J.C. Jackson, Jack Jones refuse to speak to media after apparent benching in Patriots’ loss to Commanders
Patriots
Jones was active on social media after the game as both corners were reportedly benched “due to recent performance issues.”
Patriots corners J.C. Jackson and Jack Jones weren’t in the mood to speak about their apparent benchings in the team’s loss to the Commanders on Sunday.
Jackson reportedly brushed away reporters during postgame availability in the locker room, saying “I’m not talking.” Jones, meanwhile, left Gillette Stadium before the locker room was opened to reporters, Patriots public relations announced.
Jones was active on social media though shortly after the game. First, he posted a video of himself singing as he appeared to be driving to his Instagram. Later, he liked a post on X/Twitter that said, “Yo @presidentjacc (Jones’s X/Twitter handle you really shoulda just pleased guilty this point,” referring back to the gun charges that the corner faced over the summer that were later dropped.
The Patriots’ decision to bench both Jackson and Jones early in Sunday’s game was “due to recent performance issues,” The Athletic’s Jeff Howe reported nearly two hours after the game.
Jackson didn’t play the Patriots’ first two drives while Jones was on the bench for the first quarter, leading Shaun Wade to make just the second start of his three-year NFL career on Sunday. But Wade didn’t see the field again after the first two defensive drives for the Patriots.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s decision not to play both corners seemed to catch their teammates off guard though. Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers told the Boston Herald‘s Andrew Callahan that he didn’t know that both corners would be held out from playing at the start of the game.
Patriots safety Adrian Phillips gave an ominous quote to the Boston Herald‘s Doug Kyed about the apparent bench of both Jackson and Jones.
“I can’t get into that, but if you want to know what that is, you’re going to have to talk to them,” Phillips told Kyed. But they ended up playing so it is what it is.”
However, Belichick denied that both players were benched.
“Everybody played. They all played,” Belichick told reporters in a follow-up question about both corners’ status for Sunday’s game.
When Belichick was pressed again on if Jones was benched for disciplinary reasons, he gave a similar response.
“We played all the corners,” he said. “We played all the safeties. Really we played everyone on the defense.”
Jackson was reacquired by the Patriots in October after a struggling year-plus stint with the Chargers, bringing him back into the fold after injuries to Christian Gonzalez and Marcus Jones. Even though Jones was never formally disciplined for his arrest at Logan Airport over the summer, he missed the first six games due to a hamstring injury he suffered in practice ahead of Week 1.
Both corners appeared to have a solid outing in their first game together in Week 7 against the Bills, limiting star receiver Stefon Diggs to just six receptions on 12 targets in the upset win. However, Dolphins wideouts Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle both went for 100 receiving yards in Miami’s 31-17 win over New England last week.
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