All these years later, Bill Belichick is still making Peyton Manning's life difficult.
Last season, during the Patriots' Week 13 win over the Buffalo Bills, Manning said on ESPN2 that New England 'denied' his request for a phone call with starting quarterback Mac Jones. Manning viewed this as Bill Belichick wanting to protect his young QB and limit his off-the-field distractions, which he said he understood. This season, the request was blocked again, only there seemed to be a better reason.
"Peyton Manning asked the Patriots PR team to speak to the starting QB before Monday Night Football (as announcers do). The Patriots (Belichick) declined because then Peyton would know who the starting QB was," Danny Heifetz of The Ringer tweeted Monday.
The Patriots and Belichick waited until just before kickoff to finally reveal Jones would be making his return Monday, playing into the idea that it might be Bailey Zappe to take the reigns again for his third NFL start.
The early returns on Jones' injury were solid, with the 24-year-old picking up more yards on the ground (16) than through the air (13) in his first quarter of action. That lack of production through the air, however, left Patriots fans feeling restless and chanting for Zappe.
Nevertheless, Jones is back and will likely be ready for an interview when the Patriots return to "Monday Night Football" in Week 14 against the Arizona Cardinals. If he doesn't we can all turn to Belichick and try to figure out what his problem with the Manning's is -- aside from those playoff and Super Bowl losses.
