Rival QB Defends Cheap Shot at New York Jets’ Star, Do You Believe Him?

New England Patriots' QB Mac Jones has developed a bit of a shaky reputation during his first few seasons in the National Football League.

For example, former NFL player Jermaine Wiggins had this to say about Jones: “When Mac’s chasing or behind a play and a guy’s running behind him and he’s nowhere in the play and then he drops down and cuts the guy, that’s a dirty play.”

That's quite the indictment against Jones, especially given the fact that he's only been in the NFL for three seasons. That reputation grew exponentially this past weekend, when Jones unintentionally hit Jets' cornerback Sauce Gardner in a very...sensitive...area.

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Mac Jones Hits New York Jets' CB Sauce Gardner in Groin; Jones Responds

A story from ESPN and other outlets detailed the ongoing feud between Sauce Gardner, cornerback for the New York Jets, and Mac Jones, quarterback of the New England Patriots.

Said controversy stemmed from this video clip, which surfaced during the Jets' 15-10 loss to the Patriots on Sunday afternoon:

As you can see, Jones appears to hit Gardner in the groin area, which is not exactly a normal thing to do during a football game.

After the game, Gardner said this:

"He reached his hand up to try to, like, get me to help him up. And I just moved his hand out of the way. Then, when he gets up [and] he just comes up to me like, 'Good job.' But while he said that ... he hit me in my private parts. You know what I'm saying?" - Sauce Gardner

He continued:

"Man, my stomach hurt a little bit, you know what I mean?" Gardner said, laughing. "I don't even know what to say. I do got to ice up. He's trying to keep me from having kids in the future. He's trippin'." - Sauce Gardner

 

In a quote that surely made Bill Belichick proud, Jones responded by saying this:

"Just really focused on the Cowboys, trying to prepare for a good defense. That's my focus -- trying to control the controllables," Jones said. "I'm looking forward to just building this week. We have practice today. We have practice tomorrow and Friday. [Then a] game in a great stadium with a great football culture. So that's what I'm kind of looking forward to." - Mac Jones

If this were a one-time-only type of incident, and the shot came from a player who had the reputation of being a clean player, then one would imagine that Gardner's reaction would've been much different.

That wasn't the case, however, and Mac Jones has added another incident onto his increasingly-seedy professional resume.