Ryan Tannehill – September 19, 2018
Download PDF version
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
QB Ryan Tannehill
(So Raiders Head Coach Jon Gruden made you the quarterback you are today, basically, because of his QB camp?) – “Yes. I thank that QB camp for everything – not my teammates or my coaching staff or all of the people who helped me along the way. (laughter) It was that three hours I spent with Gruden, no question. (laughter)”
(Do you have any good memories from Jon Gruden’s QB Camp or any funny stories of him?) – “Yes, it was a good time. I think you have such a respect for him coming out of college and what he was as a coach and then the personality as a commentator and then he starts the FFCA – Fired Football Coaches of America. (laughter) I had fun with it. He still grinded away. He’s in his little cave there in Tampa and I had a good time. We talked a lot of ball and then went out onto the field and through it around a little bit.”
(Were you around him enough that you picked up some of the mannerisms? Can you do a good Gruden impression?) – “I don’t know if I can do a good Gruden (impression), but he always pronounced my name funny. Tanney-hill. (laughter) That’s probably all I’ve got. (laughter)”
(Did you ever correct Gruden?) – “Eh. It was close enough. (laughter)”
(So it’s a big grudge match on Sunday then so you can show Gruden.) – “Yes, a huge grudge match. It’ll probably make all of the headlines – a huge grudge match. (laughter) No, it was a good time. I had a lot of fun with it. I think he enjoyed doing it along the way. It was definitely something I look back and have fond memories of.”
(When people have an idea of mobile quarterbacks, they talk QB Cam Newton, QB Marcus Mariota and QB Alex Smith. Your name doesn’t often come up but if you look at your stats, you’re right there. Do you feel like you are a mobile quarterback? Are you a guy that relishes running?) – “Yes. I don’t really care if people want to consider it or talk about me; but it’s something I like to use. When the defense presents itself, whenever we feel like we can use it as a weapon – whether it’s through the zone read game or getting outside the pocket and running – it’s definitely something that I think can add an element to our offense to where teams have to defend it.”
(I guess the first play of the game last week, I think you said it wasn’t a designed run. That was supposed to be a throw?) – “Yes, that was just a bootleg pass. Danny (Amendola) ended up getting hung up on the back side, so there was a ton of space there and I was able to scoot through.”
(What kind of tone does that set when you can rip off a 20- or 25-yard run on the first play of the game?) – “It’s always good to get started with an explosive (play) – whether it’s a run or a pass. Something we talk about a lot is coming out and getting that first first down, because we feel like once we get our first first down, we usually sustain drives. To be able to come out and get an explosive (play) early is big.”
(Those runs are something you’ve done in your past, especially in 2016. Are you kind of surprised that they kind of just leave that open for you a little bit and that teams haven’t really picked up on the fact that you can run it?) – “Well, teams know. I think it’s just a matter of defending it. It’s hard to defend those plays. When you put pressure on them and change up the looks you’re giving the defensive end with the guy is cutting back, the guy is blocking him, the guy is going around him – they’re seeing a bunch of different looks. We try to mix it up as much as we can so they don’t just know zone read is coming at them. They have to play what they see. When there is any hesitation, the offense can get the advantage.”
(You’ve won two-thirds of your games with Head Coach Adam Gase and nine out of your last 10 games with him. I know you can kind of make what you want of statistics but I was wondering what you think it is about the combination of you and Coach Gase that is working.) – “I think we work well together. I think there was a little bit of a period of finding out what each other did well and how we could best push each other and push this offense and work together. I think we kind of figured that out midway through 2016, then we started playing well and then unfortunately I got injury. But yes, I think it’s just the cohesion of our two minds. We work really well together. We think alike. He’s constantly pushing me to get better, whether it’s something pre-snap, post-snap, during the play, a footwork thing or what to look at. He’s constantly just pushing little areas where I can get better. I love it. I love trying to push myself and being the best quarterback I can be.”
(At 2-0, are you starting to see reasons why you’re having success? Are there things that you are doing consistently – not you, but the offense – that leads to winning football games?) – “Well, I think they were two different games. If you look at the first game and then this last one, we found a way to win both games and they were two completely different ballgames. What I like is the fact that this team has a hunger and a desire to find a way to win. That’s what it comes down to. It’s not always going to be pretty. Sometimes you’re going to be clicking on all cylinders for the whole game. Sometimes we started off playing really well (last week) and balancing off the defense, then in the second half we couldn’t quite get it going and weren’t playing great; but when it came down to it at the end, when we needed something to make it happen, we hung in there and fought and were able to run out the clock. I like the grit I see from this team. We have a lot of talent and a lot of guys that can be explosive with the ball in their hands. We’ve got to have that in order to be successful for four quarters. I like the grit I see and the mindset that we have that we’re going to find a way to win this game.”
(You’re putting up the stats, yet the team is eighth running the football. I imagine you’re good with a running offense, no?) – “Yes, I’m good with whatever is winning. Whatever scores points. That’s the goal of the offense is to be able to put the ball in the end zone. Whether that’s running or throwing, whatever it may be, I’m all in on getting the ball in the end zone.”
