Winner: Jeffery Simmons, Monster
I don’t know the right word to describe Jeffery Simmons in his first game with the Tennessee Titans.
You could call him opportunistic. Despite only playing only one-third of the snaps on defense yesterday, he made one of the biggest impacts of any rookie I have seen for the Tennessee Titans since Marcus Mariota’s debut against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Maybe you should call him productive. Regardless of the snap count, he ended up leading the Tennessee Titans in sacks and TFLs and set up plays for others to make along the way.
You could also call him clutch. If you go back and watch the goal line stand, Simmons made a play on every single play.
-1st and goal: False start by the guy lined up against Simmons
-1st and goal again: DPI Butler
-1st and goal again, again: Simmons makes contact with Melvin Gordon first and brings him down short.
-2nd and goal: Simmons kills the RG, pushing him into the A-gap, Gordon changes directions, giving Woodyard the split second he needed to force the fumble.
I was blown away by the impact he had. If you told me that he would have had 1 sack and 2 TFLs by the end of the year back in August I would have called that a success.
He. Has. Done. That. In. One. Week.
This is a truly exciting development for a defense that already was outstanding.