Football is a physical game with adrenaline and emotions often running high, but one player is accused of taking things too far.
Tennessee Titans running back Julius Chestnut claims that Jaguars punter Logan Cooke threatened to kill him during Jacksonville’s 25-3 win on Sunday.
The two players had been involved in a couple of heated moments during the game, with Chestnut delivering a big hit on Cooke while blocking on a return.
“I don’t know why the punter did that, I was just trying to play hard and he came up to me and said he was going to kill me,” Chestnut said of his altercation with Cooke, as per ESPN.
“So, I don’t know what made him do that.”
After Chestnut’s hit on Cooke during Chimere Dike’s 47-yard return, the punter was evaluated for a concussion on the sidelines but cleared to return.
Following the Jags next possession, Cooke again was called upon to punt — leading to a further escalation with Chestnut.
After the running back stood over a downed Jaguars player, Cooke ran towards Chestnut to confront him.
Chestnut, who is 5-foot-11, 228 pounds, grabbed the jersey of the 6-foot-5, 230-pound Cooke as others joined the fray.
“I don’t think it was any frustration,” Chestnut said, “I think it was just us playing hard and me and the other guy was playing hard and I think he just wanted something to say, honestly, I have no idea.
“I was just playing hard, he came up to me. I don’t know what made him do that. Might have been a couple plays before and I made a block on him, I don’t know what made him want to do that. That was surprising to me, I ain’t never seen nothing like that before.”
Cooke received an unnecessary roughness penalty on the play, while Titans safety Mike Brown was ejected for his actions.
After the game, Jacksonville coach Liam Coen praised Cooke and other special teams players for their competitiveness while also noting they need to keep their emotions in check.
“They had an edge, for sure. I’d like Logan to be a little smarter there on the one where he got hit on, but there were some frustrations that were being built up with them rushing us the way they were with the long snapper issue and we thought that we maybe were roughed or potentially roughed at one point,” Coen said. “I don’t know if it got called or not.
“Proud of those guys for competing but we got to continue to be smarter.”