Ryan Tannehill – May 26, 2016
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Thursday, May 26, 2016
Quarterback Ryan Tannehill
(On how he would describe Head Coach Adam Gase as a teacher) – “He’s an excellent teacher. That’s one of the things I noticed about him from Day 1, when we were going through the installs right here in this room. He’s very efficient. He’s clear. He makes it to where it’s easy to understand. Everyone in the room can understand exactly what he’s saying and what he expects. I definitely think that’s one of his strongest attributes is his teaching ability.”
(On if he’s seen Head Coach Adam Gase get mad yet) – “He hasn’t blown a gasket or anything like that. Obviously, if things don’t go well, he’s not feeling good at practice. I think he’s kept his composure, and he hasn’t erupted or anything like that. It’s always a possibility if things aren’t going well, but right now we’re in a learning phase. We’re in a teaching phase. Things weren’t as clean as we’d like them to be today. We had some mess-ups (and) had some plays that didn’t work out the way we wanted them to, but it’s Day 3 of OTAs. We’re learning. We’re getting better (and) progressing each and every day. We want it to happen quickly, and I think that’s what we’re pushing for each and every day. But at the same time, you have to give guys a chance to learn it. If we’re still making that same mistake next week, then we have a problem. But (this is the) first go around this week of some of the things we were doing today. The defense put some stuff in today that we hadn’t seen so far. It was a good challenge. It was a good challenge for both sides of the ball.”
(On why he was doing push-ups at practice and if it was self-induced) – “I missed a target, so it was self-induced. Twenty push-ups.”
(On how different he will be as a quarterback with more freedom at the line of scrimmage) – “I’m still the same quarterback. Obviously, having that freedom to get the offense in a good play … We do a lot of things differently now. Being able to be on the line of scrimmage (and) adjust – whether its protections, routes, a whole new play … There’s a lot of freedom in what we do. I think that’s going to make us always on the attack. We’re not going to have to sit on our heels and feel like the defense is coming after us, and we have to figure out a way to make it work. We can put pressure on the defense by getting in a good play and always keeping the heat on the defense.”
(On the importance of tempo and creating mismatches) – “Tempo is important. That’s one of the reasons we’re on the line. We want to keep the pressure on the defense. Sometimes we’re going to get on the ball and snap the ball quickly and snap the ball with 30 seconds left on the play clock. Sometimes we’re going to get on the ball, use a cadence, use a hard count, see what the defense is in, adjust the play and go from there. Just because you’re on the ball doesn’t mean you’re going as fast as you can all the way down the field. We’re going to mix it up. We’re going to be moving quickly at times and then at other times we’re going to get quickly to the line and make the adjustment. Creating matchups, that’s the NFL. You want to get yourself in good matchups across the board whether it’s (the) run game or (the) pass game. I think we have a talented group of receivers, tight ends and backs that are going to create mismatches. That’s going to be fun for us to be able to move those guys around to create those mismatches.”
(On how frustrating last year was for WR DeVante Parker and how liberating it is for him now that he’s healthy) – “I think it was really frustrating, especially early on, just dealing with the foot injury and having a repeat of it. Just getting that confidence back … I think you saw – the last six to eight games of the year – his confidence start to build. He made more and more plays it seemed like as the weeks went on. He got more comfortable and more confident and was attacking the football. He’s starting at that point now. We can build from where he is at now, and the sky is the limit for him.”
(On his expectations for WR DeVante Parker this year) – “I expect big things out of him. I expect him to be a heck of a football player (and) a guy that other teams fear, because he can make big plays down the field (and) inside. He’s a big-bodied guy. He’s a guy that we’re going to want to use in the red zone and we’re going to want to use him on third downs and to stretch the field, as well.”
(On if he’s jaded or excited about learning another new offense) – “I’m excited. I’m excited about what this offense entails. It entails a lot of fun stuff for a quarterback to be able to direct traffic, keep pressure on the defense – like I said – and get us in a good play. To me, that’s exciting. That’s something you come to work and you’re excited about putting your team in the best possible situation. I think this is an exciting offense to be in – regardless of what position you’re in – because of how we’re going to attack defenses, Coach Gase and what he brings to the table (and) his aggressive style and always wanting to keep the heat on the defense.”
