Chase Winovich accuses Jimmy Garoppolo of flopping on late hit penalty
"Yeah, he obviously did flop, though."
The Patriots didn’t have many bright spots in their 33-6 loss to the 49ers on Sunday, and one of the few bright spots was overshadowed by an undisciplined play.
Down 7-0 late in the first quarter, Patriots safety Devin McCourty intercepted a pass from 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and returned the ball to the 49ers’ 37-yard line. During McCourty’s return, however, edge rusher Chase Winovich made an illegal blindside block on Garoppolo, forcing a 15-yard penalty and causing the Patriots to start their next drive at their own 48-yard line.
Winovich accused the 49ers quarterback of flopping to get the penalty called on the play.
“Yeah, he obviously did flop, though,” Winovich said on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s “Zolak and Bertrand” on Thursday.
When Winovich returned to the sideline, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick appeared to be pretty upset at him. Winovich said what Belichick told him during that moment is “between us, so we’re going to leave that on the field.”
Winovich felt bad for making the penalty that overshadowed McCourty’s interception.
https://twitter.com/Tucker_TnL/status/1320469504812589057?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1320469504812589057%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F985thesportshub.com%2F2020%2F10%2F29%2Fchase-winovich-patriots-bills-garoppolo-flop-zolak-bertrand%2F
“The play was especially bad because when [McCourty] intercepted it, where I was standing, like – obviously the guy that intercepted it was to the right,” Winovich said. “And so I’m like, ‘OK, I’m going to go block the most logical guy that could actually make a play,’ because he started sprinting to the sideline. In my head, I’m like, ‘OK, he’s going to go seal it off.’ But, of course, he cut across the field and ended up on the other side.”
He also made a funny comparison of who he was vs. who Garoppolo was on the hit.
“It looked like you have this poor old quarterback that’s running for his life and you got this mean bully viking warrior, just chasing him down and hucking him from behind,” Winovich said.
Winovich did take responsibility for being undisciplined on the play.
“I’m not justifying it by any means,” Winiovich said. “I’ve got to be smarter and do better moving forward, no doubt. But, you know, I made a decision in the heat of the moment and it is what it is. But to be honest, it’s football, it’s my first penalty as a professional. I’ve just got to be better and I will. That won’t happen again.”
The penalty didn’t stop the Patriots from scoring as they went on a 30-yard drive on the ensuing possession that ended with Nick Folk making a 40-yard field. Still, the Patriots would have been in a better position to score six if it weren’t for Winovich’s penalty.
Winovich has seen a reduction in playing time over the last two weeks. He was on the field for 22 snaps against the Broncos and just 13 snaps against the 49ers, according to ESPN’s Mike Reiss.
Chase Winovich played just 13 snaps on defense, and with a goal of providing followers an informed opinion as to why, I made it a focal point of game review. My view: This was less about discipline for an illegal blindside block, and more about how coaches currently view his fit. pic.twitter.com/B5u62TItSU
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) October 26, 2020
Whether or not the penalty played a factor in Winovich’s decreased snap total on Sunday is anyone’s guess, but Belichick said he’s looking for more consistency on all downs.
“Well, look, it’s really all about team defense. I think, speaking for all of us, we’ve had some good moments and we’ve had some not so good ones and what we need is more consistency,” Belichick told reporters Tuesday. “That comes from everybody across the board. Chase plays hard, he’s a great pursuit player, he’s strong at the point of attack, he can defeat blockers and can rush the passer. But, just collectively, we all have to be more consistent in our execution of the defense and our fundamentals in the defense.”
Belichick added that Winovich has been “a good player for us” and that “he’ll continue to play.”
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