Did ESPN Troll Patriots Fans With This Emoji Tweet?

Patriots Bills game
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Here’s a brief timeline of events from ESPN’s coverage of Monday Night Football between the Patriots and Bills:

-In pregame, ESPN analyst and former Baltimore Ravens LB Ray Lewis says he would take Rex Ryan “all day” over Pats coach Bill Belichick.

-Patriots decline to send a player for the customary interview with the MNF crew after the game.

-ESPN posts this emoji tweet.

Now to casual observers and those who didn’t watch the game, this tweet seems kinda troll-y, a knock perhaps at the Pats for Spygate. That’s what most fans believed after ESPN sent it out.

And several of the NSFW variety.

Now to the context of the tweet. Sure, it looks bad, and the timing was suspicious to say the least. But the game was truly horrific, one of the most unwatchable of the season. Seemingly every five or six plays, there was a ref conference or a review or an inadvertent whistle. It was bad. Very bad. The NFL should consider sitting out Gene Steratore’s crew as a result.

But, and this is just my opinion, the tweet was in reference to all the stoppages in play. Thus, the “football-review-football-review” emoji. I mean, it makes sense, right? I can’t imagine ESPN would let an intern troll the hell out of an entire fanbase and oh no, that’s not true.

I’m just as confused as the rest of you.

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