SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Jeffery Simmons took over the game for the Tennessee Titans in one three-play stretch in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.
What went on in the other 59 minutes of San Francisco's 37-24 win over Tennessee on Sunday made that impressive period a footnote to yet another loss for the Titans.
Simmons put together the sixth game on record with at least one sack, a forced fumble and a touchdown catch as the do-everything defensive tackle showed off his wide array of skills.
“You just absolutely love the way Jeff plays, the way he leads, you do love everything about him,” interim coach Mike McCoy said. “You can see him catch that ball, I mean, those are natural hands. And that was pretty sweet. He’s caught a couple of balls like that in practice. What a great effort by everyone to get that touchdown.”
The stretch started when Simmons beat a one-on-one block and hit Brock Purdy just before he was attempting a pass. The ball got knocked loose and Kaiir Elam recovered it.
Simmons was credited with his career-high ninth sack of the season on the play and his second forced fumble.
“This year, I try to take every play like I’m going to get a one-on-one,” he said. “Finally got it and made a hell of a play on the ball. I was excited to get my career high today and hopefully we can keep stacking. Every time I step on the field, I want to be that player that can go make that play. I want to be the player that can cause and create sacks and whatever it may be, be disruptive.
"I think that’s my calling is to play on the other side of the line of scrimmage.”
Simmons showed he can be more than just a dominant defensive player after Cam Ward connected with Van Jefferson on a deep strike to the 1 on the next play.
Simmons then entered the game on offense and got loose in the back of the end zone after Ward scrambled for about 6 seconds and the D-lineman caught his second career TD pass.
Simmons said he never got the ball in practice on that play when he goes out in the flat, but the scramble allowed him to improvise and it led to the touchdown.
“He probably throws the ball, which is dangerous, across his body more than any quarterback in the league,” Simmons said. “I’m like, ‘I’m going to go the opposite way. I know Cam can make that throw.’ When I saw him release it, I said, ’Just don’t drop this ball.' That’s all the was going through my mind right there. Do not drop this ball. And he made a hell of a throw across his body. That’s Cam. Cam can do that, and it looked like effortless.
"I was happy to be able to catch that.”
The last time a player had a sack, a forced fumble and a TD catch in the same game came in 2014 when J.J. Watt did it twice for Houston. The only other players to pull that off since sacks became official were Mike Vrabel (2007), Jared Allen (2017) and Barry Krauss (1982).
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Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons (98) celebrates his touchdown with offensive tackle JC Latham, left, and running back Tony Pollard (20) during the second half of an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons (98) makes a touchdown catch in the end zone during the second half of an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that “someone from within” the Iranian regime might be the best choice to take power once the U.S.-Israel military campaign is completed — but said “most of the people we had in mind are dead.”
The president, who four days ago had emphatically called on Iranians to “take over your government” once the U.S.-Israel bombardment ends, appeared to drift further away from the idea that the war presents an opportunity to end the theocratic rule that has been in place since the country's 1979 Islamic revolution.
Trump said that many Iranian officials his administration had viewed as potential new leaders for the country had been killed in the U.S.-Israeli campaign that killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and many other top officials.
Trump has not publicly identified anyone whom he views as a credible future leader for Iran. And it’s unclear what, if any, outreach the White House had with Iranian officials since the war started.
“Most of the people we had in mind are dead,” he said in an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office. “Now we have another group, they may be dead also, based on reports. So you have a third wave coming. Pretty soon we’re not going to know anybody.”
Trump said Reza Pahlavi, the exiled crown prince of Iran’s last shah who is trying to position himself for a return should Iran’s Shiite theocracy fall, is not someone that his administration has considered in depth to take over leadership in Iran.
“It would seem to me that somebody from within maybe would be more appropriate,” Trump said, adding that it may make sense for “somebody that’s there, that’s currently popular, if there is such a person” to emerge from the power vacuum.
Trump's comments came as he hosted German Chancellor Friedrich Merz for his first in-person engagement with a foreign leader since the U.S. and Israel launched the war against Iran.
Trump said he wanted to avoid a “worst case” scenario where “somebody takes over who’s as bad as the previous person.”
“That could happen. We don’t want that to happen,” Trump added. “You go through this, and then in five years you realize you put somebody in who was no better.”
The White House has stepped up its push to counter criticism that it moved unnecessarily quickly to launch a war of choice against Iran.
Trump’s decision to strike last week followed lengthy negotiations by the president’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner with the Iranians — talks the U.S. increasingly viewed as an effort to stall any progress.
After the most recent round of discussions in Geneva, Switzerland, last week, Witkoff and Kushner told Trump that reaching a nuclear agreement similar to one that former President Barack Obama struck in 2015 was possible, according to a senior administration official.
The official, who briefed journalists on condition of anonymity, described it as a potential “Obama-plus deal” and Witkoff and Kushner believed such an agreement would take months, but was possible.
Still, even as they expressed their willingness to pursue diplomacy and “fight for every point that we can” if that’s what Trump wanted, the negotiators stressed to the president that the Iranians were not willing to make a deal that would be satisfactory to the U.S.
Meanwhile, Trump sharply criticized Britain and Spain for their reluctance to aid the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
“This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with,” Trump fumed about British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Starmer had initially blocked American planes from using British bases for the attacks on Iran that started on Saturday. He later agreed to let the United States use bases in England and on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to strike Iran’s ballistic missiles and their storage sites, but not to hit other targets.
Trump also said he was going to "cut off all trade with Spain,” the day after Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said his country would not allow the U.S. to use jointly operated bases in southern Spain in any strikes not covered by the United Nations’ charter.
The president also sought to push back on criticism from some of his staunchest allies over the decision to go to war — questions that grew louder after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday that the U.S. had decided to strike because “we knew that there was going to be an Israeli action.”
“And we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio said.
But Trump rejected the notion that the White House had been dragged into the conflict by Israel. “We were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they were going to attack,” Trump said. “If anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand.”
Merz said during his visit with Trump at the Oval Office that Germany is “looking forward to the day after” the Iran war is over.
He said Berlin wants to work with the U.S. on a strategy for when the current Iranian government no longer exists.
“We are having a high interest in common approach and common work and what we can do,” Merz said. “And this is this is important not just for the Americans,” he said. “This is extremely important for Europe and extremely important for Israel and their security.”
Merz also noted surging oil prices were damaging the world economy, laying down an argument for finding a quick endgame to the conflict.
The president acknowledged that oil and gas prices were going to rise as the U.S. remains engaged in the strikes — yet argued it would be fleeting.
“We have a little high oil prices for a little while, but as soon as this ends, those prices are going to drop, I believe, lower than even before,” Trump said.
The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. jumped 11 cents overnight Tuesday to about $3.11 in the United States, according to the AAA.
AP writers Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Fatima Hussein and Michelle L. Price in Washington, and Jill Lawless in London contributed reporting.
President Donald Trump meets with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Donald Trump, right, talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
