Tannehill's Long Wait for Playoff Experience About to End

Other quarterback's drafted the same year as Tennessee's starter have won Super Bowls; this year's AFC field includes young players who quickly took their teams to the postseason

Christopher Hanewinckel/USA Today Sports

NASHVILLE – Ryan Tannehill says he has not spent a lot of time watching playoff football in recent years.

Of course, he has not spent any time playing playoff football.

The veteran quarterback is one of 30 players currently on the Tennessee Titans’ active roster who will have the chance to take the field in the postseason for the first time Saturday, when they face the New England Patriots in the wild card round.

In seven seasons with the Miami Dolphins (2012-18), Tannehill was a part of one team that made it past the regular season (2016). A knee injury that December forced him to stay on the sidelines when the Dolphins met the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild card round.

“It’s the thought of, ‘I want to be playing. I want to be playing in January and competing for a championship,’” Tannehill said of his long wait to get to this point.

Even if experience at that position counts for much at this time of year, the Titans are not at a significant disadvantage in relation to most of the AFC field. Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes has just two postseason contests under his best, while Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson and Houston’s Deshaun Watson have one each – and all of those were a year ago. Buffalo’s Josh Rosen, like Tannehill, will make his playoff debut Saturday.

The difference is that Tannehill had to wait longer – much longer – than any of those four. Mahomes and Watson got there in their second seasons (both their teams made it in 2017 but Mahomes was a backup and Watson was injured) as Allen did this time. Jackson is now two-for-two in playoff appearances. Mahomes is the only one who has won a playoff game.

The outlier is New England’s Tom Brady, Tannehill’s counterpart this week. Brady has played in more Super Bowls (nine) than the other five have playoff appearances combined. In all, Brady has appeared in 40 postseason contests.

“I love playing (the Patriots), the team as a whole,” Tannehill said. “They’re a quality team through and through and they’re going to make you go out and play well to win.

“They’re not going to give you anything. As a competitor, you love that. You love having to go earn a victory.”

Tannehill was the eighth overall pick in 2012. That draft included third-round choices Russell Wilson (Seattle) and Nick Foles (Philadelphia), who have both been starting quarterbacks in Super Bowl victories. The first overall pick that year was Andrew Luck, who guided Indianapolis to the postseason in each of his first three seasons. Two others taken that year, Robert Griffin III and Brock Osweiler also have stared playoff games in their own right.

Among the Titans, cornerback Logan Ryan entered the NFL in 2013 as a third-round pick by New England and this will be the sixth time in seven years he has been to the postseason. He has 12 playoff games to his credit.

Even Marcus Mariota, the man Tannehill replaced as Tennessee’s starting quarterback, has been in two playoff games. Mariota’s first taste of the postseason was a rousing success when he led the Titans to 22-21 come-from-behind victory over Kansas City in the wild card round two years ago. In that game he threw for 205 yards and two touchdowns (he was also the receiver on one) and rushed for 46 yards.

“I think it’s just like football, right?” Mariota said. “You take the first couple of plays, get the feeling of the game and you just go play.

“… [Tannehill needs] to just continue to be himself. Obviously, it’s going to be a great atmosphere. It’s one of those deals where you just have to go out and take it one play at a time. I think Ryan’s very capable and very ready. And I’m excited to watch him play.”

And Tannehill – finally – won’t have to make the decision as to whether or not he should tune in and watch others chase a championship.

“I definitely didn’t sit down and watch a bunch of (playoff games),” he said. “But yeah, it’s always something that I wanted to be doing my whole career.

“… It’s the playoffs. Everything kind of amps up a little bit. … So, I definitely expect it to be an intense game. We’re going to have to go out and be just as intense, if not more intense than the other team.”