How serious is Mac Jones injury for the Patriots? | You Pod To Win The Game
Yahoo Sports Senior NFL Writer Charles Robinson and Senior Writer Frank Schwab discuss Mac Jones’ painful ankle injury that took him out of the Patriots loss to the Ravens, and debate if Lamar Jackson is playing at an MVP level again.
Video Transcript
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CHARLES ROBINSON: The Ravens beat New England 37 to 26. We can talk about a lot of different things in this one. But, man, I'm telling you, the Mac Jones-- I don't know. He went to X-ray. We're going to find out where he's at. But, man, he looked-- I don't know a situation where there isn't something really bad that happened where you see a player react that way.
I mean, he clearly was in pain. To get off the field, the way that he did, I thought in the moment when I was watching it, I'm like, oh, my God, his ankle is broken. It's just the way he's--
FRANK SCHWAB: I did too, yeah. When Calais Campbell falls on your ankle, and it twists that way, it should be broken like. He must be drinking a lot of milk or something because that thing should've snapped in half.
CHARLES ROBINSON: We've spent time in the room with Calais before. He is a massive human being.
FRANK SCHWAB: He's the biggest dude I've ever seen, yeah. I mean, just a massive, massive guy. But, I mean, it sounds like it's a high ankle. A couple of reports out there that's it's a high ankle. And high ankle is one of those things where they're going to say, oh, he could be back in four weeks, but you're never the same for eight weeks. It's a little different at quarterback, and he's not a guy who relies on his mobility.
But this is a bad injury. I mean, for a team that is 1 and 2 and has its offensive problems, now I'd be shocked if Mac Jones is-- I'd be shocked if he's playing at all next week. And if he is, I'd be shocked if he's anything near effective. Because high ankle-- have you ever had a high ankle sprain?
CHARLES ROBINSON: No, I have not. But as long as I've covered the league, every guy I've seen-- as you said, it's enormously painful.
FRANK SCHWAB: I've had one. I had one, and it was-- I mean, weeks after, I couldn't move quickly without pain. An ankle sprain you can get over in a week or two if it's a bad one. High ankle just lasts and lasts and lingers. It's a totally different injury. And so when you hear high ankle, it's just a different-- like, uh oh. I mean, obviously, the Patriots are big, big trouble here.
I will just-- Lamar Jackson, he is such a great football player. I don't care. If you want to sit here and bang on him for how he is passing to the hash marks or to the sideline, or you want to talk about him being a pocket passer, you're stupid. You need to watch this guy play. He's an unbelievable football player.
CHARLES ROBINSON: He's a lot of fun to watch, man.
FRANK SCHWAB: He had four touchdowns passing, 107 yards and a touchdown rushing against a Bill Belichick defense, OK? I don't know that they have the top-end talent that they've had there their great years. But Bill Belichick is a defensive genius, and Lamar just shredded them because he's a great, great football player. He's absolutely in the MVP talk right now. Lamar Jackson has 10 touchdown passes already.
We talked all offseason about he had no receivers. He's got 10 touchdowns already. He's on pace for 50-some. He's not going to throw for 50, but he is just this uniquely unbelievable player. And, man, those negotiations, whenever they pick up-- I guess it's gonna be offseason-- it's gonna be really, really interesting. Because this dude is just built unlike anybody else.
CHARLES ROBINSON: Yeah, I mean, if this is where he's going-- and you and I kind of thought there's a chance he could nuke it this year. And it was funny because when you and I went through that talk, I was kind of like, well, the pieces around him. And you were like, no, man, he's the offense. That's not what you're understanding. This is how it's built.
And even John Harbaugh kind of said that after the game today where he's just like, hey, look, this is him. This is how he wants to play. Just get used to it. This is how the offense runs. He's the offense. Belichick loves him, OK? He's never going to be as vocal about it outwardly as I think he is. Look, I'm just telling you right now, Belichick loves Lamar Jackson. Loves him, thinks he's a great player, great quarterback, great leader.
Nothing's changed for me. He has the ability to play at an MVP level. I think he's playing at an MVP level right now. I think he's carrying that offense. They could very easily, if the defense had just stood up a little bit, be undefeated right now. I think he's got a chance to be the highest-paid player in the game if he can extend this out through the remainder of the season.
I think you just-- look, whatever your reservations are with him as a player, I don't think there's any question, if he is healthy and playing like this, he's going to put points on the board. All you got to do is hold another team to 20 points, and you're going to win a lot of games.