Ryan Tannehill haters need to take a seat and stop the slander

The constant slander of Ryan Tannehill isn’t based in reality.

Since the 2019 season when the Tennessee Titans named Ryan Tannehill the starter in Week 7, only two quarterbacks in the entire NFL have posted a better Pro Football Focus grade.

Don’t look now, Tannehill haters, but the Titans signal-caller’s overall PFF grade since taking over is an impressive 92.5, ranking third in the NFL.

Of course, a PFF grade isn’t the end-all, be-all for proof that Tannehill deserves more respect, but it’s another example in a long list of them that shows he’s better than people give him credit for.

“When he took over, it just clicked,” Falcons head coach and former Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said recently on Chris Collinsworth’s podcast.

The Tannehill slander in the wake of the Julio Jones trade has been nauseating to watch.

There are actually some people out there who think the trade for Jones doesn’t move the needle all that much, partly because Tannehill isn’t good enough to get the most out of such an addition. Let’s just ignore the fact that A.J. Brown has become a budding superstar on Tannehill’s watch.

You can always tell when someone hasn’t watched the Titans by their blatant disregard for not only what the former first-round pick has accomplished in Tennessee, but how he has accomplished what he has.

There are many people out there who believe Tannehill only thrives because of Derrick Henry, and that he won’t be as good with Smith no longer calling the plays in Nashville; however, the numbers show the opposite.

Lest we forget that during the first six games of the 2019 season the Titans’ offense was among the worst in the NFL with Marcus Mariota under center, and Henry was nowhere near the dominant force he has been lately.

Tennessee averaged a putrid 16.3 points per contest over its first six, which was also inflated after the Titans dropped 43 in Week 1 against the Cleveland Browns. Henry was averaging a paltry 69.3 yards per game.

With the same cast of characters, Tannehill went on to lead Tennessee to new heights and an elite offense the rest of the season, with the Titans averaging 30.4 points per contest in their last 10 games — and he did so with the offensive line doing its best impression of a sieve in pass protection.

And Tannehill didn’t do all that just by dinking and dunking, either. Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar noted that Tannehill ranked as an elite deep-ball passer that season, something he has done multiple times in his career.

He also nabbed the Comeback Player of the Year award after throwing for 2,742 yards and 22 scores to six picks in 10 starts, while leading the NFL in quarterback rating and finishing second in completion percentage.

Henry would begin his explosive stretch run just weeks after Tannehill took the reins, ultimately leading to his first rushing title. As for Smith, he went from zero to the hottest offensive coordinator in the NFL, eventually helping him land the Falcons’ head-coaching vacancy in 2021.

When everyone expected Tannehill to regress mightily in 2020, he instead answered the bell by playing at a high level once again. The Titans’ offense continued to be elite and Tannehill totaled over 4,000 yards (3,819 passing) and 40 touchdowns (33 passing, seven rushing).

Tannehill elevating the passing attack these past two seasons helped unleash Henry, and you can also argue that the Texas A&M product made Smith, not the other way around.

Now, this isn’t to say that Tannehill is the sole cause for the Titans’ incredible run on offense the past two seasons, but to say he is simply along for the ride and is just some guy who hands off to Henry isn’t dealing in reality.

At bare-bones minimum, Tannehill was the perfect quarterback at the perfect time for the Titans’ offense when he took over, and he has thrived at near-elite levels ever since.

Could he have better numbers in the playoffs? Sure, but we wouldn’t even be able to have that conversation without Tannehill helping the Titans get there in the first place.

Don’t let facts get in the way of a phony narrative, though. Let the haters keep on hating while Tannehill and the Titans keep on winning.

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