(On why this is different than previous offenses) – “We’re going to have tempo in this offense, as well. With (former Offensive Coordinator) Bill’s (Lazor) offense, we wanted to create tempo, and we were kind of locked in. What he called is what we ran. With this offense, we’re going to mix things up. We’re going to move quickly at times, snap the ball quickly. At other times, we’re going to get up to the line quickly and take our time. At other times we’re going to huddle and be like a standard offense. Just the variability and the versatility that this offense has and the different things that we can do to create the drives that we want to create down the field.”
(On how much the personnel additions made to the offense this offseason helps take the unit to the next level) – “It’s huge. We’ve been sacked a lot here in the past few years, so to see them take a big step and have a guy like (G/T Laremy) Tunsil fall to us in the first round was huge for us. I’m completely impressed by what he’s done so far, his athleticism. You look at him … The first day in the weight room working out, the first day I saw him here in person, I kind of looked over (and) I didn’t realize he was here yet. I looked over, and I was like ‘Wow! That looks like an offensive lineman.’ He’s athletic. He’s big. (He has) long arms. He’s what you want to see in an offensive lineman. I’m really excited to have him. (G/T Jermon) Bushrod is a veteran guy who has been around and played a lot of football. He’s definitely going to help us. And then the skill guys we added, as well. We have talent. A fun guy that you’re going to see is (WR) Jakeem (Grant). He’s small, but we call him ‘Mighty Mouse.’ He’s making plays all over the field. He’s one of the fastest guys I’ve ever seen. He has that low center of gravity. He’s able to be really, really shifty coming in and out of his cuts. He makes a lot of plays so far.”
(On the younger receivers and if there is an extra learning curve or extra kinks the team has to work out in the coming weeks) – “We’re still learning right now. We’re putting in new things each and every day. Things we maybe went through once against air, now we’re going against a defense with it. There’s definitely still a lot of learning going on. Each and every play is a learning experience for everyone that’s on the field. We’re going to continue to work (on) our timing, our relationships on the field, whether it’s being in the right spot, the adjustments we make. All of those things we’re going to continue to get better as OTAs go on and as camp goes on. Hopefully, we’ll be at 100 percent once Week 1 hits.”
(On directing traffic and then the importance of communication and how the team is working to build that communication) – “Communication is huge. That’s where it all starts. It starts with the quarterback making the call and then it goes to the receivers communicating what they have, the offensive line communicating what their calls are and who they’re blocking. And then when you start making checks, the defense is moving around and making adjustments. It all starts with communication. You have to know what to do, but then you have to communicate so you’re all on the same page.”
(On if we will see him doing push-ups during games) – “I don’t think so.” (laughter)
(On how he would evaluate this week) – “Today was definitely the day with the most (improvement), I’ll put it that way. As you get deeper into the installs – and the defense gets deeper into the installs – there’s more on our plates, so there’s going to be a few more mistakes, I think, (with) these Day 3 (and) Day 4 (practices). We have to learn from it. We have to move quickly. We have to watch the tape, see where we messed up and not make that same mistake again. I definitely say we’re getting better every day. I see guys already learning from the mistakes they made in Day 1, and we’re not seeing those same mistakes. There’s a bunch of routes today that I looked at, and we didn’t run them that way in Day 1 and Day 2, but we got them right today. There’s a lot of positive things out there, as well, and things that we can build on.”
(On WR Leonte Carroo and what he can bring to the offense) – “I’m excited. I’m excited to see him work. He kind of got dinged up (his) first day here, so (I) haven’t got to see a lot of what he can do so far. But I like his personality. I think he’s a strong, physical guy that’s going to be a weapon for us. He’s going to be able to have some run-after-catch (yards), be physical with the corners (and) be physical down the field. It’s always good to have a strong body type that can combat (the) quickness of a guy like Jakeem (Grant). You have a ying and a yang there.”
(On making this his offense) – “It’s an important thing, for sure. It’s fun for me to be able to dive in and take ownership of the offense (and) being able to learn it like a coach. That’s ultimately what I want to do: I want to be a guy on the field that anyone on the field can come to and ask a question, and I have the answers. (I am) still in that learning process, but trying to get through that as quickly as I can so that I am that guy that everyone can look to on the field and ask me a question and know exactly what they have. That’s part of being a leader is knowing what everyone needs and be available for them when they need help.”
