Miami Dolphins Rookie QB Ryan Tannehill Doesn't Know What NFL Teams Are in Which Divisions & Conferences

[HacheMan]

Ryan Tannehill is not well-versed in NFL division and conference alignment


When Miami Dolphins fans first looked at the team's schedule for 2012, they probably made note of certain games -‒ division rivals, measuring stick games, etc.

When Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill first looked at the schedule, he might've thought to himself, "You know, I bet some of these games are going to be important. I hope someone tells me which ones."

Tuesday night on HBO's "Hard Knocks," Tannehill was outed as a guy who has almost no knowledge of the NFL's divisions and conferences. Via Bleacher Report, here's how he explained:

"I wasn't a huge pro fan growing up; I wasn't loyal to any one team," said Tannehill, "so I don't really know the divisions, and even really conferences. I know most of the conferences but some of those, I really have no clue. And they don't make sense. You have the AFC East, and we're freaking in the bottom of the map, and the directions don't make any sense where the teams actually are."
​

Backup quarterback Matt Moore then quizzed him on a few teams. Tannehill had the Chiefs in the NFC East and the Giants in the NFC North. And then Moore laughed and said, "How do you not know this?"

But when you get right down to it, even though it's something many fans have known seemingly since birth, it's not essential information to an NFL quarterback. When it's time to focus on a particular team, the Dolphins staff will give him the game tape. He'll notice the atmosphere change around the time for a big game.
And if he gives every game as much focus and effort as he possibly can, why would he need to know if his opponent is in his division or in the NFC South?

The biggest impact I see this having is as ammunition for fans and analysts who grow impatient with Tannehill. If things go bad, it could be turned into something that's used against him. "This guy doesn't care! He doesn't even know what division we're in!" If things get to that point, Tannehill will have much bigger things to think about.

 

[HacheMan]

Backup quarterback Matt Moore then quizzed him on a few teams. Tannehill had the Chiefs in the NFC East and the Giants in the NFC North. And then Moore laughed and said, "How do you not know this?"

lmao... Exactly

 

[thekid78]

Id rather him not know the divisions than not know something like a 10-second runoff rule or something important to the game at hand. Does it really matter that he doesn't know the Chiefs are in the AFC West? Who cares. All the games matter

 

[CHOPTALK]

I think it matters.

 

[scottcarter]

much to do about nothing

just win baby

 

[PatsFan1283]

I think it matters.

Give the guy a break, with how hot his wife is I wouldn't bother to know minor stuff like that either.

 

[scottcarter]

Give the guy a break, with how hot his wife is I wouldn't bother to know minor stuff like that either.

when you see his wife I find it amazing he even makes it to the stadium

 

[LoCalDallasGuy]

If he love football than I think he would have known.

Must just play because his parents forced him.

 

[CHOPTALK]

Give the guy a break, with how hot his wife is I wouldn't bother to know minor stuff like that either.

That dont matter.
He got drafted in April.
That was about 5 months ago.
There are exactly 3 teams in his division not named the Dolphins.
It would take exactly 5 seconds to learn the names of the teams in your own division.

This shows lack of desire and dedication.
If you dont take the 5 seconds to learn the name of 3 teams in your division how much time is he going to spent learning his playbook?
How is he going to differentiate the difference in an important division game, or a non conference game?

All I know is if he was 100% committed to learning his craft he would have learned this.
If he would have treated his job with the importance and dedication thats required to be elite he would already know by now what division every team in the NFL is in by now.

The old saying is true. The only way to be really great at something is to love it with all your heart. Clearly he does not love football.


This much I know.
I guarantee you Peyton Manning knew every team in his division when he was a rookie in training camp.
I guarantee you Andrew Luck knows.

The fact that he does not know this in itself will not hinder him from doing his job.
But the fact that he does not know tells me he does not take his job as seriously as he should.

I did not like him coming out of college or even in college.
And now I like him less.

You can mark this down.

He is going to be an epic bust to Jamarcus Russell proportions.
Miami way over reached on this one.
And him not knowing the teams in his division is just a symptom of the real issue of his lack of dedication.

 

[PatsFan1283]

That dont matter.
He got drafted in April.
That was about 5 months ago.
There are exactly 3 teams in his division not named the Dolphins.
It would take exactly 5 seconds to learn the names of the teams in your own division.

This shows lack of desire and dedication.
If you dont take the 5 seconds to learn the name of 3 teams in your division how much time is he going to spent learning his playbook?
How is he going to differentiate the difference in an important division game, or a non conference game?

