Jeffery Simmons misses practice Wednesday but says he 'should be ready to go' in London
Jeffery Simmons is going to play through it. Again.
Simmons, one of the Tennessee Titans' stars and one of the NFL's best interior defensive linemen, didn't practice Wednesday as he continues to recover from a shoulder injury he sustained in the Titans' 23-16 loss to the Indianapolis Colts last Sunday. Simmons finished that game despite the injury and told The Tennessean on Wednesday that he's "feeling fine" and "should be ready to go" when the Titans (2-3) battle the Baltimore Ravens (3-2) in London on Sunday (8:30 a.m., NFL Network).
Playing through pain is nothing new for Simmons. The two-time All Pro defensive tackle spent more than half of last season on the Titans' injury report with an ankle injury but missed only two games because of the ailment. Even playing through the pain, Simmons logged 30 tackles and three sacks in nine games along with four pass deflections and six quarterback hits.
Simmons has the same mantra about playing through pain that many of his teammates and coach Mike Vrabel often express: Once the season starts, no one in the league will ever be playing at 100% health. The best players are the ones who do the best job of knowing that, taking care of themselves and figuring out how to play through whatever may be off.
"I’m different," Simmons joked when asked how he does such a good of job of keeping that perspective. "Nah, for real: I don’t go into a season or a game where I’m worried about injuries. I’m doing everything I can each and every day to make sure I’m healthy and be on the field with the guys to help us get a win."
Simmons wasn't the only Titans veteran absent from the media viewing portion of Wednesday's practice. Fellow defensive tackle Teair Tart, linebacker Luke Gifford, defensive back Elijah Molden and receiver Treylon Burks were missing as well, as were running back Derrick Henry and receiver DeAndre Hopkins.
Vrabel said prior to Wednesday's practice that he anticipated Hopkins would miss the beginning of practice but join his teammates for the second half of the day. He didn't say anything about Henry, but Henry often misses practices on Thursdays, and since the Titans moved their schedule up a day this week to incorporate the travel it takes to get overseas, that would mean this practice is the one in the week during which Henry often rests.
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nickusss.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Jeffery Simmons 'should be ready to go' for Titans in London on Sunday
