Titans offensive lineman Taylor Lewan had some candid words about his performance on Sunday.
“My penalties are a f—ing problem,” he said after the Titans’ win over the Chiefs.
The three-time Pro Bowl tackle was penalized three times in the game, costing the team 24 total yards. He was called for unnecessary roughness to begin the second half with the score tied at 13, and immediately followed it up with an offensive holding penalty on the next play. The Titans punted the ball and the Chiefs scored on the next drive.
Then, right before the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter trailing 32-27, Lewan was flagged for a false start on third and five. That drive ended as a turnover on downs.
The Titans ultimately scored on the next drive to pull off a 35-32 upset win, but Lewan was highly critical of himself in the locker room after the game.
"My penalties are a f—ing problem. … I am completely screwing the team …"
—Titans OL Taylor Lewan went off on himself. pic.twitter.com/6hpFrs4jw3
— ESPN (@espn) November 11, 2019
“I am 100% at issue with that,” Lewan said. It’s not intentional. I do not mean to do it. My intentions are good. I’m just trying to finish. And it’s killing the team. I know that. You guys know that. No one needs to call me out on anything, because I got it, boys.
“I am completely screwing the team with the amount of penalties I’ve had in the last, what, six games. It’s crazy. It’s horrible. I cannot get penalties. I’m sorry, there’s no need to ask about it because I know I’m an absolute liability when it comes to penalties.”
Lewan’s three penalties from Week 10 bring his season total to a team-high nine in six games played this year. The Titans left tackle missed the first four games of the NFL season for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances.
The 28-year old former All-American for the University of Michigan was selected 11th overall in the 2014 NFL Draft. He became the league’s highest paid offensive lineman in history when he inked a five-year, $80 million contract extension — $50 million guaranteed — with the Titans in 2018.
Lewan vows to be extra diligent during the team’s Week 11 bye.
“I take full responsibility for this,” he said. “I will work on it. I might even go practice not doing penalties in the bye week. I’ll do my absolute best to work on it. I won’t even hold my wife’s hand this whole entire bye week because I do not want to get called for holding. These damn penalties are absolutely kicking me in the ass.”
