Before arriving in Nashville, Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill was considered somewhat injury-prone during his time with the Miami Dolphins.
From 2016 through 2018, Tannehill missed a total of 26 games, including the entire 2017 campaign due to injury. However, since becoming the starter for the Titans in Week 7 of 2019, he hasn’t missed a single game.
What makes that feat even more impressive is the fact that Tannehill has played behind a putrid offensive line in two of his three seasons with Tennessee, taking a ton of abuse.
Tannehill was sacked 31 times over 10 starts in 2019 in a season in which the Titans were tied for the third-most sacks allowed in the NFL with 56. After a reprieve in 2020, the Titans signal-caller was sacked 47 times in 2021, the second-most in the league.
Now, all of those sacks aren’t on the offensive line, as Tannehill has been known to hold on to the ball too long or not step up in the pocket, but bad protection is the reason behind the overwhelming majority of them.
After another game in which Tannehill was abused to the tune of five sacks and 13 quarterback hits overall, Titans head coach Mike Vrabel rightly praised his quarterback’s toughness.
“His toughness is certainly appreciated — I appreciate it, and I know the football team appreciates it,” Vrabel said on Monday, per Jim Wyatt of Titans Online. “To be able to stand in there and get hit and try and work through his progressions and take care of the football and all those things. I think the more times the quarterback gets hit in this league, the more chances you have for error. So we have to work on that and we have to improve that. But it’s been great that he’s been able to exhibit that kind of toughness and make plays to help us win.”
What Tannehill and this offense have been able to accomplish overall in three-plus seasons despite the beating he has taken is nothing short of incredible.
The veteran stands in the pocket bravely, knowing that chances are he’s going to get mauled, and he keeps getting up, big hit after big hit, something his teammates and coaches no doubt respect.
But we’ve also seen Tannehill lower his shoulder and take big hits when scrambling with the football just to pick up an extra yard or two.
There are a lot of things you can question about Tannehill, but toughness isn’t one of them.
