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Mac Jones has been in the news this week, but for the wrong reasons. Despite a dominant 24-6 win over the Carolina Panthers, Jones has been in the news for making a dirty play on a fumble.
The play happened towards the end of the first quarter. Panthers' defensive end Brian Burns was the one who sacked and subsequently forced a fumble on Jones.
Jones grabbed Burns' ankle while on the ground to prevent him from making a play on the ball.
Burns exited the game with an ankle injury before returning later. He would leave again in the fourth quarter and not return.
As a result, Jones has received blame for causing Burns' injury. Jones spoke on Monday to claim his innocence and that the play wasn't his fault.
Mac Jones pleads his innocence on the dirty play
Mac Jones spoke Monday on the sports radio show WEEI's "Merloni and Fauria." Jones had this to say, proclaiming his innocence,
Mac Jones argues that since he was on the ground, he didn't know how the rest of the play unfolded. He assumed Burns had possession of the ball since he was the one who stripped him.
He didn't realize it was Frankie Luvu who had the ball.
After saying he didn't mean to hurt anyone, Jones doubled down on the play happening so fast that he didn't know what happened. He was essentially trying to play the role of a defender after realizing he had lost possession. He said,
"Obviously, when you get up and see the ball is actually down the field a little bit more -- it's just a bang-bang play. I didn't mean to hurt anybody or anything like that. I was just trying to tackle him and make the play, because I didn't really know what was going on."
His head coach, Bill Belichick, said Monday that he didn't think Jones made a dirty play. Panthers players disagreed and were frustrated at the lack of a penalty marker.
Despite what Jones and Belichick had to say, the evidence isn't in Jones' favor. From the camera angle below, Jones can be seen reaching and grabbing Burns' ankle.
You can even see how the ankle rolls on Burns as he heads back to the ground.
The NFL will look into the incident but has said no suspensions will come from it. At worst, Jones will get a hefty fine.
The New England Patriots are lucky that Jones isn't in danger of being suspended as they only trail the Buffalo Bills by one game in the AFC East.
