Ryan Tannehill – November 28, 2018
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Wednesday, November 28, 2018
QB Ryan Tannehill
(How are you feeling?) – “Good. A little general soreness after the game. (It was my) first time playing in a while. I didn’t take many hits, but (I had) general soreness from the first time playing in a while.”
(Were you surprised it wasn’t more of an issue?) – “No. I felt good. My confidence was built during the week, being able to throw Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and really didn’t run into any hang-ups there. I felt good going into the game that it wasn’t going to be an issue.”
(Did you have any moments during the game where you kind of held your breath for a second because you landed on it or got hit directly in the shoulder?) – “No. If you’re holding your breath, it’s probably too late. (laughter)”
(Any that you were kind of waiting to see how it reacted once you got up?) – “Obviously, it doesn’t feel good going down to the ground on it. I’m still not 100 percent. But nothing that lingered or anything like that.”
(There were a couple times during the game when you took a hit and you kind of gave a little thumbs up to the sideline. Was that to anyone specific or was it just like you letting them know you were okay?) – “Sometimes (Head Coach Adam) Gase will pop in my helmet and just make sure everything is all right. He’s like my mom, like ‘Are you okay?’ (laughter)”
(The harness – did you wear it in practice but not the game?) – “No, I wore it in the game.”
(How does that limit you at all?) – “I don’t think it limits me. It gives some support, some compression, but it doesn’t limit me in any area.”
(There were two throws that stood out to me – the first one to TE Durham Smythe and the long one to WR Leonte Carroo. Were there any throws you made that reassured you that ‘I can do this, I’m okay, I’m better than maybe I thought I was?’) – “I wouldn’t say in the game, no. Going through the week, I was able to make the throws I wanted to make and put the ball where I wanted to. Like I said, my confidence was built during the week and there were really no surprises in the game.”
(How easy or hard is a game like that for you?) – “It’s tough for a good 24-48 hours. You’re watching the tape, you’re learning from it, you’re thinking about all of the things you could have done differently. But you have to turn the page. This is the NFL. You have to start getting ready for the next one. Obviously, Monday was tough coming in, taking a real look at what we did well and what we didn’t do well, talking through it with everybody, making sure that we’re all on the same page and then yesterday, I started turning the page, getting the body right, working on everything and then come in ready to go today.”
(When you think of all the things you could’ve done differently, did you go back to the third-and-10 and do you think ‘I could’ve changed the play’ or ‘I could’ve audibled?’) – “No. That’s not something that I think about. I think (Coach Gase) had a reason he called that. It’s something we talked about throughout the week. Obviously, not at the end of the game, but in third-and-10 situations, they were extremely good on third-and-long situations. I understood the call when it came in and I’m not out there just checking all types of plays. Things we talk about during the week, I’ll check – if we get a certain look on a certain play. But it’s not often that he’s calling one play and I’m just completely waving him off to another play. He has a reason why he’s calling things and wants things ran a certain way, so that’s what we do.”
(On average, how often do you think that you audible in a game?) – “We have a lot of checks. I wouldn’t say completely waving him off probably ever. I don’t know. Ten, fifteen plays a game we have adjustments, checks that we can make.”
(Is there anything in the fourth quarter that you personally would like to have back?) – “Yeah, of course. We had that second-down pass to Kenny (Stills). That’s one we have to hit. They did a good job on first down of that second drive we had. They did a good job of taking away the screen to Frank (Gore), and then we had Kenny on that in-cut. We just weren’t able to connect there. We needed it. We needed it in that situation, so obviously you would like to have that one back.”
(I’m sure this isn’t a priority right now, but do you at all think that you have to play well the last five weeks of the season to be the quarterback in 2019?) – “I don’t know what the agenda is, but that’s my goal is to go play well and lead this team to wins. I don’t try to think about things I can’t control. (I) just go out and control what I can control and play as best I can.”
(Has anyone given you any assurances beyond this year?) – “No. I haven’t discussed it and it doesn’t matter at this point. It’s a matter of going out, playing for this team and winning games, giving us a chance to get in the playoffs.”
(Have you kind of gotten used to the shoulder pain as much as possible?) – “Yeah. It’s at a manageable level, like I said last week. It’s there. It’s tolerable. I don’t mind it. It’s something I can deal with and play through, so hopefully it just continues to decrease. It does feel a little bit better this week, so hopefully we just keep on that trend and keep getting better.”
(What did you have to do to be able to play on Sunday besides wear the harness? Did you need anything else?) – “No, that’s it. I have a warmup routine – a program – that I go through to get ready for practice or a game and then just stuck with that. I got ready, got loose and I was ready to go.”
(What have you seen on film from the Bills defense and their challenge?) – “They’re a good defense. They’re playing well. They play fast. I think that’s one thing that jumps out on tape is the speed they play with, especially at the linebacker position. Those linebackers are flying around, playing extremely fast sideline-to-sideline. I have a ton of respect for them. Obviously, (they are) a top ranked defense against the pass. They’re doing a really good job. Their guys up front are able to push the pocket and get pressure. Jerry Hughes is a guy that’s been doing it a long time. Kyle Williams is another veteran that has been doing it a long time. They’re playing at a high level. Their secondary is playing well. I think they’re doing a good job of not allowing explosive (plays). They try to really limit those and make you go the length of the field, kind of like what we saw last week. They’re playing well.”
(When you left after the fifth game of the season, you had five veteran, really good receivers. It was probably the deepest spot on the team. You come back, two guys on the practice squad at the beginning of the year now are part of your receiver arsenal and a guy who wasn’t on the team in Brice Butler. How big of an adjustment has that been for you?) – “It’s definitely a little bit different, just the type of guys we have and the guys we lost – the skillsets that Jakeem (Grant) and Albert (Wilson) had just to stretch things a little bit for us. We have to adjust. That’s the game. You adjust to the players you have and I’m confident in the guys we have out there that they’ll get open and do a good job for us.”
(Did you notice any rust at all, either during the week of practice or during the game that you feel you have to knock off and maybe give you a higher ceiling this week?) – “Yeah, definitely. If you don’t play for six weeks, you’re not going to come out at your best. During the week last week, just getting comfortable and back in the pocket and getting used to moving around, feeling things is obviously not something that comes right back overnight. I’m working extremely hard on that throughout the week and obviously feel better than I did last week at this point.”
(With Bills QB Josh Allen, he’s a rookie quarterback and teams are trying to disguise things and confuse him. Do you remember your rookie season, what teams would do to try to do that to you?) – “Honestly that was so long ago, I feel like I’m 90 compared to my rookie year. (laughter) That was so long ago. I’ve learned so much since then. I don’t remember a whole lot of specifics on specific teams or anything like that; but, yeah, when you face a rookie quarterback, that’s something that I think that all teams will try to do is give you tough looks, especially if it fits what your defense does, specifically. I know our defense throws a lot of looks out there no matter who we’re playing, whether it’s Tom Brady or Josh Allen. They’re going to throw out a bunch of looks and try to make it tough, try to disguise and hopefully we get home this week.”
(With the standings, do you feel like the margin for error is pretty close to zero at this point?) – “Yeah, the margin is small. It is what it is. We have to go out and we have to win. That’s what it is. There’s not a whole lot of sugarcoating it. We have to go out and play well and win.”
(Do you think it’s fair for the Dolphins to evaluate you over your last five games of the season?) – “Yeah, if you’re on the field, you’re getting evaluated. That is what it is. Whatever you put on tape, that’s what every team, this team and every other team has to go on. If you’re on the field, you’re getting evaluated.”
