Chris Jones is owning up to his mistake.
Jones, who made headlines for his lack of effort on the game-winning play for the Jaguars during their 31-28 victory over the Chiefs on Monday, told reporters that he believed the blunder to be a learning experience.
“It’s a teaching point for me,” Jones said Thursday. “A little adversity. I can’t think the play is over, you know what I mean? It’s a learning lesson. I thought it was over, thought we had him down.”
During the play, which happened with just 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Jacksonville quarterback Trevor Lawrence tripped and fell during the snap, but somehow evaded the Kansas City defense and ran the ball in for a touchdown.
Jones, 31, could have potentially stopped Lawrence, but the defensive tackle simply watched the 26-year-old run into the end zone.
“It’s a weird deal,” Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo told reporters. “Listen, we always talk about, ‘Never assume.’ … I think guys got caught up in the moment. They thought he was down. Hopefully we learned from it.”
Admittedly, the three-time All-Pro was not the only Chiefs defender to watch the play, but he was one of the closest to Lawrence.
“Somehow, some way, we needed to get him down,” Spagnuolo added. “There were other things that went on that play that would have given us another chance to defend another play. We’re assuming Chris would have got there.
“We don’t know that. There are a lot of things on that play that could have gone better. All the guys would tell you that.”
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was angered by Jones’ effort, saying that the six-time Pro Bowler has “been around this a long time.”
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“You can’t think that the guy is down. You can’t think that,” Reid told reporters Wednesday. “You have to play the play. He knows. He’s been around this a long time. That’s really what it came down to.”
Jones, who is in his 10th season with Kansas City, deactivated his social media accounts after being destroyed by criticism for his mistake.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
