Mike Mularkey Says Patriots Should Have Been Penalized For Tactics On Goal Line
BOSTON (CBS) -- There's always something. Especially, for some reason, in Florida.
When the Patriots traveled to Miami earlier in the season, they were criticized by Dolphins players who were upset and felt disrespected by the Patriots' game plan of calling the same running play many times late in the Patriots' win.
Now, after their narrow victory in Jacksonville, the Patriots are being accused of more shenanigans.
The Jaguars, trailing by seven points in the fourth quarter, had the ball inside the Patriots' 10-yard line. A pass completed to Justin Blackmon got the ball to the 1-yard line, and Greg Jones was stuffed short of the goal line on second down. Facing a third-and-goal from about 1 foot shy of the end zone, the Jaguars lined up to run their next play, but tight end Zach Potter jumped early, getting called for a false start and moving the Jaguars back to the 5-yard line.
Chad Henne was sacked on the ensuing play and then threw an interception on fourth down, and the Jaguars never did find their way back into the end zone.
However, the Jaguars say that the false start came after Bill Belichick employed some illegal tactics.
Mularkey said the Patriots' defensive line shifted and shouted a hard cadence in an effort to force the Jaguars to jump early. Mularkey said he told the officials ahead of time that the Patriots were going to try it, so he was upset that New England was not called for a penalty.
"That 1-yard line was critical, and it's very, very frustrating when we knew it was coming, we practiced it, and we still jumped, and they still didn't call it. And you knew full well that it was coming," Mularkey said.
The Jaguars eventually got the ball back and drove to the Patriots' 12-yard line, but Henne threw an interception again in the end zone on the game's final play.
