New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones may have a new enemy in Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle Calais Campbell.
Campbell spoke to ESPN’s Michael Rothstein and talked about the mental gamesmanship between quarterbacks and defensive players. He admitted to taking it easier on players like Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who recently admitted to buttering up defensive players in the Netflix series “Quarterback”.
“That’s very true. He let the cat out of the bag now, though,” said Campbell. “Be nice because you don’t want to get hit. But there is definite truth to that. …Quarterbacks are smart. They know. Certain guys, you don’t want to piss off.”
Unlike Mahomes, Jones hasn’t been doing a very good job of avoiding making defensive enemies, according to Campbell, who labeled the Patriots’ quarterback as “kind of disrespectful” with the trash talk.
“I don’t even remember now [what Jones said],” Campbell said. “Just trash-talking to the highest level. But it was just, ‘You don’t trash talk me.’”
Campbell played against the Patriots last season when he was still with the Baltimore Ravens. New England gave Baltimore a fight, but they ended up losing by a 37-26 margin in the end.
Jones struggled in that game before going down awkwardly after a hit by Campbell with what initially looked like a serious injury.
Mac Jones came off the field unable to put weight on his left leg after the previous play. pic.twitter.com/ai4K0VoBWE
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 25, 2022
Jones has been no stranger to controversy over the course of his career. Last season, he was called “dirty” by multiple players.
The third-year quarterback will be looking to put the ugly 2022 season behind him and get the Patriots back on track to being a playoff contender.
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