The New York Jets and New England Patriots rivalry has been pretty one-sided in recent years. On Sunday, the Patriots defeated the Jets 15-10, extending their winning streak against their hated rivals to 15 games. While the attention across the NFL world has been on the play of Jets quarterback Zach Wilson, there was also an incident involving cornerback Sauce Gardner and Patriots quarterback Mac Jones.
After the game, Gardner accused Jones of hitting him in the groin, saying that the quarterback "is trying to prevent me from having kids in the future." With the league investigating the incident, Gardner decided to post some video evidence that Jones did hit him below the belt.
Sauce Gardner posts video of Mac Jones hitting him in the 'private parts'
For those who were saying that the video is not that clear, there is an alternate angle.
The Athletic senior NFL insider Dianna Russini posted a video that she received from a league source that provides a closer view of the incident that set off Gardner.
Jones has a bit of history involving hitting opposing players below the belt. He notably did so in the 2022 season against the Chicago Bears when he slid on a scramble and stuck his foot up, hitting safety Jaquan Brisker below the belt. Jones was not disciplined by the NFL for that incident.
In fact, Brisker responded to Gardner's tweet, saying, "Nothing new."
Jones was involved in other incidents. Back in 2021, Jones was seen grabbing and twisting the ankle of Carolina Panthers defensive end Brian Burns. Then later, in the 2022 season, Jones hit then-Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Eli Apple with a low block on a fumble return by linebacker Germaine Pratt. The Patriots quarterback was not disciplined for his ankle twist on Burns but was fined $13,367 for his low block on Apple.
It will be interesting to see what the NFL decides to do, but Gardner wanted to provide the league with some evidence.
