Packers Wideout Clears Up Misconception About Isaiah Bolden Play

Before Saturday night's Patriots-Packers preseason game, Isaiah Bolden and Malik Heath joked with each other over FaceTime.

Hours later, they were at the center of a frightening scene at Lambeau Field.

Bolden, a rookie cornerback for New England, was covering Heath, a rookie receiver for Green Bay, when the side of his helmet collided with linebacker Calvin Munson. He remained down on the field for several minutes before being strapped onto a backboard, carted off and transported to a local hospital.

Head coaches Bill Belichick and Matt LaFleur conferred and agreed not to resume the game, suspending play with 10:29 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Immediately after the injury, some Patriots players believed Heath was trash-talking Bolden, according to wide receiver Kendrick Bourne. Heath said that wasn't the case.

"I was trying to (check on Bolden), but it was just, the team, the Patriots, they thought I was gonna -- like I was celebrating after the hit," Heath said after the game, via Kassidy Hill of PackersNews.com. "But I really wasn't. I didn't even know he was down. ... I just wanted to go make sure he was good." 

They’ll put Bolden on a back board and stretcher. Heath, who caught the ball on the play he was hurt on, appears to be asking if he can go to Bolden. They’re going to go ahead and take him off though before Heath can talk to him.

— Kassidy Hill (@KassidyGHill) August 20, 2023

Heath and Bolden are old friends. They trained together while both were playing college football in Mississippi. They lived in the same apartment complex while they prepared for the NFL Scouting Combine. They even nearly were collegiate teammates, with Heath strongly considering transferring to Bolden's alma mater, Jackson State, before ultimately landing at Ole Miss.

"That's my guy," Heath said. "He went to Jackson State and I'm from Jackson, Mississippi, so me and him trained together. We were chopping it up before the game on FaceTime. I really didn't see what happened because I got hit and I'm looking at the first-down marker and see if I made the first down.

"It's all love, though. I hope he gets well. I hope he gets well."

Heath could be seen on the television broadcast flexing and gazing toward the Patriots' sideline after the play in question -- a 7-yard reception on third-and-7. His demeanor upset some Patriots players.

"It seemed like a player was talking over him and didn't really know (Bolden) was hurt," Bourne told reporters during WBZ-TV's Patriots postgame coverage. "I don't really know what that was about, so they were just trying to calm everybody down. They didn't want to go out there and (have a situation where) everybody's trying to hit each other.

"The game can get intense. We're out there trying to hit each other now because he was talking over him. But rumor is he didn't know he was hurt, so they ended it. It's a good thing."

The joint practices that preceded Saturday's game were highly contentious, with Thursday's alone featuring more than a half-dozen fights. Patriots and Packers players also briefly scuffled during pregame warmups. But there were no altercations after Bolden's injury, with New England realizing Heath's intent before tempers could flare again.

Heath was asked what he would have said to Bolden had he reached the cornerback before he was carted off.

"I just wanted to say keep balling, keep grinding," said Heath, who caught all five of his targets for 75 yards in the abbreviated exhibition. "Don't let this bump in the road stop what you got going on. I'm praying for him. That's my guy, I'm praying for him." 

The Patriots announced Bolden had movement in his extremities and would be kept overnight at a Green Bay hospital for observation.