New England Patriots rookie quarterback Mac Jones won’t face discipline from the NFL from his dirty ankle grab of Carolina Panthers defender Brian Burns this past week. But he hasn’t exactly earned the respect of his opponent from that fateful play.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Burns admonished Jones for not bothering to apologize for hurting his ankle. He said he’d like to play the Patriots again to get back and wished other NFL defensive linemen “happy hunting” in future games against Jones.
“It would be nice to have an apology, but it’s not gonna happen… I would just like to play them again. And I wish all my fellow D-end brothers happy hunting.”
Jones has flatly denied that his ankle grab of Burns was a dirty play. He said in a recent interview that he was only trying to make a tackle on the strip-sack play that saw the Panthers recover a fumble he committed.
And the zinger from Brian Burns on Mac Jones:
“It would be nice to have an apology, but it’s not gonna happen. … I would just like to play them again. And I wish all my fellow D-end brothers happy hunting.”— Joe Person (@josephperson) November 10, 2021
“After I got hit pretty hard, I didn’t really know what was going on. I thought he had the ball. It’s my job to try to make the tackle. That was pretty much it,” Jones said told WEEI’s Merloni and Fauria.
“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.”
Jones wasn’t penalized on the play, nor was he disciplined by the league afterwards. The Patriots went on to win the game, 24-6.
As for Burns, he injured his ankle on the play, returned later on, but had to leave again in the fourth quarter.
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