Here’s another reason why we wish the Titans and Texans would be resuming their rivalry before Week 17.
Titans center Rob Turner has been fined for an illegal cut block on Texans defensive end J.J. Watt. But Turner is now complaining about the fact that Watt complained about the low hit from Turner.
“I am a hard-nosed guy and that gets misconstrued sometimes,” Turner said, via Jim Wyatt of the Tennessean. “I know J.J. was saying all sorts of stuff to the media down there about him [telling me he has] a family to feed and stuff like that, but all that wasn’t true and he’s full of it for saying it. That was a lie about him talking to me.”
Watt claims that he confronted Turner after the play.
“I said, ‘You were clearly trying to take out my knee,’” Watt said. “And he tried to apologize. But you’re trying to take out my knee — that’s exactly what you’re trying to do.”
Turner acknowledges only that he tried to say something to Watt after the game.
“Whether you call it an apology or whether you call it a professional courtesy, I was trying to say, ‘Hey I wasn’t going after you like that, and you can see that on film,’” Turner said. “And it bothered me he made a big stink about it.
“For the record, he wouldn’t even look at me, and I don’t have a problem if you put that in print. In fact, I’d encourage you to put that in print and he’s full of it by saying that.”
Turner acknowledged that he broke the rules, but he explained that he simply forgot that the rules had changed.
“I’ve been taught to cut on screen [passes] ever since I was a kid,” Turner said. “It was a rule change this year and it was something I didn’t think about, I just reacted.”
The ultimate reaction comes on December 29, when Watt gets a chance to face Turner and Chance Warmack, who has said that Watt is “just another guy.”