TITANS vs LIONS
Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020
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Q. Ryan, just wanted to ask you what Darrynton Evans adds to this offense?
RYAN TANNEHILL: He brought some juice. Excited to see him. The first play he made was on that kickoff. He hit that thing, made some miss and got some extra yards, and obviously when he was able to get in as a running back, made some big plays. Great job catching the screen signal with it, got tipped. Guys got downfield. Some of the runs he had where he was able to keep his balance and keep gaining yards. Then he had some tough grabs inside. So, really happy for him. He's out there and making plays for us. He's going to help us moving forward.
Q. Ryan, obviously you can't practice the dive to the pylon, but how do you know your distance and how far you can go? I think you took off from about the four-yard line. And second part of that Vrabel mentioned he didn't like you extending the ball like that. First talk through that score, how you know you can make the dive attempt. And, two, if Vrabel will say something?
RYAN TANNEHILL: He didn't say anything verbally, but his face told me exactly what he was thinking. I got to the sideline, and there wasn't a 'Congratulations,' or 'Good job.' It was a scowl. I knew that was coming. As soon as I reached the ball, I knew that was coming. We talked about being careful reaching the ball down around the goal line. I didn't feel like I was going to get hit. I thought the guy was far enough away where I could dive and him not hit me. Otherwise I wouldn't have reached it. Just playing spacial game there, just seeing if you can get it in before the guy gets there. If not, then you got to take care of it and just go out there a couple yards short.
Q. Ryan, you all have proved on offense time and time again that you're kind of good at everything. It's not a running or passing offense. It's an everything offense. What kind of advantage does it give you going into game planning and ultimately playing when a defense doesn't know what's going to come at them despite having Derrick Henry and these receivers you still don't know?
RYAN TANNEHILL: Yeah, I think that's what makes us dangerous is the fact that we can switch it up. Obviously, Derrick (Henry) does his thing. He's going to gain his yards and we're able to play off that in the pass game. Or we're not going to do play actions, we can drop back and gain yards that way. I think we've shown that throughout the year. Really just happy and thankful for the guys that we have. That way we can spread the ball around. You can't really key in on one of the areas of the game or one player. You have to defend the whole field and every aspect that we do out there.
Q. Ryan, I imagine this sounds like a bit of a retread at this point but what you guys are doing on the season as an offense. This is your fourth game so far that you've scored over 40 points. What can you say about the effort and the execution that you're getting from all your guys on the coverages on that side?
RYAN TANNEHILL: I'm proud of our guys. We keep trying to improve, and I think that's what's important is we're never satisfied. There's always missed opportunities. We'll look at this tape and see opportunities that we missed where we were a block away or air mailed Corey (Davis) in the end zone. So, there's always going to be opportunities, and that hunger that we have to go out and improve upon those missed opportunities. That way we can hit it next time and just keep improving. We're in December now, or the late season, where the good teams are going to improve and separate themselves and the OK teams will be satisfied with where they're at, get distracted with everything that's going on, with Christmas and holidays and late in the year, the grind. But I'm proud of our guys the way we stuck with it and we want to keep our foot on the gas.
Q. Ryan, curious how big you thought the play to Firkser was. It's a six-point game there. Looked like the verge of a three-and-out and you find him in the middle there on the third and 11. Pivotal point?
RYAN TANNEHILL: Yeah, no doubt. No doubt. I'm not sure about the six-point game but things aren't really going well for us. We kind of got two negatives plays or a negative and a really short run there. So really a big play for us to be able to extend that drive and obviously finishing in the end zone. Great job by Firks (Anthony Firkser) being able to fill the space in there and get himself open.
Q. Ryan, how exciting were you to see Corey not only have a big day, but to come as open as he was on that deep ball, and how important was it there to answer their touchdown with a touchdown to kind of reestablish control?
RYAN TANNEHILL: Yeah. That was huge. That was a play that we've had in for a few weeks and finally got it called. Obviously, CD (Corey Davis) did a great job of winning there. He was, I don't know, ten yards away when I threw it. That's one of those you see how much space there is, and you just want to put the ball on him and keep him running and don't miss. Thankful that Arthur (Smith) went with that call there. Really it was a perfect timing for it, and obviously CD it made the play.
Q. Ryan, double checking the records, it looks like this is your first five TD game in your career. Have you had a game like that ever in your football playing career, and how nice is it to be able to capitalize when the offense is doing this?
RYAN TANNEHILL: Like you said, first one in the NFL. I'm not sure past that. Tough to remember back. I'm old now. But it was fun. It was a fun day. Our guys played good. We fed off each other, had good energy the whole day. Played some complementary football there in the second half, end of the first half, second half, which was huge. And did some good things. So, we just got to keep on that path, keep trying to improve and sticking with what we're good at.
Q. Ryan, there are no trophies for 10-win seasons, but they don't grow on trees in this league. How much do you appreciate it?
RYAN TANNEHILL: You appreciate today. You appreciate the win. But 10 wins means nothing. We have bigger goals than that. We just want to find a way to end each week 1-0. We did that this week. We were successful. Now we have to find a way to do that next week.
Q. Along the lines of some of those earlier questions, there have been a number of games now where this offense had to score 30-plus for you all to be in it and you've pretty much been up to the task as an offense just about every time. How comfortable are you now personally and do you think as a group offensively in that scenario when the pressure is on almost every drive to go down and get points?
RYAN TANNEHILL: We have a group of competitors. Our offense has guys that they love competing, they love the game. They love winning. And so, we're going to try to find a way to win each drive, to finish in the end zone, and if it takes 30-plus points to win a game, that's our mindset. We can't control what the defense does but we can control if we score every drive. So that's our focus is how can we take advantage of each opportunity we get, every drive we get the ball. Obviously, you're not going to score every drive. But that's our mindset is take advantage of the opportunity and the rest, whatever happens happens.
Q. It seems like in the scenario, right before half you got 50 seconds. There's a calmness to you and that whole group. Is that fair to say, you guys feel calm even in those sort of hectic moments?
RYAN TANNEHILL: Yeah, no doubt. We've been in that situation, whether it was 50 seconds, last week I think it was like nine seconds. Throughout the season we've been in two-minute situations a lot and been good in them a lot. So, you get that confidence that it's not anything new for us. It's something we've been doing. We work it in practice. We build that confidence in practice and we're able to translate that over to Sundays.
Q. Ryan, how much have you enjoyed seeing the success Corey has had this year? It's a guy that obviously has a lot of respect on the team and he's been through a lot this year, and he's also been through a lot in his career and now to be breaking out the way he is, how nice has this been?
RYAN TANNEHILL: I'm so happy for Corey (Davis). He's a guy who works extremely hard. He comes to work each and every day and works hard. He does everything we ask him to do. He physically is tough. He blocks his tail off in the run game. I don't think you can find a more physical receiver in the run game, and obviously he's explosive and talented in the pass game. So just that alone has me so happy for Corey (Davis). And then obviously him going through what he's gone through this year, the terrible circumstance and being able to persevere through that just has me so happy for him, and I know he's making his brother proud.
Q. Ryan, I just wanted to ask you about the maturity of this team. This is back-to-back weeks where you guys have been a heavy favorite and came out and really took care of business from the opening snap. How much is this team growing to be able to handle that role?
RYAN TANNEHILL: We don't really think about being favorites or anything like that. There's no talk amongst us of that. It's, 'We have to go play with some urgency, come out with some urgency and play our game.' I don't think anything on the outside matters. To us it's about going out, being ourselves and playing our best football each and every week.
