them, and then Albert there on the last one. So, proud of those guys and the way they played.
What were they able to do to make it so difficult for you guys to run the football?
RYAN TANNEHILL: I think they did a good job up front. I’ll have to go back and look at the tape and really take a look at it. We felt good about it coming in, but have to give credit to them. They were doing a good job of shedding blocks it seemed like and making plays.
It had to be frustrating, started to move the ball, throwing the ball down the field and then penalties would bring them back, you lose the yards gained plus the penalty yards. Seemed like that was going to be kind of, that was going to drag you guys down in this football game before the big plays. How frustrating was it not to be able to keep those drives moving when you were having some success?
RYAN TANNEHILL: We had a couple penalties that hurt. The two pass interference calls hurt. Neither one of them were pick plays, so it was kind of surprising to see those called. But, yeah, evidently we didn’t do a good job with our technique and the official called it. Those plays hurt and one was a big third down that we converted, one was to start a drive. Whenever you’re losing big plays like that and going and losing 10 yards, not only plus the yards gained, it’s definitely a kick in the knee.
When you look at those two guys WR Albert Wilson and Jakeem Grant, how much they’ve meant to your offense these three weeks. It’s funny you think back a year ago when [Jakeem Grant] was just trying to make the team catching punts, now he’s become one of the biggest weapons you have on your offensive football team.
RYAN TANNEHILL: Jakeem has done a great job of growing as a football player. I think we saw his talent early on his first couple years on special teams, and then he really came on this spring as a receiver. It started back in March where he was working out there with me twice a week. And to see him grow as a receiver and his route running ability, his technique and the way to use his speed and his size as an advantage as far as leverage and getting the edge on guys, it’s definitely showing up big for us so far this season.
You guys are 3-0 and I think you would agree you guys haven’t played your best football yet. A lot of room for improvement and this is one of those games where you kind of struggle and struggle. You got a lot of things to look at to improve on as you get ready for next week, but you’re 3-0, so the best of both worlds, I guess. You get to see what you can improve on, but you’re in pretty good shape.
RYAN TANNEHILL: I think that’s the game of football is sometimes it’s not going to be pretty, but you have to have the grit and the togetherness to be able to stick it through and find a way to win. I’m proud of this team on the way we did that. Defense had a couple big stops for us down in the red zone, the one early on stopping them on fourth down. And on offense we just kept battling. It wasn’t pretty, but our guys hung together, we made some big plays when it mattered and we found a way to come out on top.
You had trouble obviously running the football. Was there a point in the game you’re like, ‘We’re going to win this because I’m throwing the football,’ and win it that way?
RYAN TANNEHILL: You kind of get the feeling as the game’s going on, the rhythm of the game and what it’s going to take. They were doing a good job taking away the run. I felt like when we did throw the ball, we were doing a good job of getting open down field. They were giving me a good pocket, so I knew that if the number was called then we would be in a good spot to execute.
With the way you have this quick-strike offense do you feel like you’re ever out of a game?
RYAN TANNEHILL: No. That’s the thing is you don’t want to be in that position, but with the talent that we have and the explosiveness that we have, we just have to keep doing our job and not press, not try to do too much, everyone just execute and do your job and we’ll find a way to get in the end zone.
Is there anything different go through your mind when that trick play is called?
RYAN TANNEHILL: I’m just thinking about my responsibility, making sure we line up right, the Mike point, and then everyone’s good with the motion and helping out with the tight end on the block. But there’s excitement in the huddle. The play comes in and everyone kind of gets excited. Anytime there’s a big shot call or a trick play, you can feel the offensive line kind of get excited. I think there was definitely some excitement leaving the huddle. And we were excited about that play coming into the game, it looked good during the week and I said earlier, you never know how those things are going to turn out. It could be perfect like it was, or they could defend it well, but you never really know. Proud of the way they executed. Albert did a great job of selling it and then throwing a great pass and Jakeem caught it and made a couple guys miss and got in the end zone, so it was great execution all around.
You are a quarterback so you know what it feels like to see a receiver wide open down the field and I guess you’re thinking, ‘Don’t miss.’ Do you appreciate the WR Albert Wilson pass more because of that?
RYAN TANNEHILL: Yes. Yes, I do. I know how hard that is to be running full speed laterally and make that throw. The thing is during the week, he was consistent on making a perfect throw. It wasn’t ever a question. He never stretched Jakeem out or made him adjust really. It was always a perfect throw. I was impressed during the week and he came out and executed the same way during the game.
Did he come to you for any tips?
RYAN TANNEHILL: No, after I saw him run it the first time, I thought, ‘He’s got this. He doesn’t need any tips.’”
Any tips from him?
RYAN TANNEHILL: No. (laughter) Tips on speed maybe.
Speaking of WR Albert Wilson, talk about how you guys have been able to jell with him being new to the team. Sometimes it can take a moment for that relationship to be the way it needs to be for you to be clicking on all cylinders, but you guys have seemed to have handled it well in these first few games already.
RYAN TANNEHILL: Albert came in and jumped in with both feet. He was here in the spring, in March. As soon as we signed him, we were out there throwing twice a week, had a good turn out. He’s just a grinder. He comes to work every single day and puts his heart into it and just works. When you have that kind of buy-in from a guy and a guy who is willing to sacrifice and do whatever he can for this team to win, he’s going to have success. He can’t help but have success. I’m really proud of him and the way he’s come on for us.
Are you aware that the two pitches to WR Albert Wilson and WR Jakeem Grant went for scores went down on the stat sheet as touchdown passes by you?
RYAN TANNEHILL: Is that a question? Yes, I’m well aware. (laughter) Bonus, man. No question.
And happy about it.
RYAN TANNEHILL: Yes, of course. (laughter) Why wouldn’t I be?
What about the touchdown to Kenny Stills, which probably was a little bit more up there on your degree of difficulty scale.
RYAN TANNEHILL: That was a tough one. It was third-and-long. They came down, safety came down over Kenny. I saw him kind of playing flat footed. Offensive line did a good job of giving me a little time and Kenny was beating them with speed, so I put it out there. Kenny made a great catch in the back of the end zone. That’s tough to do running full speed, you know you’re going to run into the wall, to concentrate, catch the ball and get his feet in. That was a big play.
RB Frank Gore said he believes something special is building in in that locker room.
RYAN TANNEHILL: I believe we’re on the right track. The patterns that we have established so far, the way we work in practice, the way we support each other and stick together through adversity, we’re on the right track. Are we there yet? No. But the patterns we’re establishing are going to take us there. We just have to stay the course, keep working and take it one game at a time.
It looked like the first quarter early on it was a lot of the usual underneath stuff, taking whatever you could get. It looked at some point it evolved into challenging them more vertically down the field. Did anything change defensively that you thought that would allow you to do that or was it just … I was wondering how that evolves as far as going for the short stuff and then eventually going for the long stuff?
RYAN TANNEHILL: They changed things up a little bit. Nothing too crazy. That’s just kind of the way the game fell, the way the game was being called and the way we were playing on offense. There was nothing too crazy that I can say about it, it was just kind of the way the game went.
