Tennessee Titans All-Pro safety Kevin Byard isn’t shy about voicing his opinions, and it’s a personal trait he actually shares with Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay.
The difference between the two is that the Mayor of Murfreesboro does his talking after the work is done, never beforehand.
Irsay has grown this obsession with beating the Titans, and so much so that he publicly admitted to calling meetings to address Tennessee’s dominance over his team in recent years.
Ahead of the Titans’ Week 4 win, Irsay fired off a tweet storm urging fans to come out in force at Lucas Oil Stadium to help the Colts beat the Titans, something that didn’t work out.
Jim Irsay had a "spirited" meeting with the Colts coaches & scouts after a loss to the Titans in Week 3#PMSLive pic.twitter.com/qYk4jujFD2
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 31, 2022
Byard and the rest of the team undoubtedly took notice of Irsay’s comments, as well as the “come to Jesus” meetings the team apparently had to discuss their inability to beat the Titans.
After beating the Colts 19-10 on Sunday, Byard admitted Irsay’s comments made sweeping Tennessee’s division rival for a second straight year even sweeter.
“It feels really good,” Byard said. “To sweep them two years in a row, obviously after their owner [Irsay] makes all these statements about, ‘We’ve got to beat the Titans’ and stuff like that. It feels really good, and we’re definitely going to celebrate this. As of right now, we don’t have to worry about them. We’ve got a division game against Houston now we have to get on the road.”
That’s some subtle shade thrown from the Middle Tennessee State product. It wouldn’t shock me one bit if Byard’s quote ends up on an Irsay-led PowerPoint presentation in the near future.
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