INDIANAPOLIS — Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons sat in front of a musty locker, deep in the belly of Lucas Oil Stadium, cradling the football he’d stripped off Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor a little more than an hour earlier.
It was Simmons’ ball to keep.
The Titans’ 26-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts on Oct. 18 belonged to him, too, there's no doubt.
It wasn’t just the two sacks that gave him 45.5 for his career, surpassing Ted Washington (45.0) for 10th all-time on the franchise list.
It was what Simmons said at halftime when the Titans (1-5) still trailed 13-0 and were staring an 0-6 start right in the face.
Tennessee players and coach Robert Saleh didn’t detail much of Simmons’ pep talk. But it wasn’t just lip service.
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Simmons backed it up on the field almost immediately: He stripped Taylor on the first play of the second half, and everything seemed to fall into place.
There was the fourth-quarter blocked punt by Julius Chestnut that Oluwafemi Oladejo returned for a touchdown. Cor’Dale Flott’s interception. Chimere Dike’s 58-yard punt return that set up quarterback Cam Ward’s only touchdown of the game. Four field goals from kicker Joey Slye.
This is why Simmons is Tennessee’s highest-paid player.
He spoke, then provided an example and what followed was a cascade of winning plays. The Titans scored 26 of the game’s 33 second-half points to win their first game in 299 days.
“When I talk, especially at halftime, I talk to the whole team,” Simmons said. “I talk to everybody. I want the coaches, I want everybody to hear me. When I (spoke), it was … It’s enough talking. We said enough. Coaches have said enough. Let’s go out there and finish the football game. Let’s go win the football game.”
Saleh acted afterwards like Simmons had given him an assist. For all their issues this season, the Titans have lacked someone to elevate those around them in games.
“One of the big challenges this week was making plays. Someone make a play,” Saleh said. “Someone break a tackle. Someone do something spectacular.”
Those plays were non-existent in the first half, especially on offense. That left the responsibility up to someone else. Anyone else.
Taylor has been a menace against the Titans, with 510 all-purpose yards and nine touchdowns in the last three meetings.
Simmons ripping the ball from him and coming down with it himself sparked something. Knowing what was said at intermission, Saleh said it was the biggest play of the game.
“It’s crazy, because I acutally lost the ball. I’m scrambling,” Simmons said. “I knew it came out, but I saw one of their linemen punch at the ball and try to grab it. That’s when I’m like, ‘You’re not taking that from me.’”
The Titans were widely considered to have hit rock bottom in a Week 5 loss to the Houston Texans, when they were manhandled and fell to 4-33 since 2023. The temperature got hot enough that team president and CEO Burke Nihill addressed fan unrest in a local television interview on Oct. 18, in what equated to a Friday news dump.
The Titans' problems as an organization are not for Simmons to fix. But wins can fix things. Saleh said everyone needs to pump the brakes about whether this victory will really lead to more.
But it was a win that quieted the storm briefly, and it belongs to Simmons.
“I think (at halftime) something was on his heart in that moment and he got it off it … There’s power in that, man,” said defensive end Jacob Martin, who tallied one sack and two hurries. “It was a good message right at the time when it was needed.”
Tyler Palmateer covers the Tennessee Titans for The Tennessean. Have a story idea for Tyler? Reach him at tpalmateer@tennessean.com and on the X platform, @tpalmateer83.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Why Titans' gutsy win over Indianapolis Colts belongs to Jeffery Simmons