MIAMI GARDENS — Game balls. They were scattered all over the Miami Dolphins’ locker room, more game balls than probably were actually used in the game. It’s as if Oprah had taken over the place: You get a game ball! And you get a game ball!
Cornerback Jack Jones? He got a game ball. Of course he did. It was his interception, seven startling seconds into overtime, that paved the way for the Dolphins to beat the Washington Commanders, setting up a happy eight-hour flight home from Spain and a happier weekend off. For a guy who just a few months prior wasn’t sure if he’d be in the NFL, it’s the kind of play that you want to label as either career-defining or career-affirming.
But as you do, just know that Jack Jones doesn’t look at it that way.
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“I mean, for me, every game means everything,” he said. “Every day means everything to me.”
This is the 27-year-old Jack Jones talking, not the young kid who made enough mistakes to get bounced out of the league. Then, the Dolphins needed help in the secondary just as badly as Jones needed one final chance. The Jack Jones the Dolphins were signing wasn’t quite the same Jack Jones who once wore the uniforms of the Patriots and Raiders.
“I was kind of selfish,” Jones said of that Jack Jones. “ … I wanted to be elite. I wanted to be a superstar in my role.”
Jack Jones: It ‘just happened to be me’ making critical play
Creating a game-winning takeaway could qualify a defensive back as a superstar for a day. Jones is having none of it.
“Honestly, it’s not about me and how many game-winning plays I make,” Jones said. “I mean, it’s about how many game-winning plays the Dolphins make. And I think that week, it just happened to be me.”
The road to get here was both long, winding and bumpy. Take that summer day in Detroit when an actual superstar, Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, took Jones to school in a joint practice that went viral on social media. Jones later said St. Brown “cooked” him.
Defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver said when Jones arrived, coaches asked him to do things differently than what he’d been used to.
“With all growth there’s a little bit of discomfort,” Weaver said. “We wanted to push him through that. And as he did, while he may have been frustrated at times, eventually he started to realize, like, ‘Oh, this stuff is starting to work’ and it starts to click. So it’s a credit to his professionalism and his willingness to just try something different, right? So I love the kid for that, man. I love that he’s put his trust in us. We’ve always just allowed him to be himself.”
Up to a point, anyway. One thing coaches impressed upon Jones was to let the plays come to him instead of being overly aggressive, which leads to pass-interference penalties.
“For him, it starts with his eyes,” cornerbacks coach Mathieu Araujo said. “When his eyes are right, he’s right. When his eyes are in the backfield, that’s where you see he can get himself in trouble. So the biggest — not hurdle — but what I tried to make sure as the position coach was never take away what makes him great. You know, his instinct, his football feel, his anticipation is what makes him Jack Jones.”
Dolphins’ disguised coverage led to interception
On the first snap of overtime, Jones read a pass from Marcus Mariota intended for tight end Zach Ertz. Jones intercepted, giving the Dolphins the ball on the Washington 33. Four plays later, Riley Patterson kicked a 29-yard field goal and Miami flew home a 16-13 winner.
Weaver said on the play, the Dolphins were in man coverage but disguising it as zone. So once receiver Deebo Samuel went in motion, that put Jones on the tight end.
“A lot of times when you have that tight end back on another side, you don’t get a lot of vertical routes, right?” Weaver said. “You get a lot of in-breakers and shallows. And Jack paid attention to that.”
Once Jones made an excuse-me break on the ball to deny Ertz, it was all over, even though you won’t hear Jones say that after studying the tape.
“I seen Jason Marshall, a young DB rookie, out there strapping,” Jones said. “I seen (Bradley) Chubb coming off the edge, putting pressure in Mariota’s face. I seen A.D. (Ashtyn Davis) playing the flats and dropping back instead of covering in a no-cover zone. He dropped back and helped out to come back to force Mariota to throw the crossing route. It was a lot of things that go into that. It wasn’t just a one-on-one ball.”
Jones said he never lost faith that he’d get that one final shot.
“If you was to tell me a couple months ago I’d be in this position, I’d believe you because I know I’m going to do right,” he said. “I know I’m going to do what I’m supposed to do. I know I’m going to show up on time. I know I’m going to make the plays that come to me. I know I’m going to be accountable.”
And he knows one more thing.
“Absolutely, I think this is where I should be,” he said. “Definitely where I should be.”
Sunday’s gameSaints at Dolphins1 p.m., FOXLine: Dolphins -6
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Miami Dolphins Jack Jones definitely in right place, right time | Habib
Reporting by Hal Habib, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
