After Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s game-winning touchdown run against the Chiefs in Week 5, a lot of attention was paid to Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones’ actions on the play.
Lawrence tripped and fell to start the play and replays showed that Jones slowed his pursuit the quarterback even though he had not been ruled down. Lawrence got up, but Jones didn’t do much to go after him and the quarterback ran for the score.
Jones wasn’t asked about that reaction after the game, but he was asked about it at a press conference on Thursday. Jones said he thought Lawrence was down before adding that “it’s my job not to think, it’s my job to finish.” That echoed what head coach Andy Reid, who said on Wednesday that “you can’t think he’s down.”
“That’s a teaching point for me,” Jones said. “I can’t think the play is over. It’s a learning lesson. I thought it was over, thought we had him down. I kinda stopped, was about to celebrate and then realized that he wasn’t down. The teaching lesson for me is ‘don’t stop.’”
Jones was also asked about deactivating his social media accounts due to criticism of his effort. Jones said he deactivated them “days before” the game and that he believes there is “a lot you can take from constructive criticism.” Social media isn’t big on that, but Jones appears to have heard some since Monday night.
