WEEI Afternoons: Jonathan Jones joins the show

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00:00Alright, it is time now for our conversation with Jonathan Jones, defensive back of the

00:04New England Patriots.

00:05He's brought to you by Drains by James, Eastern Mass' leader in residential and commercial

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00:15Mr. Jonathan Jones, Jonathan, how are we feeling today?

00:17How's it going, how's it going?

00:21Not a good day after a loss, but we kind of got in today and regrouped.

00:27Okay, well, as far as defensive performances go, I think a lot of people sort of remember

00:32that first drive and remember the last drive, 20 points to a team in an overtime game where

00:37the offense had three turnovers.

00:39I mean, does any of that sort of matter in assessing your guys' day on defense?

00:45Kind of, but not really.

00:48I mean, at the end of the day, the only goal is to win.

00:51So when you can say that, you know, besides two drives, call it, you know, where we gave

00:56up points, we did well, but, you know, those two drives ends up being the reason, you know,

01:00we didn't win.

01:01So it's just one of those things where you never know when the players are going to come

01:05up that matter in the game of football.

01:08I know we always talk about offenses scripting their first series of plays, whatever, and

01:13that first drive obviously was not the best defense you guys have played.

01:16Do you guys go in with a sort of specific script of how you expect that first drive

01:21to go and sort of what happened on that drive?

01:23Why did it go so sideways and look so bad early on?

01:27Yeah, I wouldn't say that we go to the extent of scripting as far as offense does, you know,

01:34call it 10-15 plays, but, you know, there's some early calls that we like to get ran that,

01:39you know, DC will tell us, you know, hey, I'm looking to call this and there's some

01:42things I want to get done.

01:44But on the first drive, I mean, we got them to a third and 13 and, you know, those situations

01:51like that where you have to get off the field and that gives the offense momentum, gives

01:55them a chance to keep going, you know, in their scripted plays and just not being able

01:59to get off the field when we had an opportunity.

02:01I couldn't tell just from watching, so forgive my ignorance, but were you moving around again

02:05yesterday?

02:06Did they have you sort of roaming on the defensive side like you did two weeks ago when you were

02:10at safety and nickel corner and everything?

02:12Was that part of the game plan this week, too?

02:14Yeah, I mean, I ended up having to play a little safety with Duggar not being there

02:19and so that was just something, like I said, part of the plan going into the game.

02:24Who are some of the tougher matchups that you've seen this year?

02:27Because clearly, you know, a guy like Ridley, who was a big free agent, you had to go against

02:31Wilson and Adams and some of those guys in the previous weeks, you know, Christian Kirk,

02:36all these guys.

02:37How would you characterize the wide receiver play in the NFL this year?

02:42Oh, I feel like there's a lot of good guys out there.

02:45There's a lot of teams with multiple guys.

02:48For the most part, most people talk about the number one guy, but the game's usually

02:52one between two and three, those other guys, tight ends, it's just a lot of good matchups

02:56out there this year.

02:57What were your thoughts on the final play from the offense in regulation to push it

03:02to overtime?

03:04How excited were you to watch from the sidelines to see a play that lasted almost 12 seconds

03:08and did you sympathize with a defense that was trying to cover in the red zone for 12

03:12seconds?

03:13Man, we were cheering those guys on, just the resilience they showed on that drive to,

03:19you know, make plays, you know, back against the wall, Drake finding a way to scramble

03:23around, guys staying open, moving around, offensive line, you know, not going downfield,

03:28the little things, not getting the holding penalty, so much that goes into a play like

03:32that and just for those guys to go out and execute.

03:35From a defensive standpoint, I definitely wouldn't want to be on the other side of that.

03:39Do you guys feel like you have to cover for a long time out there?

03:41I mean, it seems like up front there's not as much pressure getting put on some of these

03:46quarterbacks.

03:47I know they sacked Rudolph once yesterday, Trevor Lawrence I know had a pretty easy day.

03:52Do you feel like you have to overcompensate for that sometimes?

03:55No, I think a lot of times that comes down to the whole team aspect.

04:00You know, we've got to get starting fast to make teams have to get into dropback situations,

04:05make them abandon the run, you know, so we can pin our ears back and get after the quarterback.

04:09You know, when teams are able to feel like they can continue to run the ball, not feel

04:13pressure, not be down, you know, by two scores in the first quarter or so, you just make

04:18it easier for the team.

04:19And so our job, we just have to get out, put pressure on teams, you know, make them have

04:22to come back, drop back, make the quarterback feel like he has to make, you know, incredible

04:26throws to give us an opportunity and give the D-line an opportunity to get pass rush.

04:30As viewers, I think we often get frustrated when we see games with 20 plus penalties between

04:35two teams, whether it's, you know, the Patriots or just a national TV game.

04:39As a player, do you feel like you know how the games are officiated?

04:42Do you feel like you go into games with a good awareness of what that crew will do and

04:47what some of the challenges might be in avoiding penalties?

04:50Yeah, coach does a good job of giving us a heads up of, you know, what crews like to

04:55call and what, you know, what they're high on calling throughout this season.

05:00And so the biggest thing is just seeing how they call in the game, you know, after the

05:04first quarter, first, you know, couple of drives, you can see it, they're making, you

05:08know, tic-tac calls, you know, small calls that you're saying, hey, you know, most referees

05:13will let us get away with that.

05:14And then you have to do a good job of adjusting.

05:16And so that's kind of on our part as players is to see how the game's being officiated

05:20and adjust to it.

05:22We're talking with Jonathan Jones here, defensive back, New England Patriots.

05:26Jonathan, how engaged is Coach Mayo with the defense on the sideline?

05:29It seemed like he was talking to you guys a lot more this week, at least what the cameras

05:32picked up.

05:33Yeah, I mean, he's always engaged.

05:36I think he does a good job of getting, you know, guys up when they need to be up versus

05:42offense and defense.

05:43And that's something that he's harped on, you know, whether it's the offense cheering

05:46on the defense, defense cheering on the offense, just getting excitement, getting the corrections

05:50and just staying into the game, you know, being ready for every situation.

05:54He's done a good job of that.

05:56Jonathan, I know the winds are not coming as you would like or anybody on this team

05:59would like, but it seems like we're seeing a team that is fighting to the finish, is

06:04staying engaged.

06:05Just wondering what you see in that locker room in terms of energy and effort and attitude

06:10and some of the things that you can control.

06:12Yeah, it's, you know, surprisingly, I would say, especially in the NFL, this is a closed

06:19locker room still, you know, the guys are still hanging in there.

06:23We realize that the games that we're losing, you know, we're having an opportunity to win

06:26them.

06:27And that just comes with, you know, us as a team finding ways to win, you know, in this

06:31league, wins are hard to come by.

06:33And that's just building a culture of winning, going into games, expecting to win and not

06:38sticking our toe in the water.

06:39And so guys are definitely still bought in and it's good to see that, you know, we go

06:42out to practice, guys are still practicing hard and it's just still good energy in the

06:47locker room.

06:48Jonathan, thanks so much for the time.

06:49Good luck this weekend in Chicago.

06:53Thank you guys.

06:54Have a good one.

06:55All right.

06:56That's Jonathan Jones joining us here on WEI Afternoon.

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