Before he was benched on Monday night, Patriots quarterback Mac Jones completed just three of his six pass attempts and threw a costly interception.
Jones’ first half interception looked completely normal on first glance. But upon further inspection with a super slow-motion replay, the ball appeared to hit ESPN’s SkyCam wire — changing its trajectory ever so slightly.
Here’s the slow-motion replay:
On Wednesday, ESPN PR released a statement denying this conspiracy:
“This pass from Mac Jones did not hit ESPN’s SkyCam wiring. This video creates a false impression, but in reality the SkyCam wire was more than 15 feet above the ball and our SkyCam system followed all NFL protocols.”
After this interception, Jones — who had missed the past three games with a high-ankle sprain — was benched to make way for fourth-round rookie quarterback Bailey Zappe.
While Zappe looked solid at first, he ended the game with two more interceptions in the Patriots’ 33-14 loss to the Chicago Bears.
New England will look to bounce back with a Week 8 matchup against the New York Jets on Sunday.