Tannehill sees ‘scar’ from loss
Sleepless nights. Rewinding the loss in his mind over and over again. Therapy sessions. And weeks of time. Ryan Tannehill has lost big games before. Losing as the AFC’s No. 1 seed with the Titans’ quarterback tossing three interceptions — the last with 20 seconds left — left a “deep scar.”
“I was in a dark place, and it took me a while and a lot of work to get out of it,” Tannehill said Tuesday, talking with reporters for the first time since Tennessee’s 19-16 loss to Cincinnati on Jan. 22.
Tannehill said he has used therapy for a while in his career.
“This is the first time that … I absolutely needed it to pull me out of a dark space,” he said.
Tennessee fans have made Tannehill the scapegoat for the loss, angry at missing the franchise’s first Super Bowl in 22 years. It didn’t help that Cincinnati wound up the AFC champ after beating the Titans on a last-second field goal set up by Tannehill’s third pick.
Tannehill knows it wasn’t his best game. He likened the pain to a cut that healed into a scar.
“It’s always there in your mind, and now it’s fuel for me,” Tannehill said. “I have the utmost confidence in myself and I think my teammates have confidence in me. And so, at the end of the day, that’s all that matters to me.”
Diverse crews: The NFL hired 10 on-field officials, including the first Asian American to officiate in the league and a former player.
Lo van Pham joins the NFL from the Big 12 Conference. He was born in Vietnam and after a stop in the Philippines, moved to the U.S. at 7.
Mike Morton becomes the third former NFL player on the 2022 roster of officials, joining Nate Jones and Terry Killens. Morton was drafted in the fourth round in 1995 by the Raiders, and was a linebacker for them from 1995 through ’98.
Robin DeLorenzo becomes the third woman on the NFL’s roster of on-field game officials, joining Sarah Thomas and Maia Chaka. DeLorenzo joins the NFL from the Big Ten Conference.
Tra Boger, the son of longtime NFL referee Jerome Boger, joins the league as a field judge out of the SEC. They are the only father-son combination on the roster. Briefly: The Saints and Tyrann Mathieu agreed to a three-year, $33 million contract, reuniting the All-Pro safety with his hometown team, a source said . ... The Steelers signed freeagent safety Damontae Kazee to a one-year contract.