Ryan Tannehill proved a lot in Titans win over Chargers
NASHVILLE — Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Chargers was a massive one for Tennessee Titans starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill. After posting the worst quarterback rating of his career in Tennessee's Week 1 loss to the New Orleans Saints, a large contingent of national pundits and Titans fans had seen enough. Derrick Henry, Kevin Byard, […]
NASHVILLE — Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Chargers was a massive one for Tennessee Titans starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill.
After posting the worst quarterback rating of his career in Tennessee's Week 1 loss to the New Orleans Saints, a large contingent of national pundits and Titans fans had seen enough. Derrick Henry, Kevin Byard, and other impactful Titans players are aging and it's no secret that this era of Tennessee Titans will soon be coming to a close soon. Fans are anxious to get another playoff run in before it does.
With Tannehill throwing three interceptions, missing wide open receivers, and tanking Tennessee's chances of defeating the Saints, many were doubting the 35-year-old's ability to take this team back to the playoffs and contend. It didn't help that there were seemingly no answers for why Tannehill looked so bad.
Titans head coach Mike Vrabel told the media that he was without answers, and when asked a series of questions about is performance, Tannehill declined to go into much detail. Eventually, Tannehill stopped taking questions about the game altogether.
Tannehill's stock was as low as it has been since he threw three interceptions against the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2021 divisional playoffs. But the 35-year-old veteran proved a lot about himself in a 27-24 overtime victory over the Chargers on Sunday.
After a sluggish first quarter and some early boo birds at Nissan Stadium, Tannehill and the Titans' offense bounced back to score 27 points. It was Tennessee's first 27-point performance since November 17th of 2022 in Green Bay.
That night, 10 months ago to the day, was also the last time the Titans won a regular season game.
The offensive resurgence was sparked by a 70-yard completion to Treylon Burks that would set up a Derrick Henry touchdown run. It was a perfectly thrown ball from Tannehill that hit Burks in stride and immediately injected energy into the seats at Nissan Stadium.
As Mike Vrabel put it after the game, the Titans were "leaking oil" prior to the play. Afterwards, the Titans looked like an entirely different team.
Tannehill finished the day completing 20 of his 24 passes for 246 yards, one touchdown, and zero interceptions. Tannehill also had a 12-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and led a game-winning drive in overtime to set up a 41-yard field goal from Nick Folk. The 12-year NFL veteran looked like the best version of himself.
"That's what Ryan's done," said Mike Vrabel of his quarterback's bounce back performance. "One of the tougher players on our team. I know we got a bunch of tough guys, but he stood in there and got the (crap) knocked out of him a couple times late and I respect the heck out of it."
In the locker room, Titans players echoed their head coach. There was zero doubt in the locker room that Tannehill would bounce back and compete and there was always confidence that this team would remain competitive in 2023. Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons let Tannehill know the support he had from the locker room throughout the week.
"I told Tanny 'you're our quarterback. I believe in you. We got your back,'" said Simmons in the locker room after the win. Add that to the long list of reasons Tannehill will remain the Titans' starting quarterback while the team is in contention for a playoff spot.
At the end of the day, Tannehill proved a lot with his Week 2 performance. For starters, he proved that New Orleans was an anomaly, and not the player he will be moving forward.
At 35, there is always a concern about a quarterback declining. Especially when that quarterback takes the beating Tannehill does behind Tennessee's offensive line. But Sunday proved that Tannehill is still more than capable of leading the offense effectively and scoring points. He remains the Titans' best option at QB.
Tannehill also proved to be resilient. That's a trait we already knew he had, but it was certainly nice to get a reminder. Bouncing back from failure in an unforgiving National Football League isn't easy. After one bad game, fans call for the backup and you're put on blast nationally. It takes a special type of person to consistently rebound from failure and not be afraid to take a shot.
After throwing an interception on his two deepest passes against the Saints, Tannehill didn't hesitate to air it out on Sunday. Against the Chargers, Tannehill's two deepest throws were both complete. One was the aforementioned 70-yard pass to Burks. The other went to Chris Moore for a gain of 49.
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't reiterate the support Tannehill has from the Titans'; locker room. Jeffery Simmons' feelings about Tannehill were matched by every single guy in the building.
The Titans believe in their quarterback, and he gave them reason to on Sunday. I don't think it will take long for the fanbase to buy back in too.
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