Lewan's return an emotional time

Pro Bowl tackle back with the Titans after serving four-game suspension

Taylor Lewan conceded that it’s possible.

There is no question that the Tennessee Titans left tackle will be amped up for Sunday’s contest against the Buffalo Bills at Nissan Stadium, his first following a four-game suspension for violation of the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances.

The issue is whether the three-time Pro Bowler will be too excited.

After all, he is someone who has played his entire NFL career with his emotions boiling just below – and occasionally overflowing – the surface. It is an approach that has made him the team’s most penalized player each of the past four seasons, but it also has earned him a reputation as someone opponents hate to face and teammates love to see.

“Definitely, I’ll have to keep my emotions in check and just try to focus on doing my job and having as much effort and consistency as possible,” Lewan said Wednesday prior to practice. “(I’ll) try to make sure that whenever they do lean on me – whatever they lean on me for – that I excel.”

The 11 overall pick in the 2014 draft said he rode an emotional roller coaster while he was out and banned from all team activities. The season-opening 43-13 victory at Cleveland was a high point followed by the lows of losses to Indianapolis and Jacksonville.

Things were looking up again Monday morning, when he reported to the team facility for the first time since the end of training camp. Sunday’s 24-10 victory at Atlanta improved the Titans’ record to 2-2 and moved them into tie with the rest of the AFC South.

“The first game, sitting there watching, it was pretty cool,” Lewan said. “And then it wasn’t. Then it was cool again. … When they won I was excited and when they didn’t, I wasn’t.

“It’s just weird. I’ve never, since I was little, had September off. So that was something to get used to. Hopefully that won’t ever happen again.”

He added that during his banishment, Vanderbilt University’s football program led by coach Derek Mason and strength coach James Dobson, allowed him to train on campus. Dobson even put him through some offensive line-specific drills.

Conditioning, therefore, should not be a problem.

“I know that he’s in shape,” coach Mike Vrabel said. “We’ll have to get him in football shape and be ready for that.”

The suspension, which he has said was the result of his use of anti-inflammatory supplements that he believes were tainted, caused Lewan to miss twice as many games this season as he did in the previous four combined. After playing in just 11 contests as a rookie, he missed one in 2015 and one last season.

So his return to team meetings early this week and then to the practice field provided a jolt as the team enters the second quarter of its 16-game schedule.

“Anytime you bring back a Pro Bowl-type player, that’s going to help – no doubt,” quarterback Marcus Mariota said. “… Through the few meetings and just what we’ve been through these first few hours with him, he’s excited. You can tell that. He’s got a little juice to him.

“When you bring that type of player into the offense with some juice and excitement it’s going to kind of carry over to some other guys as well.”

Lewan just has to be careful not to overdo it Sunday.

“I’m a positive guy,” he said. “I have a lot of energy. I’m really excited to be here. I’m stoked to be back with the boys and get it going, get things moving … and go play ball on Sunday.”