Patriots coach Bill Belichick defended safety Jonathan Jones for the hit Sunday that put Bills quarterback Josh Allen in the concussion protocol.
With Allen scrambling early in the fourth quarter, Jones lowered his head and made helmet-to-helmet contact with the second-year quarterback, who was forced to leave the game.
Yeeesh. pic.twitter.com/07ukS0FRyy
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) September 29, 2019
Jones drew an unnecessary roughness penalty and after the game, Bills coach Sean McDermott said, "There's no room in football for that."
A day after New England's 16-10 victory, reporters asked Belichick what he'd tell his players about how to avoid such situations.
“When there really isn’t much you can tell him to do differently, then I think you don’t tell him anything,” Belichick said. “I mean, Allen’s a big runner. He’s a strong guy. He’s hard to tackle. He certainly broke several tackles against us. Jon turned when he hit [Allen]; he didn’t lead with his head. He didn’t have that posture.”
NFL Media reported Monday a source told them Jones is "not likely" to be suspended for the hit on Allen. That makes sense, given NFL senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron said Sunday that Jones' hit was not egregious enough to even warrant an ejection.
"The player actually turns," Riveron said of Jones. "Obviously, there is helmet contact, but we have standards for an ejection, and this did not rise to that standard; therefore, we did not eject him."
It is unclear how much time Allen will miss.