Tennessee Titans offensive tackle Taylor Lewan did not have a great day.
Chandler Jones made it pretty miserable. The Arizona Cardinals pass-rusher made Lewan’s job difficult in the tackle’s first game back since suffering an ACL tear in Week 6 of last season.
Jones, coming off his own season-ending injury from a year back, posted five sacks in Arizona’s 38-13 Week 1 victory in Tennessee.
Lewan took his own failures as well as you can imagine. He even thanked the guy who arguably could have gotten him benched.
“Got my (expletive) kicked today, no way around that,” Lewan tweeted after the game. “I let the team and the fans down. Thank you @chanjones55 for exposing me. It will only force me to get better.”
Jones posted a Cardinals single-game record five sacks and two strip-sacks on Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill.
He was also part of a bullying performance from the entire Arizona front-seven.
Jones was outmaneuvering Lewan from the jump.
Chandler Jones had three sacks in the first quarter against the Titans, but that wasn’t all he was doing. First play from scrimmage, he shoves Taylor Lewan aside line a bag of Doritos and gets Derrick Henry for a three-yard loss. Jones is on FIAH. pic.twitter.com/tiohUkNLDv
— Doug Farrar
(@NFL_DougFarrar) September 12, 2021
Lewan wasn’t alone in losing one-on-one matchups to the Cardinals.
He was dealing with cramps and at one point replaced by Kendall Lamm, only to return to boos from his home crowd.
Lamm also did not fare well against Arizona’s premiere pass-rusher, who played with a little anger — perhaps that pop was related to Jones not having a contract extension beyond the 2021 season.
“Chandler had a little Lamm,” @DavePasch
Chandler Jones gets Kendall Lamm to false start for a second time#AZvsTEN— Craig Grialou (@CraigAZSports) September 12, 2021
Chandler Jones is having himself a day. That’s four sacks and two forced fumbles for the #AZCardinals pass-rusher! @chanjones55
: #AZvsTEN on CBS
: NFL app pic.twitter.com/AncrIuaw6N
— NFL (@NFL) September 12, 2021