J.C. Jackson Admits Fault; Trent Brown Defends Himself

As the New England Patriots prepare for their game on Sunday against the New York Giants, a pair of players that did not play in their last game made some news yesterday. Neither J.C. Jackson nor Trent Brown travelled with the team to Germany to play the Indianapolis Colts. Each spoke yesterday about the reason for their absences.

“It was all my fault”

J.C. Jackson was left off the flight for what was reported as questions about his reliability. This included missing a team curfew the night before the team played the Washington Commanders. NFL Networks’ Ian Rapoport said at the time that, “the decision was made to have him (Jackson) stay home, get through the bye and return in a better place.” Based on his comments yesterday, it does appear Jackson is in a better place. While talking with MassLive’s Mark Daniels, Jackson took full ownership for the issues that led to his benching.

“I’m here now, so hopefully that won’t happen again. It was all my fault. I made a mistake. That’s what you’re going to get from Bill  (Belichick). That’s one thing about him. He’s going to discipline no matter who you are.”

Jackson went on to say that New England is home to him and he wants to finish his career with the Patriots. After saying all the right things, hopefully J.C. Jackson’s actions will speak just as loudly and he can get himself back on track.

Trent Brown’s Injury

Also yesterday, Trent Brown addressed the reasons for him not making the trip to Germany. He said it was related to the ankle/knee injury he suffered against the Buffalo Bills. He attempted to play through it the following week against the Miami Dolphins, but acknowledged he was not contributing as he’d like to while playing on only one healthy leg. Brown said he is working toward returning as soon as possible.

But Trent Brown also wanted to address reports about him that surfaced following his injury.

When the injury report came out before the New England Patriots flew to Germany, Brown was one of the players who were going to be out, and not making the trip. But unlike the week before against the Washington Commanders, when Brown was listed out to do knee/ankle injuries, for the Colts game he was out due to ankle/personal reasons. Since J.C. Jackson was also out due to personal reasons, which were known to be disciplinary, this led to some speculation on Brown.

(Note: At the time Patriots Football Now stated: “Here’s hoping whatever personal issues are keeping him away are cleared up as well. Obviously, would not want to speculate there.”)

“It’s a bunch of bullsh*t”

Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated had stated that Trent Brown, “is habitually late to things. That’s been a problem over the course of his career and that problem hasn’t gone away this year.”

Brown indicated that the ‘personal reason’ listed was a death in his family. He states he has not been disciplined by Bill Belichick at any time during his Patriots tenure, and pushed back against the ‘smear campaign’ about him having any issues with tardiness. He certainly seemed to take umbrage with Albert Breer’s reporting.

“That’s bullsht. It’s a bunch of bullsht. I’m never late,” Trent Brown said. “I’m one of the first ones in and one of the last ones out of the building.” Brown added, “If I am late to any meetings or anything, it’s because I’m a grown man and I should be allowed to go to the bathroom.”

Trent Brown has been one of the best players on the Patriots this season. Unfortunately, Brown has missed three games and played injured (clearly not himself) in a fourth. But the other 60% of the season he has been excellent. With free agency looming for Brown after the season, and the New England Patriots sitting at 2-8, it will be good for both the player and the team to get him back on the field, healthy, as soon as possible.