Tannehill's Worst Better Than Others'
The Tennessee Titans saw the worst of Ryan Tannehill two weeks ago against the Houston Texans. That was the bad news.
The good news is that things could have been worse.
Tannehill is one of six NFL quarterbacks who have thrown four interceptions in a game this season. New Orleans’ Taysom Hill became the latest when he threw four on Thursday night in a loss to Dallas.
Tannehill was the fourth when he threw a career-high four in the 22-13 loss to the Texans. Prior to that, he had six games with three interceptions each – all during his time with the Miami Dolphins. There were only four games with the Titans in which he threw two.
“At the end of the day, it all falls squarely upon me,” Tannehill said after that contest. “I have to be better.”
The fact is that no one who has had a game like that this season was better in those intances.
A week after Tannehill, Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson did it against Cleveland. The others who have done so are two from the New York Jets, Zach Wilson and Mike White, and Texans rookie Davis Mills. Jackson is the only one who managed to lead his team to victory (16-10 vs. Cleveland).
Of the six, Tannehill had the highest completion percentage (67.3) and highest passer rating (58.4) in those games. His 6.21 average yards per attempt were second among that group.
A comparison of the six games in which NFL quarterbacks have thrown four interceptions this season:
| Player | Week | INT | Att. | Comp. | Pct. | Yards | TD | Rat. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Zach Wilson | 2 | 4 | 33 | 19 | 57.8 | 210 | 0 | 37.0 |
Davis Mills | 4 | 4 | 21 | 11 | 52.4 | 87 | 0 | 23.4 |
Mike White | 9 | 4 | 44 | 24 | 54.6 | 251 | 0 | 33.4 |
Ryan Tannehill | 11 | 4 | 52 | 35 | 67.3 | 323 | 1 | 58.4 |
Lamar Jackson | 11 | 4 | 32 | 20 | 62.5 | 165 | 1 | 46.5 |
Taysom Hill | 13 | 4 | 41 | 19 | 46.3 | 264 | 2 | 44.3 |
Over the last 10 seasons, there have been 66 times that a quarterback has thrown four or more interceptions in a game led by Jameis Winston (six times), Andy Dalton (four times) and Eli Manning and Philip Rivers (three times apiece).
Tannehill is one of three to complete more than two-thirds of his throws, and his 35 completions against Houston rank second only to Tony Romo’s 36, when he attempted 62 passes and threw four interceptions in a 2012 loss to Dallas. Romo also has the best completion percentage in a four-interception game since the start of 2012, 72.1 in a 2012 loss to Chicago.
Coincidentally, the fourth-highest completion percentage in those games was from Marcus Mariota (66.7) with Tennessee in a 2017 loss to Pittsburgh.
Mariota set a career-high and finished third in the NFL that season with 15 interceptions but still led the Titans to the playoffs and a wild card victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. Tannehill currently leads the NFL with 13 interceptions and has the Titans on top of the AFC South, third in the conference standings.
“Ryan’s durability, his leadership, working with a number of different people and keeping it together to get us to the point we’re at now with eight wins is tremendous,” quarterback Pat O’Hara said. “His leadership? You can’t measure it.”
