He could have easily been talking about the surrounding drama.
But Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill was speaking in a football-only sense as well, after his team lost a bizarre 22-19 decision to the previously winless Buccaneers last night.
“It’s tough, but the more and more adversity hits you in the face, the more you have to step up and face it,” Tannehill said, via Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald. “[But] we can’t keep dropping games.”
It would be easy to blame the whole thing on the Richie Incognito-Jonathan Martin story, which has engulfed them in the past two weeks.
But that would excuse a lot of bad football, and seems far too convenient an excuse.
The loss was their fifth in their last six games, and came to a team that was 0-8 and finding ways to lose.
The Dolphins allowed long drives, gave up sacks when they couldn’t afford to and a safety, missed a two-point coversion, Tannehill threw a late pick and they ran for a grand total of 2 yards.
“The biggest thing I was disappointed was our lack of a running game,” Dolphins coach Joe Philbin said. “I told the team: ‘There’s a lot of football left to be play. November and December will determine who moves forward.”
Who’s part of the Dolphins moving forward will be as interesting as anything, but after the way they played last night, it’s hard for many of their players to make a convincing case.