After the Cincinnati Bengals’ 22-18 win at the New England Patriots, Bengals cornerback Eli Apple accused Patriots quarterback Mac Jones of an unfair block. However, the young playmaker is not aware of any blame.

The New England Patriots fell just short of a possible comeback in their 18-22 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

In the aftermath of the game, however, there was little talk of sportsmanship. In the crossfire of criticism: Mac Jones, quarterback of the Patriots. He was accused of unsportsmanlike conduct on a play that ultimately did not count.

With about six minutes left in the game, Jones threw a pass out of desperation to his left, Bengals linebacker Germaine Pratt picked up the ball and thought he had recovered a fumble. Chased by everyone, Jones went down in front of Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Eli Apple.

“It was a dirty move by him,” Apple complained after the game.

Jones: “You don’t want to hurt anybody “

However, the 24-year-old wasn’t going to take that lying down. In his weekly interview with “WEEI”, Jones said when asked, “I just went down in his path to slow him down so he wouldn’t catch up to Tyquan.” Jones did not attempt a tackle, but simply went to ground.

“You just try to help your team win the game,” Jones said. “Those are split-second decisions you make.”

The quarterback, who turned in one of his best performances of the season, also had nothing but respect for the Bengals and Eli Apple. “They showed a good game. You don’t want to hurt anybody. I get tackled as a quarterback, too, but I’m not insinuating anybody wants to hurt me,” Jones added.

The play was whistled even as it was being returned, with Jones getting a flag for intentional grounding, intentionally throwing the ball away to avoid a sack.

Jones not first time under criticism

On the game-winning fumble by Rhamondre Stevenson, he shoved a Bengals player aside and got a flag for unnecessarily roughing him.

Moreover, this is not the first time Jones has been criticised for unfair play. Among other things, against the Carolina Panthers he had grabbed defensive end Brian Burns by the ankle after a fumble on the ground and turned his foot over.

Against the Chicago Bears, Jones had pulled his leg up when he gave up the run and hit safety Jaquan Brisker in the groin area.