Jones: Jadeveon Clowney Is 'Wildly Overrated,' Won't Be Problem For Patriots
BOSTON (CBS) -- Adam Jones believes the Texans are nothing more than a "speed bump" in the way of the Patriots this weekend, giving the team from Houston "zero chance to actually win the game" in Foxboro on Saturday evening.
The reasons for this belief are plentiful, but Jones singled out the overreaction to one strong performance from Jadeveon Clowney as one area where analysts are missing the mark.
"I think the Texans' personnel is overrated," Jones said, though he did exclude the secondary from the conversation. "I don't think their personnel overall, especially on defense, is good at all."
Jones said he was annoyed that J.J. Watt managed to get himself on television more than any active players during the Texans' win over Oakland last weekend, but he was also bothered by the treatment of Clowney.
"The other thing that annoyed me was the commentary on Jadeveon Clowney," Jones said. "I know he's going to the Pro Bowl, but I'm sitting here watching and they're treating him like he is this game-breaking player. And I'm just watching the game, and I'm going ... the play he made on Connor Cook, Cook threw the ball right into [Clowney's] helmet. I mean, I guess it was a nice catch. But what did Jadeveon Clowney do on that play? Maybe he sniffed the play out, but Connor Cook should have looked at him and said, 'K, I'm not throwing to where the [play] was designed, because Jadeveon Clowney is standing right there and he's 6-foot-6 and he's probably going to at least bat the ball, maybe even pick off the ball.' So that was a bad play call, bad decision by the quarterback. I guess it was a nice catch by Jadeveon Clowney, but I wasn't overly impressed by that play."
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Jones continued.
"They treat him like he's one of the stud defensive ends in the league on the broadcast. And he's going to a Pro Bowl, so I guess his peers and the media feel the same way," Jones said before digging into the stats. "Jadeveon Clowney had six sacks this year. Six. And I know that's not the end all-be all, but that's a pretty good starting point when it comes to rushing the passer. He has less sacks than Trey Flowers does this season. Chris Long, for God's sake, has almost caught up to him [with four sacks]. ... For him to be within shouting distance of Jadeveon Clowney, and for Clowney to be considered a game-changer and one of the best defensive ends in football, a Pro Bowl defensive end, to me is asinine.
"He had six sacks this year. Do you know who he came against? They came against the Bears, the Titans (decent enough team but not a playoff team at 9-7), Detroit (barely snuck into the playoffs because the Washington Redskins choked in Week 17, and we all saw what a mess their offensive line is the other night against Seattle). The final three sacks came in [his] final three weeks of the year against the murderer's row that was the Indianapolis Colts, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Cincinnati Bengals. He had six all year, and most of them came against absolute garbage competition."
Jones summed up his point thusly: "You know who is one, overrated, and two, I am not worried about one bit this week because the Patriots will game-plan him right out and they won't have to worry about him at all? That would be one Jadeveon Clowney. ... It seems to me like the guy is way overrated, and it seems to me like most of his production comes against absolute garbage competition."
In case it wasn't clear: "I think he's wildly overrated because he had one big hit in college football where he knocked someone's helmet off."
Listen to Jones below:
