Chase Winovich reacts to his penalty and Jimmy Garoppolo’s flop on Zolak & Bertrand
Patriots edge rusher Chase Winovich spoke to 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Zolak & Bertrand on Thursday, as the team gets ready for a must-win game against the Buffalo Bills. But Winovich also addressed an incident he had last Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers.
After Niners quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo threw a first-quarter interception to Devin McCourty, Winovich went to block Garoppolo and the quarterback fell to the turf, drawing a 15-yard personal foul flag. Bill Belichick had an animated conversation on the sidelines with Winovich after the play.
Two things are true: Garoppolo flopped, and there was no need for Winovich to even touch him. He explained as much with Zo & Beetle when he was asked what Belichick said to him.
“That’s between us, so we’re going to leave that on the field,” Winovich said. “Yeah, he obviously did flop, though. He admitted he flopped. I’m not saying that was the conversation on the field. … The play was especially bad because when [McCourty] intercepted it, where I was standing, like – obviously the guy that intercepted it was was to the right. And so I’m like, ‘OK, I’m going to go block the most logical guy that could actually make a play,’ because he started sprinting to the sideline. In my head I’m like, ‘OK, he’s going to go seal it off.’ But, of course, he cut across the field and ended up on the other side.
“And so now all of a sudden, it looked like you have this poor old quarterback that’s running for his life and you got this mean bully viking warrior, just chasing him down and hucking him from behind.”
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Winovich also held himself accountable for the unnecessary contact on Garoppolo.
“I’m not justifying it by any means. I’ve got to be smarter and do better moving forward, no doubt,” Winovich said. “But, you know, I made a decision in the heat of the moment and it is what it is. But to be honest, it’s football, it’s my first penalty as a professional. I’ve just got to be better and I will. That won’t happen again.”
Winovich also talked about his favorite Halloween candy and scary movies, and the Patriots’ mindset going into Sunday’s game in Buffalo. Listen below for the full interview.
Listen to Zolak and Bertrand weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on 98.5 The Sports Hub.
