Tennessee Titans Pro Bowler Jeffery Simmons got a first-hand taste of Cam Ward’s signature celebration Monday. This did not go over well.
According to multiple reports from Titans practice, the celebration after a touchdown was accompanied by a shove and led to an altercation between Simmons and Tennessee’s rookie quarterback that escalated into an on-field scrum.
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Per A to Z Sports’ Easton Freeze, Ward connected with wide receiver Calvin Ridley for a touchdown during a red-zone drill. After the touchdown, Ward gave Simmons — a team captain and three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle — a shove in the back. Ward then hit him with his signature “Zombieland” celebration that he made famous as a Heisman Trophy finalist at Miami.
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Per ESPN, Simmons responded by shoving Ward back in the facemask with both hands. This, of course, prompted the offensive linemen on the field to rush to Ward’s defense, and a scuffle ensued. Simmons lost his helmet during the festivities and left the field when it was subdued. He did not return to the drill, which was over after two more plays.
No video of the scuffle was captured — none that was published on the internet, at least. But the incident certainly made waves as Tennessee’s veteran defensive leader and its No. 1 draft pick got into it.
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Neither addressed the incident with reporters. But cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr. provided some perspective.
‘Brothers fight’
“You never want to see your quarterback in the middle of those type of things,” Brownlee said. “When it [does] happen, it just shows you the level of dog he’s got in him. He ain’t gonna take nothing.
“It shows you how much he cares about his offense, how much he cares about winning. Same goes for both sides of the ball, with Jeff and him. You’re gonna get that same attitude, that same confidence, that same edge each and every day out of those two guys.”
Brownlee added that when the quarterback is involved, “we try to break it up as soon as possible.” He sees the competitive on-field tension between the team leaders as a positive.
“I feel like it’s a great thing,” Brownlee continued. “When you’ve got great teams, brothers fight. At the end of the day, as long as we all have got each other’s back, we all connected. We all got that bond. We all got that same connection where we’re gonna fight for one another, that’s the most important thing at the end of the day.”
Are Ward and Simmons cool?
The stakes are high in Tennessee. The Titans invested the No. 1 overall draft pick in Ward as the answer to the quarterback problems that have plagued the franchise since the conclusion of the Steve McNair era in 2005. They want to see this competitive fire from Ward, as they also do from their defensive leader.
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And off the field, things seem just fine between the two.
That’s a picture of Ward and Simmons together on a fishing trip that Simmons shared on Instagram on July 31.
It all appears to add up to an ideal combination: Relaxed brotherhood off the field. Competitive fire on it. The next step for the Titans is for it to translate on the field when the games count — and making sure things don’t go too far during a competitive practice.
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