Almost a week after the play went viral, a photo put Drake Mayeexplained back to circulation.
NBC Sports Boston posted photos (credited to Daelyn Waters) on Friday that give some “substance” to Maye’s cause.
Frames have emerged showing the remarkable amount of fluid on the football Maye lost against the Jacksonville Jaguars. If that liquid is blood it is harder to settle. In both images, nothing resembling blood is visible on Maye’s hand or fingers.
The upset came in the first quarter of New England’s 35-6 loss at EverBank Stadium. Maye returns to a clean pocket and begins his throwing motion toward Kyle Williams. The ball slipped free without a defender holding him. Jaguars defensive tackle DaVon Hamilton recovered, and Jacksonville eventually scored on the turnover.
After the game, Maye said Jared Wilson was the center “his hand happened to be bleeding,” that he took the snap trying to throw to Williams, and that the ball slipped. He didn’t stop there.
“You can say that, but at the same time, you have to touch the football,” he said.
Wilson confirmed that his hand was cut. He told reporters he didn’t know when it happened and couldn’t say whether the cut came before or after the fumble. Maye pointed it out to him. Wilson said trainers stopped the bleeding and taped the hand, a process he described as routine for a center who doesn’t wear a glove. He had a similar cut in the Week 1 loss at Seattle.
Head coach Mike Vrabel, speaking to WEEI, viewed the account as an explanation rather than a defense. If a center’s hands are bleeding, he said, there are things in football sometimes.
“Those are facts. Those are explanations,” he said, via Yahoo! Sports. “We hear explanations; we cannot give reasons.”
The picture supports the narrower statement with wetness on the ball. This does not prove that the substance was Wilson’s blood, and Wilson himself left the time open. Maye has said that the grip is his responsibility. New photos are unchanged.