NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- During the Marcus Mariota era, there was an annual theme for the Titans at quarterback. Once it was widening his base. Heading into his final year it was bulking up.
It’s typical for players to have an offseason premise that a lot of their work points too, and with Mariota each offseason checkpoint featured a media check-in on the topic.
Heading into Ryan Tannehill’s first year as the Titans’ starter, there really hasn’t been a similar point of emphasis.
“He’s one of the more sound quarterbacks that I’ve coaches as far as his technique, Pat O’Hara said. “He’s very critical of his own technique. He’s constantly monitoring it. He practices very, very hard in our individual drills and he is very consistent.”
There is one area where the Titans are looking for Tannehill to help himself and the Titans offense out a bit more.
“I think sometimes we need him to know when the journey is over on a play,” O’Hara said. “We don’t want him getting some of those hits he takes. Maybe. Throw it away. Or maybe slide if need be. But other than that he’s really technically sound.”
When Tannehill took over for Mariota after six games in 2019, the Titans got a far more decisive quarterback, and Tannehill’s willingness to cut the ball loose was the transformative ingredient the offense needed.
"We all have a lot of confidence in what we do offensively and Ryan does too,” O’Hara said. “A lot of what we do in the passing game is on rhythm and he certainly is built for that, and it’s fun to watch. He makes a decision and that ball comes out because he knows where he wants it to go and he knows the system, so all those things kind of work together."
That means there are times things can go so well that Tannehill knows where he’s going with the ball before Ben Jones snaps it to him.
“I joke with the quarterbacks that you like to use The Force, Star Wars,” O’Hara said. “We try to do a lot of film study, we try to game plan for what we are trying to accomplish on each particular play. And there are some plays where, as a quarterback, you know and that helps the ball come out.
“As a quarterback when you know the answers to the test before the ball is snapped, that is the greatest feeling in the world.”
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