(It seems on the field you’re having a lot of fun. Is the most fun you’ve had in your career?) – “Yes, I think so. Just where I’m at in life now, how much gratitude I have after being away from the game for so long and just being able to do what I love, go out there every day, be around the guys, push the guys, try to make them the best they can be and then go out and compete on Sundays, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
(I know you probably don’t care about this but I’m curious what your theory would be. Expectations were obviously so low nationally for this team – a 3-13 record thrown out by Sports Illustrated – like really bad. Your theory is to why that is? And, in your mind, do you think people nationally might just underestimate some of your younger players that aren’t household names, like RB Kenyan Drake, WR Jakeem Grant and people like that?) – “I don’t know and I don’t really care, honestly. (laughter) I don’t want to really even think about it because I care that (little). What the national media says doesn’t really matters. What matters is the guys in this building, all the work that’s put in, the belief that we have in one another and going out and executing and finding ways to win.”
(And as far as some of the young players not being that known, do you think there could be anything to that in general?) – “Yes, I want to see our young guys get a lot of shine. We have a lot of talent on this team and I want to see them get the exposure that they deserve because I believe in them. I know that they can make big plays for us and they’re going to make big plays for us, and they should get some recognition for that. Hopefully, we just keep taking this one game at a time and it’ll take care of itself.”
(Alright, the most important question of the day: The WR Albert Wilson celebration. It looks like you tried to jump in and then you backed off. What happened?) – “Yes, I felt like I was kind of late to the party and they were already there, so I just kind of pointed at them like, ‘Hey, these are the guys who make it happen’ and let them get their shine. I didn’t want to jump in the front of their photo or anything like that. They seemed like they were having a good time. I wanted to get in but felt like I was late, so I just kind of stood to the side, pointed at them like, ‘Hey, these are the guys who make it happen.’”
(With what you have available offensively to you, how is it better than what you had in the past?) – “I don’t know. I’m not here to compare this year to last year or anything like that but I believe in the guys that we have. We have so much speed in the wide receiver room. You add in Mike Gesicki at tight end, Kenyan Drake out of the backfield, and we really have a bunch of game-breaker type guys that can really take a short pass or a run and go the distance at any point. It’s just a matter of getting the ball in their hands and letting them work.”
(That seems like an ideal situation for a quarterback – a short pass is not a very risky pass in a lot of cases – and then these guys can turn it into a big play.) – “Yes, I love throwing to these guys. It’s a lot of fun. You see Albert Wilson take a short pass this last game. He hit the guy with a ‘dead leg’ and was able to speed up the sideline for a touchdown. We also have the speed to get behind them. We can stretch the defense in a lot of different ways and get the ball in the playmakers’ hands and let them work.”
(Relatively, those are not difficult throws; is that part of the reason your completion percentage is so high, because these are such low-risk passes?) – “I guess. I don’t know. Just because I throw it short doesn’t mean it’s always low risk. It’s all relative. Putting the ball in the right spot, where the play call and the coverage dictates where the ball should go, that’s what matters. It should be low risk if I’m going to the right spot with the ball.”
(It seems like there’s this culture being created here, where every week some guys don’t necessarily know if they’re going to be playing a lot, if they’re going to be may be inactive. The question is kind of about the competitiveness that’s being instilled here. Can you talk about what you’ve seen in that area and how the coaches relate to the players?) – “I don’t know exactly the private conversations that are held, but I know that going out to practice each and every day, that we want to compete. We want to push each other. You have to play well week to week. That’s what it comes down to is guys practicing hard, getting better week in and week out, pushing each other, and we want our best guys on the field.”
(I know it’s only been a couple games this year, but what’s the biggest difference you’ve noticed on the field since the last time you were on the field in 2016?) – “It’s tough to say. That was so long ago. Like I said, this team has grit. I think that team had grit too. We found a way to win games at the end in 2016 and it seems like we’re turning into that team here as well. It’s early. We have a lot of football left in front of us. It’s only Week 3, but this is a big week for us and we need to find a way to come out with a win.”
(Were you surprised that WR DeVante Parker was down this past week?) – “I don’t know. It was kind of up in the air on if he was going to be able to go or not coming off the injury. Breaking in that finger – that’s a bad word, right, for a broken finger? (laughter) – getting comfortable, I guess, coming off the broken finger and the surgery and the confidence of where he was at. I knew it was kind of back and forth throughout the week. I didn’t really know going into the weekend where it was going to be, but I thought Jakeem (Grant) and the other guys did a good job. Hopefully we’ll have him back soon.”
(Why are you thinking this is a big week? What goes through your mind when you are processing this game?) – “Because it’s the next one. It’s the next one. I know you hate that answer, but that’s what it is. (laughter) It’s a home game and it’s an AFC opponent. We want to play well at home; we want to win at home. We have a big opportunity and we have to take advantage of it.”
(Does the fact that good teams don’t lose to winless teams come into play at all?) – “No. No. At some point, teams are going to win. That hadn’t even crossed my mind. It hadn’t even crossed my mind. It’s just a matter of going out, controlling what we control and executing, and we’ll be happy with the result.”
