On a Patriots cornerback corps exceeding expectations, Jonathan Jones continues to lead the way

Devin McCourty has seen it all over his 13 seasons in Foxborough. 

He’s relished in three Super Bowl titles and been a part of 10 different Patriots teams that have posted 10 or more wins in a single season. 

He was a veteran cog on a rudderless 2020 Patriots squad — going through its own growing pains after moving on from the greatest signal-caller of all time.

And now, in 2022, he stands as the elder statesman of a sturdy New England defense that will be key toward the Patriots’ hopes of punching yet another ticket to the playoffs. 

And given such a role as the most tenured defensive back on the roster, McCourty has felt the inevitable decay of time more than most on the roster when it comes to the various coming and goings in New England’s secondary.

Gone are the usual suspects like Patrick Chung, Duron Harmon, Malcolm Butler and Stephon Gilmore.

And in a DB room full of either second or third-year regulars and rookies, McCourty has often had to turn to 29-year-old Jonathan Jones for support — not just for communication and wrangling up the rest of the unit, but especially out on the gridiron.

“When you look around with so many guys I came in with being gone, I look to J. Jones because we have the most years together in this secondary,” McCourty said. “I rely on him a lot to be a leader in that corner group, to be able to get guys lined up.

“For me as an older guy, like I said I have played with him for a while, but I was also here for a while before he got here, it has been really cool to see his growth. He came in here undrafted with a ton of ability and he earned it and he did it the hard way.”

So far in his role as a de-facto leader of New England’s revamped cornerback grouping, Jones has answered the call, and then some. 

In a season in which little has seemed to go the Patriots’ way (at least on offense), the play of Jones and the rest of New England’s corners has served as a pleasant surprise.

Sure, the Patriots haven’t necessarily been handed a gauntlet of opponents known for their aerial attack so far in 2022, but this was still considered to be a secondary doomed from the start – especially after top CB J.C. Jackson left in free agency and signed with the Chargers. 

Given the shortage of available options, the Patriots were forced to bump Jones (coming off of season-ending shoulder surgery in 2021) to the outside this season — a departure from his usual role in New England’s secondary as its dependable nickel corner. 

But through nine games now, both Jones and Jalen Mills have looked the part as lockdown corners for this grouping — with opposing QBs completing just 38 percent of their passes to Jones in coverage this season, along with 39 percent against Mills. 

And on Sunday against the Colts, Jones put forth arguably the most impactful performance of the afternoon — no small task in a game where the Patriots' defense recorded nine sacks and held Indy to just 2.0 yards per play. 

But in a matchup in which Mac Jones and the Pats’ offense was also mired in quicksand for most of the day, it was Jon Jones who served as the conduit for both of New England’s touchdowns — blocking a punt and giving his team prime field position in the second quarter before providing the coup de grâce with a pick-six against Sam Ehlinger in the final minutes of play. 

Jones is the first NFLer to both block a punt and return an interception for a touchdown in the same game since 2010 — when former Patriot Patrick Chung accomplished the feat in a game against the Dolphins. 

“Well, Jon's had a lot of good games for us,” Bill Belichick said of Jones. “Jon's one of our best players. So, of course, he started out as an undrafted free agent out of Auburn, came in here and lit up things on the special teams with his speed, his toughness, his intelligence. He's a smart football player. 

“Worked his way into a big role defensively. We signed him for that role. Kind of a third corner. Now, of course, the game, everybody plays with three corners most of the time. So this year, we had some depth inside and moved him outside, and so he plays outside and inside, like a lot of our players do.”

After a rough showing on special teams against the Colts last season, it seemed as though Cam Achord and the Patriots were ready to dole out some revenge on Sunday, culminating in Jones’ blocked punt and the subsequent recovery by Brendan Schooler.

Right before the ball was snapped over to Colts punter Matt Haack, Jones joined in on the rush, with Jabrill Peppers replacing him as the “jammer” on the sequence. With Indy unable to account for Jones, the corner timed the punt perfectly — batting it down and allowing Schooler to recover it on the Colts’ two-yard line.

Just two plays later, Mac Jones hit Rhamondre Stevenson for the touchdown, giving the Patriots more than enough breathing room in this one. 

"It was a career day for him and it couldn't have happened to a better person,” Matthew Slater said of Jones. “Jon is just such a selfless team player and does so much to help this football team win. As a starter playing in the kicking game, it tells you a lot about a guy, so to come out and really turn the game with a blocked punt was just great execution on this game.”

And even though Jones' pick-six served as an emphatic stamp on Sunday’s win, New England’s corners routinely made things miserable for Ehlinger — with the Colts QB 0-for-6 on throws with both Jones and Mills in coverage. 

Ehlinger doesn’t necessarily have a howitzer of an arm, but Matthew Judon (three sacks) was quick to give credit to New England’s secondary for keeping Ehlinger in the pocket due to the lack of available options to throw to. Add in a putrid Colts offensive line, and you had a game in which the Patriots' pass rush feasted. 

"I believe that the secondary covered their butts off today. It was a lot of coverage sacks. My sack probably was a coverage sack,” Judon said. “We, as a defensive line, always go talk to them and they come talk to us. We just have to continue to feed off that energy and each other. No matter down and distance, where we go out there on the field, the situation we're put in, it's our job to get the ball back. It's our job to stop the opposing offense. When we do that, we just roll, we just roll. We've seen it in a couple other games and today we had it."

More challenges will await Jones, Mills and the Patriots’ secondary in the second half — including matchups against the likes of Josh Allen (twice), Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa. 

But through the first nine games of the 2022 season, a secondary grouping once thought of as this team’s weak link has been anything but for this team. 

"I would definitely say it was something to build on,” Jones said of Sunday’s win. “Like I said, going into the bye week, something to build on. It's a good win, we did a lot of things well today but obviously we'll see what we did wrong and continue to build on it."