New England Patriots Upset Over Demario Douglas 'Clothesline' Hit: 'This Ain't Wrestling!'
Quarterback drama notwithstanding, New England Patriots fans are running out of reasons to tune into this season.
New England (2-9) was forced to work through the final stages of its latest loss, a 10-7 slog against the New York Giants, without one of its most consistent silver linings: rookie receiver Demario Douglas was forced to leave the game with a head injury when he was taken down with a de facto clotheslining tackle on a punt return in the fourth quarter. The hit by Giants linebacker Cam Brown sent Douglas to the locker room and denied a sputtering offense its most consistent aerial threat in an ultimately futile effort to end up on the right end of a 7-7 tie's break.
Per Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald, Douglas said he was "OK" after the game and did not have a concussion. That didn't stop several New Englanders from taking exception to Brown's unconventional takedown, which did not draw a penalty.
Patriots' rookie Demario Douglas was knocked out of last Sunday's game by a vicious clothesline hit.
USA Today
"They preach all this player safety stuff, but then that doesn't get flagged," cornerback Jabrill Peppers said, per Michael Hurley of WBZ. "But I've been fined maybe two or three times for clean hits. So that pissed me off, too. (The officials) even looked up on the Jumbotron and saw it, and there was still no flag. But you can't say anything about the refs in this league. So it is what it is. But to me, that's a joke. You can't say you care about player safety and not flag that play."
Douglas' fellow receiver DeVante Parker took things a step further, referring to the lack of a flag as "some bull(expletive)."
"The refs need to do something about that," Parker said, per Chris Mason of MassLive.com. "They need to either throw a flag or something. (Brown) better get fined or something. This ain’t no (expletive) wrestling.”
The injury occurred in the opening minute of the final period. Had a 15-yard personal foul penalty been charged, New England would've been set up at its own 39-yard-line, one of its best hypothetical field positions of the day. The ensuing drive instead started at the 24 and ended with a Bailey Zappe interception that set up what became the Giants' game-winning field goal.
Amidst the Patriots' aerial drama, Douglas was the team's leading receiver on Sunday to the tune of 49 yards on six receptions. That was enough to finally supplant the injured Kendrick Bourne as the team's top receiver based on yardage as the Liberty alum continues to make a name for himself after arriving as a day-three draft pick last spring.
Douglas' ascension to the top of the receiving depth charts is one of the few positive developments of this woebegone Patriots season, which continues on Sunday at home against the Los Angeles Chargers (1 p.m. ET, CBS).
