Adams 'felt the need to retaliate' after late hit
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - All Davante Adams saw was the late hit.
Didn’t matter, he said, if it was Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers getting trucked 3 yards across the goal line. Could have been any one of his teammates getting a hard shoulder from Tennessee Titans safety Perrish Cox.
Adams wasn’t having it.
“That’s the type of guy I am,” Adams said. “I don’t care if it was Aaron, if it was Rip (Aaron Ripkowski). If you’re going to come and hit a guy like that, that’s not the type of guy that player is. But for him to make that type of mistake, he has to know that that’s not cool. That’s just the type of guy I am. I’m going to stick up for my quarterback, especially.
“He got hit after he scored, and that’s illegal. So I felt the need to retaliate and do something about it.”
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Cox’s late hit drew a 15-yard penalty, as well as a scrum in the third quarter of the Packers 47-25 loss at the Titans. Players from both teams jawed and shoved, pushing against the end zone stands. Cox was the only player penalized.
It came at the end of Rodgers’ 20-yard touchdown run.
“Aaron looked like he was pretty secure in the end zone,” offensive lineman Don Barclay said. “For him to put that shot on him, I mean that was kind of uncalled for. I think we did a good job going down covering. I saw some of their guys trying to toss our guys, and we just tried to keep it clean and not let any bad stuff go on.
“He’s our guy. We’ve got to keep him clean no matter what. That goes for anyone: receiver, running back, lineman. We’re going to cover. We’re family.”
It wasn’t the only time Sunday’s game got chippy.
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In the first quarter, there was a heated moment after Packers defensive tackle Letroy Guion jumped offside and hit Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota. Fellow defensive tackle Mike Daniels and Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan exchanged some words, and Lewan was ejected after making contact with an official.
“I was pretty pissed off,” tight end Delanie Walker said. “That call with Taylor should not have happened. I can’t speak on the referees. They made a decision, and he got ejected. But that was shocking, and everybody came together. And we were all upset about the call, because Marcus got hit, and it felt like we didn’t get any penalty for that.”
rwood@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @ByRyanWood
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