Titans' Brass Needs To Give Jeffery Simmons Some Tough Love

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – First, Jeffery Simmons, if you’re reading this, please stop. Please close it. It’s not going to do you or me or your public image that's fizzling with a portion of the fan base a bit of good for you to read on.

I’m going to examine what you’ve said and done and on some level, it will qualify as a critique. 

  Jeffery Simmons/ Angie Flatt

Maybe you take those fine in a classroom with Terrell Williams or Tracy Rocker, Shane Bowen or Dennard Wilson, Mike Vrabel or Brian Callahan, Jon Robinson or Ran Carthon. But from anyone else, well it simply lights your fuse.

This will only lead to more build-up between you and the media and maybe another completely bizarre explosion like the one you had with Buck Reising Tuesday afternoon. So skip it.

It’s great Simmons approached Reising, if only he’d done so to explain what’s bugging him so much.

But up came his circular logic:

JS: I’m telling you to stop talking on social media. Talk to me.

BR: I’m talking to you right here. Jeff, we tried to talk to you last week.

JS: I don’t want to talk to you.

In the span of 10 words, Simmons went from yelling at Reising to talk to him to saying he didn’t want to talk to him.

Please can someone close to Simmons point out to him the dizzying logic there, or is all you care about with him pass pressure, run-stopping and this propped-up idea of him as the team's big leader?  

Look, Simmons need not have a relationship with the media.

But if he’s going to be an even bigger leader for the team, a guy the team anoints with a platform comparable to recent non-quarterbacks like Jurrell Casey, Logan Ryan, Kevin Byard and Derrick Henry, then it comes with the territory. Then he needs to catch himself here and come to terms with whatever is going on and reset after causing such a big distraction he knocked a pending six-game suspension for Arden Key down to the day's B story.

Simmons was a central figure in two fights that would have gotten him thrown out of games at the team’s first padded practice. He should absolutely expect people to say on Twitter that's a bad thing and to go from there, and he’s got to handle it.

Simmons has some leadership components. At the top of his game, he's a very good and disruptive playmaker. He gets people fired up. He does super work in the community.

But all of those leaders who came before him handled whatever poor moments they or the team may have had. If situations arose that upset them, all of those guys found ways to sort out any complications or complaints. All of those guys were capable of turning any emotional moments into peaceful resolutions. They also understood who their teams were. 

And none of them would have instigated with Reising, in front of fans, as he did.

Simmons seems slighted by commentary on his Titans, who are 13-21 and outscored by 123 points in the last two seasons, out of the playoffs both years.

Simmons big beef coming out of the summer was, apparently, critiques of the signing of Jamal Adams. (The facts about games missed to injury are inarguable; The comments about his limitations have pretty much already been confirmed by his deployment so far.)

The new top leader’s response? A broad swipe at the media as a whole. Then when he was asked about it at his first press conference since last season, he dismissed it. Simmons, who pledged to be accountable moments earlier, would not account for what he said.

I think he meant a 180.

Most of us, the good ones, are not trying to make friends. We’re trying to do our jobs in a personable way. When cameras and tape recorders aren't running, there is occasional chit-chat. It’s a real shame no one’s ever effectively explained to him how we can be at every game, home and away, but aren’t the same as the cheerleaders (who are only at the home games).

His willingness to raise us as an issue but then not be willing to discuss it makes for a great example of accountability for all the young guys he’s been anointed to lead. I’ve listened to him gripe about A LOT for a guy I’ve regularly called the best defender on the team, who by the way has not met his own standard often enough lately.

And initiating a shouting match with a radio host during a live broadcast, interrupting an interview with one of the teammates he so values, well that’s certainly a follow-the-leader moment. Hey T’Vondre Sweat, did you see that? Here’s how we do things! Did you hear me call him a pussy?

Yes, I know many of you are going to point out that I'm aggressive and confrontational too. True. 

When I've been guilty of going too far, I've typically gone out of my way to get with a player privately to explain my point of view after things settle down. Typically we have come out of things with a clear understanding of each other and in a place where we continued to talk.

When I've gotten overheated, I've occasionally put myself in a place where I've been embarrassed. I've self-reflected. I've had conversations after the fact and sometimes needed to apologize. Occasionally I've discussed that with my audience on the radio or in a post here. Hardly perfect.

I hope Simmons is doing some of that now. I know how uncomfortable it can be. 

When Marshall Yanda accused Simmons of spitting on him in January of 2020, I went to Simmons to ask about it. What a slight he thought that was. Here’s a terrible allegation against him floating out there. It’s my job to work to get his side of the story and he was insulted that I dared to ask him about it, giving him a chance to clear his name. That reaction was an indictment and a harbinger: Don't bring tough stuff here, just flowers.

Occasionally he’s said he needs to play better, but rare is a “my-bad” from Simmons.

He’s above it all, and he's got a lot of enablers.

While he was railing at Reising Tuesday, a member of the team’s PR staff has just guided Roger McCreary to a seat the the station’s table for his interview. The staffer had zero chance at settling Simmons, not before he screamed his piece.

PR’s chance with him is long past, they are powerless now. It’s up to Brian Callahan and Ran Carthon. If they don't see what's happening here, if their eyes are filled with big Valentine's hearts because of what Simmons can do on the field, then Amy Adams Strunk needs to talk to them.

They all love Big Jeff.

Do they love him enough to give him some tough love?

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