New England Patriots - NESN.com
Patriots defensive back Jonathan Jones had a pretty rough showing in New England’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.
The veteran cornerback got torched in one-on-one coverage as Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp snagged a 69-yard touchdown strike from Matthew Stafford on the Patriots’ first defensive drive of the third quarter to give Los Angeles a 21-10 lead.
After the game, Jones posted a message on his social media account.
“I owe NEP better than today,” Jones wrote on X. “Keep grinding.”
Jones addressed the missed play when he spoke with reporters after the Patriots game as well.
“Yeah, zero-coverage, one-on-one, no man’s land,” he said, per team-provided transcript. “That is just on me, got to find a way to make that play.”
The 30-year-old also allowed Puka Nacua’s 12-yard touchdown in the first half and clearly had issues defending on the back end against the Rams’ elite offensive weapons.
“Yeah, I think just our checkmarks that we wanted to hit, we didn’t do it,” Jones told reporters. “I told the team at the end, I always start with myself, you have got to go with no big plays coming out of the half.
“Giving up the big plays, the one-on-ones. I was one-for-three on one-on-one action as a cornerback, and that’s what it comes down to. We just didn’t do a good job with our checkmarks, getting them off on first down like I said at the beginning of the week and forcing them into third downs where they are not a good team. Just did not hit our boxes.”
