Oct 1, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. (3) warms up before the game between the Cleveland Browns and the Ravens at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
NFL: Baltimore Ravens at Cleveland Browns
(London) – It’s rare these days when a potentially juicy story surrounding the NFL fails to get big coverage.
If Taylor Swift sneezes, or a “Swiftie” buys a Travis Kelce jersey, the story will likely go viral in NFL social media circles.
Yet true drama surrounding this past weekend’s Baltimore Ravens-Tennessee Titans game (played in London) appears to have gone under the radar.
According to Ravens’ DB Marlon Humphrey, teammate Odell Beckham Jr. and Titans’ DE Jeffrey Simmons got into it during the game – which continued after the final whistle sounded. Speaking on his “Punch Line Podcast” this week.
Humphrey explained further: “Dude, I’m sitting there after the game. I jersey swapped with a dude, so, like, it took me awhile. (Then) I saw Jeffery Simmons, and he’s just looking like this [with a mean mug]. Helmet on. I’m like, oh he must got family on our team or something. So I’m trying to take off my jersey and pads, so I’m thinking he wants to show me love, like he respects my game. So I [approached him] and he wasn’t.”
At that moment, somebody realized the beef between Simmons and OBJ wasn’t cooling off anytime soon. Humphrey continued that “as my back’s turned to him, our guy goes ‘Rodney! Rodney!’ Roddy’s our security’s name. I’m like, any time you start yelling for security, freaking out, I turn around, Odell and Jeffery are like fighting! I’m pretty sure Odell’s grabbing his facemask. They had to get separated and everything. I don’t know how this has not hit the media. He wanted the fade from getting that PR [from] Odell.”
The whole thing apparently touched off in the second quarter, when Simmons was part of a group of players who tackled Ravens’ rookie WR Zay Flowers.
Beckham explained his side of it to reporters: “He’s chasing down a play, he’s tired, I watched him look at the play and then look at Zay’s legs and try and dive on them.I just didn’t like that. I’m going to protect him. This is my guy. This is my little bro. I love (Flowers) to death and I’m always going to have his back period. If that leads me to trouble, it is what it is. I just didn’t like that. That’s all it was. Other than that, it was football. We play football.”
Beckham Jr. would know, being no stranger to the sport – or scraps with opposing defensive players. Football will be football, and boys will be boys.
