Peace has been made in the Taylor Lewan versus Jordan Phillips and Shaq Lawson Twitter war.
After a Twitter beef that started between Buffalo Bills defensive end Shaq Lawson and Tennessee Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan, and also saw Bills defensive tackle Jordan Phillips get involved, both Phillips and Lewan admitted they went a bit too far.
Lewan spoke to the media on Wednesday and admitted he took Lawson calling him “a fake tough guy” too personally and should not have responded on Twitter, per Jim Wyatt of Titans Online.
"“I think the intent that I have in those situations — kind of standing up for yourself, not taking s— from anybody type of mentality — it got lost in translation there because I took it too personal. So I let something after a game be said, and then I let it bait me into doing something after. I’ve always been one to press the envelope and do a little too much sometimes, but I’ve always thought I’ve done a good job of saying when I’ve done too much. In that type of situation, I probably should have let it be.”"
#Titans' Lewan talked for a while today about the Twitter war, but his first comments struck me as the most telling:
— John Glennon (@glennonsports) October 9, 2019
"I think what I did wrong is, one, if you lose a game, you shut your mouth. I could have done that a lot better."
After Lewan went after Lawson’s stats and called him “a monster” and a “1st round backup”, Phillips got involved in the battle, and among other things mocked Lewan’s concussion that he suffered in Week 1 against the Miami Dolphins last season.
Lewan acknowledged that he saw Phillips mock his concussion, calling it “a solid chirp”, and then went on to compliment Phillips’ play in the Week 5 game in which he had three of the Bills’ five sacks.
"“But he had a good game. He had three sacks and we got to do better, and so hats off to him coming in, played a good game and there’s nothing you can really say about that – other than I’ll do my best to watch where I’m going on interceptions so I don’t get knocked out next time.”"
Phillips responded to Lewan’s comments and admitted he took it too far, also.
@TaylorLewan77 appreciate it I took it to far as well good luck the rest of the year stay healthy.... but always #gobills
— Jordan Phillips (@Bigphil9797) October 9, 2019
Listen, nobody expects these guys to be friends, but at least there is some peace in what was turning into an ugly Twitter war between the parties that went a bit too far.
For the Titans, winning games is the best way to avoid getting trash-talked after them. Once you lose, you basically hand over the right for the other team to do so.
In my article about Phillips mocking Lewan’s concussion, I called him “trashy”, and while I believed it at the time of the writing based on the situation, I’ll rescind that opinion. It took him a few days to prove it, but I was wrong in my initial evaluation of Phillips.
See? We’re all making peace.