Mac Jones not fined for ankle grab on Panthers’ Brian Burns
Panthers players called it a "dirty play."
Despite the ensuing controversy it caused, Patriots quarterback Mac Jones won’t be fined for grabbing Panthers defensive end Brian Burns’s ankle in New England’s Week 9 win.
The play occurred in the first half when Burns stripped-sacked Jones. As the ball came loose, Jones was on the ground and grabbed Burns’s right ankle as he tried to recover the loose ball. Burns fell down and injured his ankle on the play.
Burns did come back in the game but left again when reinjured his ankle.
Panthers linebacker Haason Riddick called the play “dirty” immediately after the game. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick defended Jones, saying “I think he thought Burns had the ball.”
Jones used a similar explanation for the play.
“After I got hit pretty hard, I didn’t really know exactly what was going on,” Jones said on WEEI’s “Merloni and Fauria.” “I thought he had the ball and it was my job to try and make the tackle. That was pretty much it. And you know, obviously when you get up and you see the ball is actually down the field a little bit more … it was just a bang-bang play and I didn’t mean to hurt anybody or anything like that. I was just trying to tackle him and make the play. Because you know, I didn’t really know what was going on.”
Burns wasn’t buying Jones’s reasoning, though.
“Even if you thought I had the ball, it’s not legal to trip somebody or to leg-sweep somebody, let alone twist ankles,” Burns told reporters. “It’s not legal to do that. And everybody else ran past us. If I had the ball, don’t you think I’d be getting tackled or your teammate would help? So I don’t think it’s cool, but it’s whatever.”
Burns shared that he hadn’t received an apology for the play even though he wanted before sending a message to his fellow defensive ends.
“They’re not going to hit me up,” he said. “… It would be nice to have an apology. It would be nice to have an apology, but it’s not going to happen. However the NFL handles it is on them. I would just like to play them again.
“I wish all my [defensive end] brothers happy hunting. That’s all.”
Jones declined to respond to Burns’s comments, but Browns star defensive end Myles Garrett – who the Patriots will face on Sunday – had something to say.
“Is he going to turn into the ankle grabber? I don’t know. We will see,” Garrett said. ” … Now we’ve all seen it. Now I know to get my behind up and get out of the way.”
“I want to get my hands on him and show him that things are different on this level,” Garrett added. “I want to show him that it’s all fun and games, but these guys are real out here, especially in Cleveland.”
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