Tennessee Titans: Taylor Lewan reacts to his drive-killing penalties
Tennessee Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan was at least honest in his assessment of the penalties he has committed of late.
Tennessee Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan once again had himself a rough game in the Week 10 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
The story of Lewan’s return after a four-game suspension can be boiled down to this: he has committed several drive-killing penalties in multiple games this season.
It’s bad enough that he missed the first four games of the season, but for him to return and keep hurting his own team is inexcusable.
The latest example of this occurred on the first drive of the second half on Sunday. After a three-yard run by Derrick Henry on second down, Lewan was called for an idiotic unnecessary roughness penalty when he shoved a Chiefs defender after the play was over.
On the following play, Lewan committed a holding penalty on a 20-yard reception by Jonnu Smith that effectively killed the drive for the Titans, forcing them to punt. Lewan was also called for a false start penalty later in the game, which gave him three penalties in the second half alone.
Following the win, Lewan didn’t mince words about himself and his penalty woes, calling himself “a liability”.
Taylor Lewan calls himself a liability because of penalties. Promises to be better. Says he won’t even hold his wife’s hand, let alone an opponent.
— John Glennon (@glennonsports) November 10, 2019
Lewan also had this to say on Twitter.
Incredible win for the boys today! I’m so sorry to my teammates and the fans for my penalties it’s not intentional but it’s killing drives and is absolute bull shit by me! I will work my ass off to make it better #titanup #NoBadDays
— Taylor Lewan (@TaylorLewan77) November 10, 2019
It’s nice to see he promises to be better, but Lewan actually has to do it.
We hear the same spiel after every game, yet he continues to make mental errors that cost his team drives. He’s extremely fortunate the Titans were able to pull this game out or else his problems would have been magnified even more.
If Lewan wasn’t an $80 million left tackle, he’d likely be benched for his actions. With the way the Titans have played on offense this season, the team simply can’t afford to take these kinds of penalties.
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Titans great Eddie George recently questioned Lewan’s status as a leader in the locker room, and the left tackle is proving that George might be right. If Lewan hopes to prove otherwise, he needs to step up in a big way moving forward, or those doubts will continue.