Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers was not at all pleased with the officiating in Week 12’s 10-7 loss to the Giants.
Peppers took particular issue with a high hit taken by teammate Demario Douglas on a punt return, who was knocked out of action for the game by Giants linebacker Cam Brown.
Brown's forearm came across Douglas's face mask on the play, leaving Douglas to be treated by the medical team on the field. While his teammates pleaded with officials to throw a flag, none was thrown.
After the game, Peppers tore into the NFL and the referees for the missed call.
“It’s just crazy,” Peppers said, per Zack Cox of NESN. “They preach all this player safety stuff, but that doesn’t get flagged. But I’ve been fined maybe two or three times for clean hits. So that pissed me off, too. They even looked up at the Jumbotron, and there was still no flag."
This hit on Demario Douglas was brutal pic.twitter.com/DprCK2vAxh
— Ben Brown 🌻 (@BenBrownPL) November 26, 2023
“But you can’t say anything about the refs in this league. It is what it is,” Peppers added. “To me, that’s a joke. You can’t say you care about player safety and not flag that play.”
Before he left the game, Douglas was having himself a solid day in New York, with six catches for 49 yards receiving, leading the Patriots offense in both categories.
