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ICYMI: Yesterday, during the Patriots 24-6 win over the Carolina Panthers, there were a few negative plays for the Pats (which is the best-case scenario for Bill; win, but still have plenty of teachable moments).
The narrative Gods had the Gilmore interception ready to go since he was traded to Carolina, but IMO the Pats seemingly weekly tradition of allowing a strip-sack was much more troublesome.
After getting sacked by Brian Burns, Mac Jones held on to his ankle. Burns "injured" his ankle on the play but returned shortly afterward before having a setback and leaving the game for good in the 4th quarter.
There are two schools of thought regarding the play. Some people (multiple players on the Panthers and thousands of rule experts on Twitter) believe it was a dirty play by Mac Jones; that he was trying to intentionally injure Brian Burns with an "alligator roll." Others believe Mac was trying to tackle someone he thought had the ball/stop him from scooping and scoring. Remember, there is no holding on loose balls; even if he knew Burns didn't have the ball, technically, the play was legal.
Unlike Brian Burn's ankle when HE tried to spin his way out of Mac's grip, PLEASE don't get it twisted; I'm a die-hard Patriots fan, but I'm critical of the organization when necessary. I've written multiple blogs about horrible drafting/player development. I'd never defend Mac Jones if he was out there stomping people like Ndamukong Suh or Albert Haynesworth, but to me, this seems like a non-story. I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but people get paid by clicks and clickbaity, negative, "gotcha" stories generate more clicks (and money). So when a Patriot does something that could be considered slightly dirty, of course, there's going to be some not so impartial takes trying to drum up controversy. If this was Justin Fields, Danny Jones, or Kirk Cousins, I don't think this is a story. When asked about the play this afternoon on WEEI, Mac had this to say:
If you slow down the play and dissect it like the Zapruder Film, you can probably find whatever you're looking for, but in the heat of the moment, after getting slammed, I think Mac's "excuse" seems pretty reasonable.
I'm not a movie guy, if you name it, I probably haven't seen it, but if you're in the football space, there's some required viewing for the sake of references. To anybody crying about a QUARTERBACK doing something dirty, have you ever seen Remember the Titans???
We're talking about a QB here. Obviously, they can be dirty on the field too, but to think that Mac Jones had any malice on that play is lunacy. He got fucking rocked, and instead of giving up on the play like a lot of QBs would, he tried to make a play on someone he thought had the ball. Not everything has to be some big conspiracy. The NFL has already said that there's no chance at a suspension.
Now if you're looking for a dirty play involving Mac Jones, look no further.
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