All I know is if he was 100% committed to learning his craft he would have learned this.
If he would have treated his job with the importance and dedication thats required to be elite he would already know by now what division every team in the NFL is in by now.

The old saying is true. The only way to be really great at something is to love it with all your heart. Clearly he does not love football.


This much I know.
I guarantee you Peyton Manning knew every team in his division when he was a rookie in training camp.
I guarantee you Andrew Luck knows.

The fact that he does not know this in itself will not hinder him from doing his job.
But the fact that he does not know tells me he does not take his job as seriously as he should.

I did not like him coming out of college or even in college.
And now I like him less.

You can mark this down.

He is going to be an epic bust to Jamarcus Russell proportions.
Miami way over reached on this one.
And him not knowing the teams in his division is just a symptom of the real issue of his lack of dedication.

Funny you had that big of a writeup for a post clearly intended as a joke.

I've never seen the guy play since I don't watch CFB but he was taken 8th. Can't really be a bust of JRuss proportions taken 8th. QB's taken out of the top 5 (hell QBs IN the top 5) don't panout all the time, if you get taken 8th and don't panout at QB you aren't a huge bust or anything. Just part of the risk/reward of the position.

 

[DrunkenHorseplayer]

Doesn't mean a thing. It reminds me of Ken Griffey, Jr being asked, during his rookie year, how he would adjust to the next pitcher, a lefty. He replied that he didn't know or care whether the next pitcher was righty-lefty or power-finesse; I remember the quote "all I know is sooner or later he's got to give me something I can hit."

 

[shdw01]

i watched it....it was pretty funny with Matt Moore laughing at him.

 

[shdw01]

Doesn't mean a thing. It reminds me of Ken Griffey, Jr being asked, during his rookie year, how he would adjust to the next pitcher, a lefty. He replied that he didn't know or care whether the next pitcher was righty-lefty or power-finesse; I remember the quote "all I know is sooner or later he's got to give me something I can hit."

That was an arrogant rookie talking.....you bet your ass in his final years when he was much wiser he knew all the research....if he wasn't sleeping

 

[DrunkenHorseplayer]

He still had a pretty good rookie year.

 

[CHOPTALK]

Doesn't mean a thing. It reminds me of Ken Griffey, Jr being asked, during his rookie year, how he would adjust to the next pitcher, a lefty. He replied that he didn't know or care whether the next pitcher was righty-lefty or power-finesse; I remember the quote "all I know is sooner or later he's got to give me something I can hit."

Not quite the same thing.
I bet he knew Oakland and Texas was in his division.
Although I think he could have done better with that comment I dont have nearly as much of a problem with what Jr said as what the starting QB on the NFL team said.

 

[scottcarter]

CHOPTALK

are you affected by Isaac? I assume you are in LA?

 

[CHOPTALK]

CHOPTALK

are you affected by Isaac? I assume you are in LA?

No im fine.
Did not even lose electricity.
Only problem is the mandatory curfew which forces me to have nothing better to do then post on the internet and watch the Republican convention.
Other then that everything is fine.
Thanks for asking.

 

[scottcarter]

good stuff!

 

[Soriano12]

Don't think it matters. To be honest I never really got the "importance of division games" anyways: I know that stuff like your divisional record is a potential tie-breaker and by beating an opponent from your won division, you add a loss to their record. But in the end you should play your best, give it 100% every time you step on the field, so as the result of a divisional game may be (slightly) more important, your effort should still be the same. Therefore I also don't think you can use this to say he's lacking dedication and wil be too lazy to learn his playbook because that's something that would directly affect his performance on the field and because of this will receive more attention by him.
To me it's similar to an employer not knowing much about the company he's working for: Unless I'm advertising for my company or working in PR or something like that, but instead f.e. in accounting, it doesn't really matter if I know about the products my company is selling, the number of employees and similar stuff (unless of corse I need that knowledge for my work because it determines which laws/rules/regulations/tax rates apply or something similar)

To me, f.e., the Griffey quote would be worse because knowing the pitcher and his tendencies, knowing his scouting report etc could increase his performance against him the next day, while knowing in which division he's playing doesn't affect his performance at the plate (or in the field/on base for that matter).

 

[Jstack34]

I just don't get how these people grow up and play football but don't watch the NFL? If my friends dont watch, I lose a lot of respect for them. My guess is he is from the south and is more concerned with college foots