TITANS vs RAVENS
AFC WILD CARD
Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021
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Q. Ryan, I know obviously he was having a tough day getting it going, Derrick was, but that series of about 10 minutes to go, you drive to the 40, second and two. In retrospect, do you hope with potentially three downs there that one of those times you stick the ball in his gut and kind of live with the result?
RYAN TANNEHILL: I don't remember the specific sequence that you're mentioning. But like you said, we had a tough time all day. They did a good job. Hats off. They did a good job up front. They made it tough on us, so just wasn't good enough.
Q. Can you speak to the disappointment of going out in the first round and what goes through your mind when the finality hits?
RYAN TANNEHILL: It's a huge disappointment. Obviously it's tough to kind of put into words right now because you're not prepared for this moment. Everything in my heart and my soul told me we were going to go win this game.
So the finality of it is real. I don't think we were prepared obviously to be in this position. But here we are. So it's tough. Obviously love the guys in this locker room, part of this organization, and no team back-to-back years is ever the same. We'll see what happens but definitely appreciative of my time with every guy in the locker room and what they gave to this team and this organization. Guys bought in and gave their heart and soul to it. It wasn't for lack of effort or trying or buying in. So respect all those guys and enjoyed every moment with them.
Q. I wanted to ask you about the interception. Was that ball tipped at all coming off the line? Did you see Kalif (Raymond) get bumped before the ball got to him and did you see A.J. on the left side of the field?
RYAN TANNEHILL: No, started off on the right … Kalif inside released on the seam and he had Peters behind him. Was bodying up Kalif with Peters behind him like this, and from my angle it will appeared he got hit. He fell down and the ball went right to Peters. I felt really confident when I threw that pass that it was in a good spot with Kalif being between the ball and the defender, I felt really confident when I let it go. Thought it was good when it was in the air and all of a sudden Kalif got hit and dropped.
You know, from my angle it definitely looked like it could have been a flag there and probably should have been, but it wasn't thrown, so here we are.
Q. This is now back-to-back playoff games that the offense has been able to get double digit leads and not hold onto them. What stopped working?
RYAN TANNEHILL: We didn't move the ball and score enough points. Scored 10 points early. We knew this team could score coming in, and had great respect for them. We knew it was going to take more. We just didn't get it done.
Q. What did you see differently in terms of them being able to contain Derrick this time around? Was it more the personnel that came back or any different strategies on their part?
RYAN TANNEHILL: They did a good job up front with their game plan and getting a couple guys back. They are good players and starters for a reason. Definitely probably played a little bit of a factor but at the end of the day we just didn't execute well enough all the way around. Tip your hat to them. They did a good job, and we didn't get it done.
Q. You guys drive and scored I think on two of the first three possessions. What changed after that point in your opinion there in the second quarter?
RYAN TANNEHILL: I don't think we executed good enough. I don't think anything dramatic changed. We just didn't take advantage of our opportunities and execute. We got ourselves in some long yardage situations and didn't execute good enough on third down and weren't able to sustain drives. When you're not able to do that against a good defense, you're not going to score.
Q. Early on you and AJ had something going really well on the two scoring drives and it seemed like he wasn't involved as much there in the second and third quarters. Were they doing something that specifically kind of tried to take him away during that span?
RYAN TANNEHILL: We still got a shot downfield there on the field goal drive there in the fourth quarter -- or third quarter – I guess we ended up kicking the field goal at the start of the fourth – the last drive there. Made a play down the field for us. They did change up the looks a little bit one time. They passed off a route when they thought we were going to have him. another one, they basically bear hugged him down the field. Didn't get a flag on that one either. Like I said, tip your hats to those guys. They made adjustments and we didn't make enough to get it done.
Q. Late in the second quarter -- where you lost 10 yards, how much did that set you back and cost you an opportunity to try and do something before the half?
RYAN TANNEHILL: It's huge. Just got to knock that thing down. Just instinct, ball coming at me, I caught it, but obviously knock it down and live for second and 10 and we still have an opportunity to go score. Put yourself in long yardage situation, then we miss the second down play by a couple inches on the sideline, and now you're in third and forever. Definitely hurt us.
Q. Last year in this position, you were about to go into free agency and now you're here for the long haul and you've been here for two years and see what the team can do. What's the next step moving forward for this team in terms of growth?
RYAN TANNEHILL: We've got to keep building. Obviously did some good things this year but didn't win this game today. At the end of the day, we're here to try to win a championship and put ourselves in position to win a championship. We did that by winning the division and then didn't come out and execute today. Every year is a new year. We'll have to start over and build through this offseason and get ready to go for next year.
Q. Given the game away from the Super Bowl last year, all the work you put in to getting the home field game and winning the division, all the scoring and everything, do you have to chalk the whole thing up now with this loss as a fail?
RYAN TANNEHILL: I mean, I don't think … You don't look at everything you accomplished and say it was a fail. Those things happened. Those things are real but we didn't execute and do enough today to win. We didn't end up where we wanted to be and that is competing for a Super Bowl and winning a Super Bowl. Didn't achieve all of our goals.
