Getty Images Mike Vrabel on the sidelines during the London game.
The Tennessee Titans found a new life on Monday Night Football this week. They traveled over to AT&T Stadium to take on the Dallas Cowboys. The Titans took care of business and added a one in the win column. Although it looked like the Titans were going to have a hard time on Monday after their atrocious start, a red zone interception by Kevin Byard gave the team a new life.
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was trying to squeeze a throw in the end zone to his new wide receiver Amari Cooper to go up two possessions. Titans safety Kevin Byard put a stop to it by jumping up and snagging a game-changing interception. It was at that moment that Byard decided he was going to channel his inner Terrell Owens and run to the middle of the field to stand on the star.
Everybody went crazy on social media. People who dislike the Cowboys loved it. And Cowboys fans utterly despised it. While the majority of the Titans fans and players were happy with the taunting celebration, there is one person within the organization who was not pleased with the celebration. And unfortunately for Byard, it’s Titans head coach, Mike Vrabel. Here’s what Vrabel had to say, according to Pro Football Talk.
Vrabel’s Reaction
“That’s not what we want as an organization. That’s not what I want as a head coach,” Vrabel said Tuesday, via video posted by Paul Kuharsky of paulkuharsky.com. “I want our guys to play as hard as they possibly can, for each other, between the whistles, as physical, as aggressive, as clean as they possibly can. I get that there’s things that cross the line between whistles. Once the whistle blows, celebrate with a teammate. Find somebody else in a Titans uniform. Find a coach. Celebrate with them. But we don’t need to do that. That’s not what we want to do. I talked to Kevin this morning. I’ll talk to the team again tomorrow. That goes for a lot of guys. That’s not what I want. If that’s what they want, then we see it very differently.”
Fortunately, the Titans were surprisingly not penalized for the celebration. Still, Vrabel was not pleased with the action. It was reported on Tuesday morning that Byard could potentially be looking at a fine coming his way too by the end of the week. Seeing as though fines for taunting are becoming quite frequent, we can definitely expect Byard getting a bill in the mail.