In the days and weeks after the Tennessee Titans’ stunning playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, many teammates and former players have come forward to show their support for quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who threw three interceptions in the contest and now finds himself on the hot seat.
Derrick Henry is the latest teammate to back Tannehill while discussing the embattled quarterback earlier this week on PFT Live:
“Look, everybody has adversity,” Henry said. “One game doesn’t define a player. It’s not just one person playing out there by himself. It’s a team effort. Things like that happen sometimes. At the end of the day, I know who Ryan is. I know the type of player that he is that he’s going to let that fuel him and not get down on himself. We’re all back and we’re all behind him. We’re all going to stick together and come back better.”
In all, Tannehill completed 15-of-24 passes for 220 yards with a touchdown in addition to the three picks in the loss to the Bengals.
It was a disappointing end to the season, despite the Titans securing the No. 1 seed in the AFC while using an NFL record of 91 players during the regular season.
Despite not having his top two receivers on the field together for the majority of the season, Tannehill threw for 3,734 passing yards, but his 21-to-14 touchdown-to-interception ratio was a major blemish.
Tannehill also didn’t have Henry for much of the regular season. He did return for the lone postseason game after missing the final nine games of the regular season but was mostly bottled up against a stout Bengals run defense.
During Tannehill’s three-year tenure as the primary quarterback, the Titans have gotten close but not over the hump in the postseason, highlighted by an AFC Championship Game appearance in 2019.
As recently discussed, we looked at several areas where the Titans can help to set Tannehill up for success going forward, given that cutting or trading him from the roster is not feasible.
The organization must address its pass protection upfront after Tannehill was sacked 47 times in 2021. Using more play-action, upgrading at tight end and at least adding some depth at wide receiver would also help.
