Tennessee Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan spoke about rookie wideout A.J. Brown holding him accountable for a penalty he committed in Week 10.
On the first drive of the second half in the Tennessee Titans’ Week 10 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, left tackle Taylor Lewan committed a dumb penalty that hurt his team — and rookie wide receiver A.J. Brown let him know about it.
Lewan pushed a Chiefs player after the whistle had blown following a three-yard run by running back Derrick Henry, which drew a flag for unnecessary roughness. Dumb doesn’t begin to describe Lewan’s actions, and the penalty was the first of two that helped kill the drive.
In between Titans fans’ understandable outrage, eye-rolling and moaning and groaning over Lewan’s penalty, they might have missed something special that happened: Brown, who is a rookie, went up to the star left tackle and let him know his selfish actions were not OK.
It was a move that not only showed Brown’s maturity, but his ability to be a leader at a time the Titans needed it. Somebody had to get in Lewan’s ear for his brutal error, and Brown was the guy to do it.
Following the win, Lewan had this to say about Brown holding him accountable, according to Titans beat writer Paul Kuharsky.
"“I think it shows good leadership by such a young guy,” Lewan said. “I’m supposed to be a leader on this team and I’m hurting this team by having the penalties and things. A.J. saying something, everybody should have said something to me there. If it’s gotten that consistent. I think it showed good leadership by A.J. to come over and say something.”"
In his rookie season, we’ve seen a lot of great things from Brown in the skill department, but we’ve also seen qualities that show the Ole Miss product has his head screwed on straight.
The type of mentality Brown has displayed may not always translate into consistent production, however it does speak to his incredible potential moving forward. He has the skills AND the mindset to become a great player, and the latter isn’t always easy to come by.
Hats off to Brown for holding Lewan accountable, because not all rookies would have the guts to do so.