Ryan Tannehill – November 25, 2018 (Postgame)
Sunday, November 25, 2018
Postgame – Indianapolis Colts
Miami Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill (Transcribed by Indianapolis Colts)
How did you feel on the first drive when you lead the team down the field for the touchdown?
“I felt good. I think we came out and did what we wanted to do on that first drive. I stepped up and made some plays. We were able to get into the end zone.”
How did you feel during the course of the game, health-wise, physically? How did it feel for you coming back from a layoff?
“It felt really good. The shoulder wasn’t an issue. I really didn’t even think about it throughout the game. I’m excited for as far as how the shoulder will go.”
Obviously, the last couple drives really spelled the difference in this football game? From where you were standing, what was going on that made it so difficult to move the ball at that point?
“We didn’t execute the calls that came in. They did a good job defending them, we’ve got to give them credit but I still think we had opportunities. We didn’t execute the calls good enough to convert first downs. We were kind of backed up on the field, so coach was trying to just get the ball out of that backed up situation and offensively we didn’t handle it the way we should have.”
Six games left going into this one, an important game for you on the road, it didn’t come out the way you wanted it. How does it feel in the locker room? Your guys’ mindset right now after this game?
“It hurts. This one hurts. The way it went down, the way we felt like we were playing throughout the game. We scored to go up 10 and we were running the ball well and moving the ball efficiently, defense came up with some big stops and then down the stretch we didn’t execute. The way it went down, obviously, really hurts, you’ve to be able to get past it. There’re still five football games in front of us, everything we want still on the table. Obviously, this one hurts. AFC game, on the road, one that we were in a good position to win and to not finish it hurts.”
This game is somewhat similar to the Cincinnati game where you’re up by 17 there and then the bottom kind of falls out, here you’re up by 10 and then the bottom falls out. Is there something similar in those games that closing those games out when you’ve got the lead has been difficult for this team?
“No, I don’t think so. I think in Cincinnati, those plays are on me and I take full responsibility. Today, I think those are kind of fluke, dumb mistakes by me. Today, we just, as a group, when it came down to it at the end, they tightened up on defense. They made some good plays, came off the football and stopped the run. It hurts because we were moving the ball so well on the run game, we’re getting five, six, eight, 10 yards a pop. So we get backed up, we think ‘All right, we should be able to punch this thing out on the ground.’ They did a good job of tightening up their front and making plays there on the line of scrimmage and we just didn’t get it out of there.”
On your series before that, I think you were still leading. On first down it was a pass, on second down it as a pass and then it was a handoff on third down to Kenyan. You were running the ball well. What was the thinking of, ‘We’re running the ball well, so let’s throw it?’
“First down ball we had a screen call and they did a good job of playing the screen. Couldn’t get the ball to the back, he ran around our blocker and I had to throw it away. Second down we had a play action, thinking maybe they were going to step up on the run and [we’d] have an opportunity downfield. They brought some pressure and were able to step up. We just weren’t able to connect. Like I said, we had opportunities there. There were times during the game when we thought the screens would be good. Going into that, we thought the screen would be good and they ended up giving us a little bit different look and playing it really well. You have to give credit to them.”
And as the quarterback on third and 10, way backed up, do you understand the play it safe type of thing or did you want a chance to throw the ball?
“Of course, I understand. I’m a competitor, so I want the ball in my hands and I want to make that play. But I understand the situation obviously we were in. We were inside our own 10, long yardage situation. They had been playing soft coverage, sinking everyone underneath in those long yardage situations. The percentages are low. Thinking, ‘Hey, if we can get a block on one guy and make one guy miss.’ There were a couple situations where we did run the ball and were able to get really close runs. I totally understand the call there but as a competitor it’s tough. You want that ball in your hands.”
Did you ever appeal the case? Say, ‘Hey, I want to throw.’
“It’s tough to do that when you’re standing in the middle of the field and he’s on the sidelines. My job is to execute the calls that come in and do the best that I can. Like I said, I understand the call. I think it had a chance to work. I had a light block, blockers were soft. We weren’t able to get off on the double team off on MIKE and that guy ended up making the play. If we execute the play to how it’s called, we’ve got a shot. Obviously, it’s not going to be an easy first down. But (Kenyan) Drake had made some guys miss, he caught a short pass earlier. It shouldn’t have worked, but he made some guys miss. That was a third-and-4 or third-and-16 and we were one yard short on a short check-down and blocking downfield. Those long yardage situations are tough, guys are going to have to do something kind of special to get that first down if you chuck it down underneath. We felt like we had an opportunity.”
Did you kind of worry that you wouldn’t get the ball back, knowing who was on the other field?
“Honestly, I thought out defense would come up with a stop. I had full faith in them. I have a ton of respect for Andrew (Luck) and I know what he’s done, but I have faith in this team and this defense and we had a good punt. Matt (Haak) had a couple big punts late, kind of pushed them as far back as we could. We had them at third and nine there I’m thinking ‘hey, we’re getting this stop, get this ball back and we’re going to go win this game’. But they made a good play, stepped up and found the open guy.”
What happened on the touchdown pass to Leonte Carroo?
“Scrambled, they covered what we had called. I was able to get outside. Saw the safety coming down and he had leverage on his guy crossing and just kind of waved him to keep going and put it up. He made a heck of a play going up and taking away from the guy and finishing in the end zone.”
You threw it about 44 yards, did you have no concern it would get there? That’s a pretty deep ball.
“Yeah, that’s not too far.”
How did the shoulder respond to that?
“Good. Really good. I had no issues with the shoulder.”
