FOXBORO, Mass. — Jamien Sherwood saw Drake Maye break out of the pocket and hoped to sneak up on the New England Patriots quarterback and deliver a “lick.”
But when the New York Jets linebacker saw Maye go into his slide, he tried to pull up. Sherwood initially thought he was able to avoid Maye completely, but the third overall pick suffered a first-half concussion and it’s believed he did so on the hit from Sherwood.
Sherwood offered his side of things when he spoke to NESN.com after the Patriots beat the Jets at Gillette Stadium on Sunday.
“All I did was just rally to the ball,” Sherwood told NESN.com after the 25-22 verdict. “He slid. I did my best to keep him safe, go over top of him. I think my shoulder might have hit him in the head, but I hope he’s OK.”
Sherwood referred to it as a bang-bang play and expressed how difficult it was to alter his path at Maye.
“Especially with him sliding and stuff,” Sherwood said. “I’m already trying to stay as low as possible to get a good angle. I’m not gonna lie, he was running. I was gonna try to put a lick on him. But, yeah, as he went to go slide I tried to make sure I kept him safe by going over top of him. I felt like I missed anyway. I didn’t know I actually made contact with him.”
Sherwood does not believe it was a dirty hit, as some said on social media.
“If they say it’s a dirty hit, I mean, they don’t play the game of football,” Sherwood said. “I did my best to try to keep him safe ’cause in those type of situations, before they started making those targeting calls, people were going right at the quarterback. In the blink of an eye, a split second, you got to do your best to keep him safe and yourself at the same time. So, I haven’t really watched the clip, but I know from my standpoint is I tried to go over top of him. It was no helmet to helmet. It was a shoulder pad and, I mean, I can’t do too much about that. He’s a pro. I’m a pro. Accidents happen.”
He sent well wishes to Maye.
“I hope he’s OK,” Sherwood said. “Prayers out to him. He’s great player, up and coming as well. But wasn’t really too much to it. Just a bang-bang play.”
Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo confirmed Maye remains in concussion protocol. It’s no certainty he’ll take the field when the Patriots travel to the Tennessee Titans for a Week 9 contest.
