There was a time when the New England Patriots and New York Jets harbored an intense rivalry toward each other. At least one small spark in that rivalry may have been set off on Thursday, thanks to a play by one Jets cornerback that appeared to be overly aggressive, and could have injured one of Patriots’ highest-paid stars.
But will the NFL step in with a punishment for the Jets player that could at least cool any lingering tensions over the late hit?
The Patriots-Jets animosity all started after New England got to only the second Super Bowl in its history, led there by coach Bill Parcells in the 1996 season.
Storied History of Rivalry
The Patriots lost that game to the Green Bay Packers and Parcells quit immediately afterwards, jumping to the Jets â where he took the team to only its second-ever conference championship game just two years later.
That was followed by the Patriots’ poaching the Jets next head coach, an up-and coming former defensive coordinator named Bill Belichick who took the Patriots back to the Super Bowl in 2001, winning it this time. Six years later came “Spygate,” a supposed sign-stealing scandal in which another Jets head coach â and former Belichick assistant â Eric Mangini informed the league the Patriots were supposedly filming Jets sideline signals.
The rivalry continued when coach Rex Ryan took over the Jets, and finally scored a postseason win over the Belichick-led Patriots in the 2010 season.
Brownlee Body Slams Diggs
The New England vs. New York rivalry has since quieted down, and over the past five years, both teams have struggled simply to compete, until this season when the Patriots appear to have turned their fortunes around.
But Thursday night’s showdown between the AFC East first-place Patriots and last-place Jets showed at least a spark of the old rivalry â and one Jets player may soon be paying for it, literally.
Less than nine minutes into the game, New England quarterback Drake Maye threw an eight-yard pass to veteran wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who signed a three-year, $63.5 million contract with the Patriots as a free agent before the season. As he has done 59 times through 10 games this season, Diggs caught it.
He attempted to gain a few yards after the catch, but was quickly stopped by Jets cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr., playing his sixth game for New York since being traded from the Tennessee Titans â who drafted him in the fifth round last year â on September 23.
But simply tackling the 6-foot, 191-pound Diggs wasn’t good enough. Brownlee finished the play by flipping Diggs and body-slamming him to the Gilette Stadium turf, WWE style.
Brownlee Looking at Second Punishment of Season
Officials quickly flagged Brownlee for a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty on what could easily be called a late hit. The NFL league office will now review the play, as it does all plays â whether penalized on the field or not â to decide whether to level a fine on Brownlee.
Under the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, the designated fine for a first offense in the late-hit category is $11,593. The league posts its fines for each week on the following Saturday, though affected players are notified during the week by written notice. Because Thursday’s game was the opener of Week 11, the NFL decision on whether to fine Brownlee will not be publicly known until November 22.
If the NFL decides to hit Brownlee with the financial penalty in addition his on-the-field one, it would be the former Louisville Cardinal’s second fine of the season. The NFL tagged him for a facemark violation in the season opener, when he was still in Tennessee, against the Denver Broncos. That infraction cost Brownlee $5,808.
The unnecessary roughness penalty on Thursday was the first of three penalties, out the Jets’ seven, racked up by Brownlee in the loss to the Patriots.
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