A player issuing an apology for something said during a press conference isn’t particularly rare. Still, it’s unlikely that we’ve seen too many apologies like the one offered by Will Levis, the rookie quarterback of the Tennessee Titans, on Sunday.
Levis and the Titans snapped a three-game losing streak in Week 12 with a 17-10 win over the Carolina Panthers. On its second offensive possession of the game, Tennessee went the length of the field on a 15-play, 91-yard drive. It was capped off on a one-yard touchdown run from Derrick Henry.
During his postgame press conference was asked about the drive. As one would expect, he spoke glowingly about it.
“That was awesome,” Levis said (H/T TennesseeTitans.com). “That was what, a 17-play drive? Something like that. I think we ran more plays that drive than we did in the second half. Those are the types of drives that, you know, bring up the entire stadium. I mean, defense, offense, special teams and the fans. When you’re able to just capitulate down the field like that and just finish it, that’s the best feeling of all. To just finish a drive like that.”
Levis later apologized for a mistake he made.
“I think I used ‘capitulate’ instead of ‘matriculate’ in the presser today,” he said on Twitter/X. “Been killing me. I apologize to all my former English teachers.”
Indeed, capitulate was not the right word there.
Merriam-Webster defines capitulate as “to surrender often after negotiation of terms” or “to cease resisting.”
Matriculate, meanwhile, is “to advance,” per Merriam-Webster. In football, its best known usage was by Hank Stram, who was mic’d up in Super Bowl IV and encouraged his Kansas City Chiefs to “keep matriculating the ball down the field” in their victory over the Minnesota Vikings.
Hopefully Levis’ former English teachers have forgiveness in their hearts.
[Will Levis on Twitter/X, TennesseeTitans.com]
