Baltimore Ravens players celebrated on the Tennessee Titans’ midfield logo following a huge interception by Marcus Peters on Sunday, but they insist it was not meant as a sign of disrespect.
Peters intercepted a Ryan Tannehill pass with less than two minutes remaining, and the play essentially sealed the win for the Ravens. Baltimore players then got together and stomped and celebrated on the midfield logo at Nissan Stadium. After his team’s 20-13 victory, Ravens defensive lineman Derek Wolfe said the stunt was more about revenge than disrespect.
“It wasn’t a disrespect thing,” Wolfe said, via Michael Giardi of NFL Network. “It was more like a team-unity thing; like we accomplished something as a team, so we’re going to go out there and take a little bit of revenge, I guess.”
Baltimore defensive back Marlon Humphrey also downplayed the celebration. He said Ravens defenders were just looking to celebrate with Peters and happened to be at that spot on the field.
Interesting explanation from Marlon Humphrey on the celebration after the Marcus Peters INT. "Marcus wanted me to speak on his behalf…Basically, what he wanted to tell me [to say] was a song lyric, but I don’t really know the song lyric." Full quote below #Ravens @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/WBuqPEMLQW
— Michael Giardi (@MikeGiardi) January 10, 2021
Ravens players can spin it however they want, but the revenge factor was obvious. It was also deserved. They were simply returning the favor after the Titans did something similar to them in their previous two meetings.
Titans players gathered on the Ravens’ midfield logo at M&T Bank Stadium prior to kickoff when the teams met earlier this season. That led to John Harbaugh getting into it with Malcolm Butler (video here). Harbaugh then snubbed Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel and refused to shake his hand after the game. The Titans had pulled the same stunt before the two teams met in the playoffs last year.
Simply put, the Ravens got the last laugh. You can’t blame them for rubbing the Titans’ noses in it.
