If you think going out and getting beaten down like the Tennessee Titans did against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 14 doesn’t hit the team’s players hard, I present to you linebacker Dylan Cole.
Cole was one piece of a Titans defense that couldn’t do anything right on Sunday. The linebacker specifically struggled to make some tackles and wasn’t good in coverage.
After the game, it was clear Cole was taking the performance and defeat very hard, as he got emotional and even shed tears while looking back on the blowout loss.
“We can only learn and improve from this. I know personally, I sucked… I sucked today,” Cole said while trying to fight back tears. “So, just embrace it, and learn from it, and improve.”
When asked about getting emotional in his response, Cole couldn’t hold back the tears any longer.
“We just put a lot of work in… and to put stuff out there like that, it just… it doesn’t justify the work that we put in and it hurts.”
Think losing doesn’t bother NFL players?
Raw emotion here from #Titans linebacker @dylancole31 after Sunday’s loss to the @Jaguars. pic.twitter.com/L3gP5YRWuG
— Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) December 11, 2022
I might have a new favorite player. If you don’t like Cole at least a little bit more after seeing this, I don’t know what to tell you.
Yes, Cole struggled in Week 14, but so did the rest of the team, and he’s also playing a role he isn’t really suited for thanks to injuries to both starting linebackers Zach Cunningham and David Long.
But nobody can question Cole’s heart, effort and desire, the latter of which we saw in his post-game reaction.