ESPN Acknowledges Viral Video Allegedly Showing Mac Jones Interception Hit SkyCam Wire

Mac Jones might just deserve a mulligan.

New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones got benched during Monday night Football. The Patriots lost to the Chicago Bears in suprirsing fashion, and even more suprising was when Mac was benched after he threw an interception early in the second quarter. One angle of the play that went viral made it seem possible that Mac Jones didn’t throw an errant pass, instead the pass hit an ESPN camera wire.

The original video was shared by Doug Kyed of Pro Football Focus, then he tweeted a clearer version, which was viewed around 400,000 times.

See the play unfold below:

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A Bills fan here found that Mac Jones' interception might have hit the SkyCam wire. I slowed the video down as much as possible. Also not sure how much it actually affected things if it did hit the wire, but it's interesting. https://t.co/4MMgfftt6m pic.twitter.com/OLMpgnsmLg

— Doug Kyed (@DougKyed) October 25, 2022

Some even speculated that Mac Jones was trying to throw the ball away and then it hit the cable, causing the ball to change directions. ESPN issued a statement on Wednesday saying the pass didn’t even come within 15 feet of the SkyCam wire.

“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.”

See ESPN’s statement below:

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ESPN statement: “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.” https://t.co/vKMpQp4xOz

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) October 26, 2022

Videos can often be very deceiving, and this video clearly shows the Ball did not hit the Cam wire. Mac Jones did not react like a guy whose ball hit something it shouldn’t have.  You have to think he would have made a stink about it, and called for obstruction, or whichever rule in the NFL rulebook applies.

ESPN and their SkyCam are really cool, but no one should blame them for Mac Jones getting benched.

Nice try though.

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