Ryan Tannehill – July 30, 2018
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Monday, July 30, 2018
QB Ryan Tannehill
(What is your son, Steel Tannehill, looking like in terms of position?) – “Right now he’s the fun assistant. I don’t know what position he is. He’s the fun assistant, yes.”
(It was scrappy today. Do you like seeing that from some of your receivers like WR Jakeem Grant and WR Danny Amendola?) – “Yes, I mean there’s good and bad to it. You see the fire that some of our guys have and the passion we play with and you love seeing that aspect. You love seeing the competitiveness, the desire to win. You don’t really want to take away from practice and be a distraction and slow down, take away from the greater good. So there’s a fine line. There’s a fine line between going all out and then being a distraction and taking away from what we’re trying to accomplish. On one hand, I love to see it. I love to see the fire that our guys have. On the other hand, it takes away from us a little bit.”
(As a leader, do you kind of express that opinion a little bit when you get back to the locker room?) – “We’ve already addressed it. We addressed it after practice with our offensive guys. They’re on board. It’s a competitive sport. It’s an emotional sport. When you’re going against the same guys day in and day out, little things start to build up and become bigger than what they really are; but that’s just the nature of the business whenever you’re facing the same guy play in, play out, day in, day out. But I like what I see from our guys as far as the fire.”
(Can you give us a couple of examples of things that have pleasantly surprised you with your offensive weapons the last three months whether it’s the rookies or RB Frank Gore’s speed or one of the new receivers. What couple of things come to mind?) – “It’s tough to say. They’ve been good all around for us. Albert (Wilson) has picked up the offense really quickly, as well as Danny (Amendola). It really kind of surprised me how well they just kind of dropped in and got on board with exactly what we were trying to do. It’s not perfect, but no one is. And just the fact that they kind of jumped right in and haven’t really missed a beat has been huge for us. You see the kind of weapons we have in the first and second units right now. There’s really not too many loopholes in there. As far as other guys, Frank, it really surprised me how hard he hits the hole. When he runs downhill, he puts his foot in the ground and he goes. You see it on the tape, but to see it in person, you see a crease that’s a foot wide, barely able to get a helmet through there and somehow he fits his whole body through there and is off to the next level. That’s probably been the most fun thing for me as far as just seeing him put his foot on the ground and go downhill and find a way to get through a crease where it looks like a human being can’t fit.”
(Any early observations at tight end? How ready TE Mike Gesicki looks? What you’re getting from some of the other guys?) – “Gesicki is coming on for us. He’s young; he’s learning. He’s hungry to learn. He has incredible range, and that’s one thing that’s struck me from him so far is just his range. If you put a ball … (he has a) huge radius. He’s got a huge catch radius. If you put a ball anywhere near him, he has the ability to either jump and get it or reach out and get it. One way or the other, he’s going to get his hands on it. That’s been very impressive so far.”
(Obviously you’re not to be touched but when these things are going on, do you ever talk a little smack out as well because guys say they talk a lot of smack. Do you, as a quarterback in the league, do you talk a little bit?) – “Yes, I like to mix it up a little bit. You can’t say too … I don’t really go into the fisticuffs. I don’t go in there throwing hands or anything, but yes, especially with Bobby (McCain). I like to talk a lot of noise with Bobby just because Bobby never shuts up. I like to give it back to him as much as I can.”
(So you expect what’s going on with CB Bobby McCain and WR Danny Amendola?) – “Yes, those guys have a good competitive fire to them. Right after the little scuffle, they went up and dapped it up. That’s just kind of the competitive fire both of those guys have, as well as the professionalism of, ‘Hey, we’re competing. It’s over and we’re ready for the next play.’”
(As far as the back and forth, was it annoying to have to do those push-ups after the one-on-one drills?) – “Yes. I mean ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) made a great play on that one-on-one we had. We had DeVante (Parker) on a takeoff. I thought he did a good job of getting back to the red line. I thought I threw a good ball on the outside, and ‘X’ elevated and got his long arm on the ball. I have to give my hat off to ‘X’ right there for making a good play.”
(You said you talk a lot to CB Bobby McCain. What’s your go-to line to Bobby?) – “It’s never one line. It’s all mixing it up. Whatever the situation is.”
(S T.J. McDonald said that CB Xavien Howard is a lock-down cornerback. Going against him, what are your thoughts?) – “He’s had a good camp so far. He’s physical. He’s long. He’s tall. He has a good feel for when to get his head back to get a hand on the ball. He’s playing well for us so far.”
(Quick thoughts on TE Durham Smythe? We’ve seen him show some receiving ability. He didn’t get a lot of chances at Notre Dame. And RB Kalen Ballage, your impressions of him?) – “With Durham, he’s had a strong start to camp. (Offensive Coordinator) Dowell (Loggains) has pointed out a couple of times to me just his improvement in blocking – his soundness and his fundamentals and how he is improving in blocking. That’s going to be huge for us as we move forward. He just needs to keep improving on that. Yesterday he had a pass route where he got off the ball and was running and flashed. You don’t think of him as a burner or a speed guy, but he got off the ball and was moving. In the quarterback room, we kind of noticed like, ‘Wow, he’s moving on this rep.’ You kind of think of him maybe as more of a blocker, but he does have the speed and athleticism to help us in the passing game as well. Kalen, he’s been good. He’s coming on. He’s a big, strong, physical guy. He runs really hard. We’re moving him around a lot. It’s hard on him right now because we’re moving him out in the pass game. We have him in the backfield in protection and the run game. There’s a lot on his plate right now, but he’s doing a good job of learning and applying himself.”
(How do you feel physically overall five days into camp?) – “I feel great. I feel great. I was telling somebody the other day, I feel like I’m 25, but 30 just sounds old.”
(So you feel soreness, but good soreness? What’s it like for the quarterback?) – “I’m not even really sore. I came in pushing myself in the offseason, throwing a lot, getting ready to go. I was actually pleasantly surprised. Day 2, I came out here and I was kind of expecting a little arm soreness just with the increased load. It’s one of those where you expect to be sore or a little tight and it’s not, you’re like, ‘Oh, all right, good. It’s been good so far.’ Hopefully, I hope to keep it that way as we move forward and the load increases even more; but I feel great so far.”
(After turning 30, where do you think that places you in your career arc?) – “Honestly, I don’t know. I’m just trying to get better. I feel like I have a lot of good football left in front of me and just want to be the best I can this year and we’ll focus on what’s after that then.”
(Did you work with WR Isaiah Ford during when you were battling to come back? Did you guys work together during the rehab process at all?) – “Yes. It was nice to have Isaiah. Unfortunately, he was coming off an injury as well. He was the one guy I could kind of throw to during the rehab process and be within the rules. We had a lot of time together, a lot of good reps and I think it’s showing so far. He’s a talented guy, he’s able to make plays on the ball and he’s doing a good job so far in camp of showing that.”
