Jeremy Maclin disputes notion that he was afraid of contact

In Sunday's loss to the Dallas Cowboys, FOX analyst Troy Aikman suggested that Jeremy Maclin didn't want contact from an oncoming safety when he failed to catch a slant. Asked about Aikman's comment today, Maclin disputed this notion.

"You can call a lot of things, but the only people who only really understand what happened on that play are the people on the football field," Maclin said. "It wasn't like I was easing off because I didn't want to get hit. I thought I couldn't make the catch on the ball, so I was bracing myself for the hit. There's nothing wrong with that. If you want to call that soft or scared, so be it. But anybody who's been here, I've gone across the middle plenty of times, gotten hit and made plays. Simple as that."

Maclin said it had nothing to do with his injury, too. It was based on the angle he was running and the angle the ball was coming in on.

**Maclin spoke to Michael Vick on Tuesday. He said Vick was able to hold a conversation. "It's not like he's in la-la land," Maclin said.