Ryan Tannehill – October 3, 2018
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Wednesday, October 3, 2018
QB Ryan Tannehill
(I guess in some segments out there, there’s a narrative that the sky might be falling for you guys with the loss and with the roster move of DT Jordan Phillips. But it occurs to me you’ve been through all of this and more in your seven-year career with the Dolphins. You’ve seen a lot of stuff. How do you regard this and when do you classify something as “This is a big deal?”) – “We’re just moving on to the next week. I think, obviously, last week was what it was. It was a bad outing by us all the way around; but it’s Wednesday. We’re moving on to Cincinnati and that’s behind us now.”
(I guess one more on last week: how did you evaluate your play personally?) – “I need to be better. I need to be better. As the leader of this offense, we go as I go, so I’ve got to be better.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase told us there were some instances where WR Jakeem Grant and WR Danny Amendola were pretty wide open. Did you see on film what may have broken down there that you didn’t see?) – “Yes. Sometimes it’s just a play call of where my read starts on a certain play; but when you have guys open, you have to find a way to find them.”
(How do the offensive line injuries change what you do and some of the more responsibility you have to take?) – “As a quarterback, you have to help your guys out as much as you can. If guys go down – losing (Josh) Sitton first and now we lose (Daniel) Kilgore – it’s tough to come in off the bench and not miss a beat. As a quarterback, I have to make sure that we’re in the right plays and I can get the ball out quickly and get into our playmakers’ hands. It’s tough to ask those guys to protect for long periods of time on each play. We want to be able to get the ball out quickly, get the ball in our guys’ hands and that way they don’t have to protect for too long and when we do call a shot, if it takes a second, they can get the job done.”
(What’s your level of confidence in that group at this point?) – “I’m confident. I’m confident. I’m obviously excited about Travis (Swanson) and being able to work with him throughout this week. I didn’t work with him a lot previously, so in order to get ready for Sunday, we’re going to have to spend a lot of time together this week and really get on the same page with everything; but I’m confident in his ability. He’s done a good job since he got here. I think he’ll be ready to go by Sunday.”
(How important do you think it is for the team’s rushing game to get going?) – “It’s important. It’s something we’ve done well in the past and we have good backs. We have opportunities. We get a lot of action off the play-action. It opens up a lot of other avenues on our offense. It is important for us to get the run game going early. It’s obviously something we didn’t do well last week and we need to be better this week.”
(How long does it typically take a quarterback-center relationship to develop the way you want it to be?) – “It depends. In this offense, it can happen quickly. The way we do things, it’s not complicated. It’s pretty clear. It’s something that I’m not worried about. It’s going to happen by Sunday.”
(DT Davon Godchaux said a loss like that can actually be a positive thing. Do you feel that way?) – “You never want to lose. Obviously, it hurts; but when you have a tough loss like that, it does make you – as a team – come back in and really take a hard look at what happened and the reality of the situation, coach extremely hard, be extremely hard on yourselves and really tighten things up and move on to the next week. I can say you do get some things out of losing a game. Obviously, you’d rather learn those lessons after a win, but when you lose a game like that, there is an intensity I think that comes along with it and a deeper reflection on everybody within the organization – so coaching staff, players, everybody that’s involved – taking a little bit deeper self-reflective look on what we did wrong and how we can improve.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase has said that you guys looked pretty good today in practice as far as turning the page and really focusing on Cincinnati. When do you know that the team has done that and is actually ready to focus on Cincinnati?) – “I felt that way today. I felt that way from our first meeting today. It was good energy. Guys turned the page. On Monday, you come in and everyone feels the weight of the loss and is going through the emotion of not performing, going out and kind of laying an egg like we did on Sunday. That weighs heavily on everyone involved because you do put so much work (in). We felt like we had a great week of preparation leading up to it and we just didn’t go out and perform. (On Monday) it’s weighing heavily on everyone and it’s really a reflective day. Tuesday is a day to get healthy physically and flush out that. By Wednesday morning, we’re on to the next one. There’s a great energy, great vibe in the room. Guys are excited, ready to get out to practice and then we had a great energy a practice, guys working extremely hard and getting better.”
(You’re in here a lot on your day off. Did you take Tuesday off or were you in here working? Sometimes after a loss like that you just want to get away for a day.) – “No, nothing changes. Your process stays the same. Doing the things you need to do to get your body right and then starting on tape and getting ready for the next one. The process stays the same throughout a win or a loss.”
(So you were here all day yesterday?) – “Yes.”
(How do you feel physically right now?) – “I feel good. Yes, I feel good. I was a little sore after the game, but it’s worked itself out the past couple of days and I feel really good.”
(How do you feel about the first quarter of the season? You guys are 3-1 and you are in first place.) – “It was a good first quarter. Obviously, there was a bad taste in our mouth after Sunday, but you have to take a step back from that and say, ‘Okay, we’re in a good spot. We just have to keep pressing.’ First quarter is done. We’re 0-0 starting the second quarter and we have to find a way to finish this week 1-0.”
(What stands out to you when you see the Bengals defense?) – “They play fast. They have some good players. Up front, Geno Atkins, obviously is a guy who’s been a great player for a long time. They’re getting (Vontaze) Burfict back this week, so I think that’s going to be a big lift for them. They’ve got a veteran secondary, guys that’ve played. They have a lot of talent. They can show you a lot of different looks. It’s going to be a challenge for us, but we have to be ready.”
(On Sunday, it seems like if you could’ve gotten one or two of those first downs and get rolling, things may have been different. When you can’t get that first first down, what is that like?) – “It’s frustrating. We couldn’t get it rolling. I think that’s been what we’ve done. Once we can get it going, then we roll. We just couldn’t get the ball rolling. Even if we got one first down, it wasn’t really like we were rolling. That’ll be something we focus on this week is finding a way to come out, start the game fast, and then when we do get that first first down, keep it rolling and put the ball in the end zone.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase was saying that WR DeVante Parker’s injury came out of nowhere. Did that affect you guys game plan going into that Sunday?) – “Yes, of course. You have to change some things up (when) you lose a receiver on a Friday. It came out of nowhere. We were feeling really confident having him back and playing at a high level. Obviously, (he) played the week before, but was taking even another step forward going two weeks in a row, so that definitely hurt.”
(It’s a question you get asked regularly, but on third downs, this past week – not to dwell on it – but it seemed magnified. When you go back and look at it, do you guys try to change things up on first and second down to get that quick start like you’re talking about a little bit more so?) – “We were bad on third, we were bad on second and we were bad on first. It’s all tied together. When you’re in a third-and-long situations, which we were, you’re not going to be in good situations. It really comes down to first and second down, being efficient and keeping it third-and-manageable and we feel confident we’ll convert from there.”
