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The Patriots’ quarterback is in the hot seat after a questionable play.

During Sunday’s game between the New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers, the Panthers’ defensive end Brian Burns successfully sacked the Patriots’ quarterback, Mac Jones in the tail end of the first quarter. Jones fumbled the ball and Burns attempted to go after it, but was stopped when Jones grabbed him by the leg leg-swept him right off the ground. This moment sparked some major ire from the Panthers, with outside linebacker Haason Reddick calling it “a dirty play” and their coach Matt Rhule saying there should have been a penalty kick.

With all eyes on him for questionable conduct, Jones attempted to offer an explanation for the play. “After I got hit pretty hard, I didn’t really know exactly what was going on,” Jones said on WEEI-FM’s “Merloni and Fauria.” “I thought he had the ball, and it was my job to try to make the tackle, and that’s pretty much it. Obviously, when you get up and see that 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 I didn’t really know what was going on.”

Not cool Mac Jones… 🤬
(via @NickCarboniWCNC) pic.twitter.com/orC5jsd67F

— Overtime (@overtime) November 8, 2021

Despite the explanation, the Panthers aren’t convinced. “I don’t know what was in Mac’s head,” Rhule said in a news conference. “My job on game day on the sidelines is to defend our players. What I don’t want to be is the Carolina Panthers that everybody gets to hit out of bounds, horse-collar and turn their ankles late and nothing ever gets called. I look like a madman on the sidelines, but if that’s what it takes, I’m going to sit there and defend our players to the officials the entire game. We have an excellent sideline. We don’t have a lot of players yapping at the officials. We don’t have a lot of coaches. I do it. I try to defend our guys.

“I saw the play on the field. I said something. I saw the replay, said something to the game officials. I love Mac Jones. He’s a tremendous competitor. I have no idea what was in his brain, and I’m not here to talk about that. But I am here to defend our guys, and, obviously, we can’t get guys hurt after the play.”