Belichick On Cyrus Jones: 'We Have Confidence In All Our Players'
BOSTON (CBS) -- When the Patriots drafted him in the second round, Cyrus Jones was being touted as the best return man in college football.
Unfortunately for New England, that hasn't translated to the professional level. It's actually been the exact opposite, with the rookie struggling to do anything right when it comes to returning punts for the Patriots.
His rough season continued on Monday night in New England's 30-23 win over the Baltimore Ravens, as Jones let a punt hit off of his leg in the third quarter and then failed to recover the live ball. The Ravens pounced and recovered at the 3-yard line, and their offense quickly found the end zone. It was their first of two touchdowns in a 1:26 span, both the product of special teams miscues by the Patriots, and it turned what could have been a blowout into a much more interesting game.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was asked about Jones' gaffe on his Tuesday morning conference call, and called it a "fundamental" mistake. But as he did following Monday night's win, he didn't single out Jones' miscue and pointed to all three of New England's turnovers in their win over the Ravens.
"On the ball that hit him, the returner -- I mean any punt returner -- once we don't field the ball then we have to get out of the way and keep it from hitting us. Yeah, that's a fundamental thing," said Belichick. "But relative to ball security, I mean we all have to do a better job of taking care of the ball. We turned it over three times and all of those players and all of the other players – we've got to do a better job of it. We've got to coach it better. We've got to handle it better."
For Jones, it was his fifth fumble in nine games this season. But with a lack of options to return punts after Danny Amendola went down last week, we may not have seen an end to the Cyrus Circus on special teams.
"We have confidence in all of our players," said Belichick. "We've seen [Matthew] Slater fumble before. We've seen [Tom] Brady throw an interception before, too. We'll always do what we feel is best for the football team based on the situation and the particular game and what we're dealing with.
"We turned the ball over three times and that's three too many. So we've got to do a better job of coaching and a better job of playing to eliminate those turnovers," Belchick added.
As for other potential options for the Patriots, Julian Edelman has an extensive history of returning punts, but is far more valuable as Tom Brady's top target in the receiving game. Newly signed receiver Griff Whalen is another option, with running back D.J. Foster another. While Whalen has experience returning punts (with 46 returns over his five-year career), Foster does not, with just one kickoff return during his four years at Arizona State.
While they may not have options, and Belichick continues to preach confidence in all of his players, Jones may have gotten his last chance to prove he can return punts at the NFL level on Monday night. The punt returns -- and all plays, for that matter -- are just going to get bigger and bigger with the season winding down, and the Patriots cannot afford any more fundamental mistakes that could cost them in the end.