Welcome to the 2017 NFL season for the Detroit Lions. The team is off to a 2-0 start and Eric Ebron is starting to show some of the reasons that Detroit spent the No. 10 pick overall on him back in 2014. He led the Lions in receiving on Monday Night Football with five catches for 42 yards and one touchdown. He also managed to get in a verbal spat with New York Giants safety Landon Collins that made its way to Twitter.
Lions’ Eric Ebron, Giants’ Landon Collins beefing on Twitter; internet joins the fun | NFL https://t.co/ZNVz8QmHck pic.twitter.com/GMHTIT2Zz2
— Love U Shopping (@ILoveUShopping) September 21, 2017
After scoring his touchdown, Ebron elected not to celebrate with any kind of end zone dance (note: he did celebrate several first down catches that evening). The reason for this? Apparently, Ebron took minor exception to a hard hit applied by Collins earlier during the game.
“I was pissed off,” Ebron said. “I was pissed off at that little punk of a safety they’ve got over there.”
Here’s the hit in question.
21 SAVAGE #NYG pic.twitter.com/bzpwNi2Xh1
— Ethan aka The People’s Insider (@EthanGSN) September 19, 2017
Hard to know why Ebron would be complaining about being tackled roughly in the mother of all contact sports, but in any case, the war of words didn’t stop there. Collins fired back on Twitter later.
Be a bully…still zero catches on me between those lines💯 https://t.co/ciYSx55HXh
— LANDON COLLINS (@TheHumble_21) September 20, 2017
Ebron then responded by claiming that his matchup in Week 1 with Tyrann Mathieu a.k.a. The Honey Badger (really?!) was more challenging for the young tight end.
Lol… twitter fingers. The honey badger was better https://t.co/MzvnhT3WWa
— Ebron85 (@Ebron85) September 20, 2017
This all sounds like the middle school cafeteria to me. I understand the need for Ebron to get himself pumped up. I mean, he’s the No. 10 overall pick and until this past Monday, he hadn’t caught a touchdown since September 11, 2016.
As Elvis Presley used to say: “A little less talk, a little more action, please,” Mr. Ebron.
Here’s hoping that the Lions continue their winning ways, NFL players across the board learn some humility (where’s Barry Sanders tossing the ball to the ref when you need him?!), and that Twitter is the last thing we’re concerned about as Detroit marches towards the playoffs.
