Chiefs' Andy Reid chimes in on Chris Jones' scrutinized final play vs. Jaguars
'You can't think that the guys is down,' Reid says
Chris Jones found himself under the microscope shortly after the Chiefs’ 31-28 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday night.
And not for a good thing.
TV cameras caught Jones standing straight up and observing Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence scrambling out of the pocket before scoring the game-winning touchdown on a 1-yard run.
Social media wasn’t kind to Jones when clips of the play went viral, with many fans and even some media outlets questioning Jones’ effort.
Days after the game, coach Andy Reid took a few moments during his Wednesday press conference to share what his message to Jones was.
“You can’t think that the guy is down,” Reid said. “I mean, you can’t think that. You got to just play the play. He knows. I mean, he’s been around this thing a long time, so that’s really what it came down to.”
The play captured attention not just for Jones, but how it unfolded.
Lawrence took the snap under center, but then Jaguars right guard Patrick Mekari stepped on Lawrence’s foot, causing the quarterback to fall in the pocket. Lawrence attempted to get up before stumbling down again.
The Jaguars signal-caller eventually stood up and Chiefs defensive players, including defensive lineman Jerry Tillery and linebacker Drue Tranquill, appeared to have an opportunity to bring him down.
Lawrence, however, escaped and found daylight on the left side of the line of scrimmage to scamper in for the game-winning score while Jones watched.
For his part, Jones addressed the media after the game and pointed out what he saw during the final play.
“I thought multiple times we had him,” Jones told reporters. “We’ve just got to finish. We’ve got to finish. Multiple guys there that we’ve just got to finish that play.
“It was a fluke play for him to be able to break that many tackles. Yeah, I put it on us as a defense. We’ve got to finish. We’ve got to bring him down on that.”
Jones finished the game with an assist and a quarterback hit.
