Here is what quarterback Ryan Tannehill said Wednesday to South Florida reporters, courtesy of the Miami Dolphins.
On facing the 49ers defense) – “They’re an all-around good defense. I think everyone knows that they’re a good defense and it’s well deserved. They have good players all around. They start up front. Both Smith’s (Aldon Smith and Justin Smith) are good players. Really, their whole front is good. Their linebackers are Pro Bowl linebackers and going into the secondary, they have Pro Bowlers back there as well. As you look at the defense on a whole, they have really good players all around and we’re going to have to do a great job for four quarters.”
(On his encounters with Aldon Smith in college when he was at Texas A&M and Smith was at Missouri) – “I’m sure I did. I didn’t realize I guess the player he is and he turned out to be at the time. I knew they had a good defensive end. In college, you study more defenses in general instead of focusing on players and names. You don’t put in so much time into that, but I definitely know who he is and we’ll be looking out for him.”
(On Head Coach Joe Philbin saying it’s tough to win when the team is scoring 19 points per game and why the offense is struggling to score points) – “Definitely, I agree. You can’t win games consistently only scoring 19 points. That’s a big focus of ours is to find a way to get more points on the board whatever way it is. We have to find a way. I think our run game has been picking up the past few weeks and we’re excited about that now. I have to do a good job in the pass game (and) get the pass going early on in games and be consistent throughout games. I think third down is an area that we’re really focusing on right now. We haven’t been good the past two weeks and we’re putting our defense back out on the field in tough situations as opposed to continuing drives down and getting points on the board. That’s a big focus for us this week is to be able to continue drives and convert on third downs.”
(On how big of a loss it is to lose Jake Long) – “It’s huge. You can’t replace a guy like Jake. I think that the guys we bring in will do a good job – moving Jonathan (Martin) over and the bringing Nate (Garner) in on the other side. They’ll do a good job for us, but it’s tough to replace a player like Jake who’s been to four Pro Bowls I think. He’s a leader on this offense and we’re going to miss him.”
(On how he feels about this past game and the missed opportunities) – “It’s tough when you miss throws you make 99 times out of 100 in practice and even in games. It’s frustrating, but you can’t do anything about it, but move on (and) make the throws (the) next time they come up. I was definitely frustrated that night and when I watched the film, but I’m over it now and just ready to make the throws the next time it comes up.”
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I haven’t heard anyone comment on the importance of the quarterback’s experience in changing plays at the line of scrimmage. I think Alex Smith has a definite advantage over Kaepernick in being able to see what’s coming from the defense and compensating. What do you think?
I think that topic was beaten into a bloody pulp about three to five blog posts ago…
To summarize the discussion for you:
A vocal minority said that Kaep’s inexperience was clearly showing, he couldn’t make the right adjustments under center, and it was one of the reasons our offense struggled against the Rams, and an indication that the switch to Kaep was the wrong move, which will ultimately spell disaster for the season.
A different, just as vocal minority, said that Kaep did great with the pre-snap reads, especially considering his relative inexperience, the fact he was facing a sneaky Jeff Fisher defense, and most importantly, he was hamstrung by Greg Roman’s terrible play-calling. This minority also points out that any mistakes he made which helped cost us the game will be great experience for when Kaep leads us to the promised land in the playoffs, which Smith obviously isn’t good enough to do, despite being 20-6 over the last 2 years.
The rest of us were somewhere between those two positions (except Neal, who was just right out and added nothing, not even humour)
I think that topic was beaten into a bloody pulp about three to five blog posts ago…
Try for the past three weeks Angus.
don’t get your hopes up in regards to Neal…he never has anything to say…that people care about
After reading these interviews with opponents talking about our team and then our team talking about our opponents, I’ve come to two conclusions.
1. I have no idea how we ever beat anyone.
2. I have no idea how anyone ever beats us.
Totally agree. I guess that’s why we play the games, lol.
Tannehill is more athletic than he appears. He ran for a TD against New England last week and made a few other plays with his feet, extending plays, or scambling for 1st downs. The Miami running game doesn’t look great on the surface, but they’ve been quite effective the past 2 weeks. Last week, Reggie Bush had 4.27 yards/carry against NE. Two weeks ago, against Seattle, RB had 87 on 14 carries and Thomas had 60 on 9 carries. That oer 6 yards/carry against Seattle’s run D.
This game is shaping up to be a very physical one. I expect the Dolphins to try and establish the run.
On the flip side, Miami’s defense is stingy. Miami has the:
8th rushing defense
11th scoring defense
Where they’re weak is against the pass (28th passing defense). I expect the Niners to come out passing. However, that could pose to be a challenge as Miami is great at getting to the QB and mostly do so with by only rushing 4.
I expect this to be a close physical game. If the trend holds, the Niners will come out fired up and they won’t get out coached again.
Niners 24
Dolphins 13
Tannehill is athletic. He played WR at A&M.
Yep he runs like a 4.6 too.
If only he would have stayed a wide receiver…………
Nice guy, but I still hope he is the meat of a Smith sandwich on Sunday.