WEEI Afternoons: Marcus Jones joins the show

WEEI-FM / WEEI

Watch WEEI Afternoons: Marcus Jones joins the show - WEEI-FM / WEEI on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00Marcus Jones joining us here on WEEI Afternoons.

00:03Mr. Jones, how are we doing today?

00:06I'm doing good. How are you guys?

00:08You did a lot of sprinting down the field yesterday.

00:11You sore from all that running, embarrassing the Panthers coverage team?

00:17I did a lot of running yesterday and stuff.

00:21No, I'm not going to say I'm crazy, but I'm usually sore after every game.

00:25Marcus, did you even expect yourself to return that first punt?

00:29I'm not sure if you guys practice returning a punt in such close proximity,

00:34but I'll say from the Fox broadcast, they were all expecting you to signal a fair catch

00:40or not be able to go anywhere with that.

00:41Then all of a sudden, in a sea of would-be tacklers, you just took off.

00:47I think you caught everyone off guard with that play.

00:51Yeah, man.

00:52In all honesty, usually what I always try to do is just take advantage of the opportunities

00:56that I get back there, you know, returning.

00:59You know, there's players that are really smart when they come down to the hang time

01:03and different things like that.

01:04But at practice, you know, our coach always talks about the situations of,

01:09hey, watch out for, you know, the way that we come and basically, like,

01:15go about returning the ball.

01:16That's the main thing because sometimes in plus 50s, usually teams, you know,

01:21they think that people aren't going to return the ball.

01:23And, you know, if I get an opening, we always talk about it,

01:26that advantage of the opportunity that we get.

01:28So that's kind of how we go about it.

01:30On the second one, it was a great return.

01:33You made some, like, tiptoe moves down the sideline.

01:37And then what happened?

01:38Did you run out of gas?

01:39Did the punter really get you?

01:40What happened there at the end to prevent what would have been a crazy day

01:43with a second touchdown?

01:43Yeah, the best question.

01:48The best question.

01:49Yeah, man, he got me.

01:51It was enough to where it made me get a little bit unbalanced

01:56and everything like that.

01:57And then I failed and I was like, oh, my goodness.

02:00I had to get around to the blocking, man.

02:02First off, man, I commend my teammates and everything.

02:05They set up the wall on that return and stuff and try to get outside and stuff.

02:10But next time, I definitely can't let the punter make this happen for me

02:14and stuff like that.

02:15So that's on me for sure.

02:18Marcus, what happened early in the game on that play with,

02:21I think it was actually the first play from scrimmage for the Panthers,

02:24wide receiver David Moore on an end around,

02:26and you guys kind of got tangled up there.

02:29What happened on that play?

02:30Yeah, he was trying to sit for me and everything.

02:36I was trying to knock the sit for him down and stuff.

02:38I hate the situation of just injuries in general.

02:42You know, playing this sport, man, it's already hard enough and stuff like that.

02:45So I definitely hate that, you know, that happened to him and stuff

02:48and definitely selling my prayers and stuff like that is the way for sure.

02:54Marcus, getting back to the punt returns a little bit,

02:56I understand there's a called return, there's blocking schemes,

02:59things of that nature, but how much are you thinking when you get into return

03:03or how much is it just instincts, break tackles, make people miss?

03:07Do you even kind of think while you're in or you just lose yourself in the moment?

03:13It's kind of a reactional thing.

03:17There may be times, you know, you do get to your blocking area.

03:19There may be times that you don't.

03:21And all I'm trying to do is just make, you know, make the right cut.

03:25First thing is I'm always trying to get a first down, get at least 10 yards

03:29so that we can set up the offense in a great field position.

03:32But anytime I'm back there, man, we already know as a punt return unit,

03:36we're always trying to score.

03:38That's the main thing.

03:40And then kind of go from there, but yeah.

03:43Marcus, so Carolina has their way offensively on the first position,

03:49or rather it seems kind of easy as they drive their way down the field

03:52and get the early touchdown.

03:53Fans seemed a little antsy, three and out for the offense.

03:57And then some guy named Marcus Jones returns a punt back.

04:01And all of a sudden that's the catalyst to a defensive turnaround, it seems,

04:05for the Patriots yesterday.

04:06What did Carolina do early against you guys versus what sort of adjustment you made

04:11to stymie them defensively the rest of the way?

04:13Yeah, first things first, I mean, whenever we ended up getting into the game

04:21and stuff, we just had to play our football.

04:23That's the main thing.

04:25We were getting settled and everything early in the game,

04:28but no one panicked on the offensive side or the defensive side during the game.

04:33And first off, Carolina is a great team.

04:35You know, they have players that make plays and things like that too.

04:37But all we did was get back to the sideline and adjustments and stuff.

04:42And then after that, man, Braves talks about one play.

04:45All it takes is one play every single time.

04:48When I came to the sideline, he was talking about one play and stuff.

04:52And then after that, the momentum in the stadium just changed from the sense of,

04:56you know, us scoring and then defense getting out there

04:59and the fans making it hard for the Panthers on third down and things like that.

05:05And we just had momentum from there.

05:06So, you know, Braves always talk about one play.

05:09And no matter if it's offense or defense or special teams, man,

05:12whenever you can get that one play, you know, the jump side is very important.

05:16Patriots punt returner Marcus Jones here with us on WEI Afternoons.

05:22Marcus, we're going to talk to Drake May in just a few minutes here on the show.

05:26And I'm wondering, as a fellow captain, as a guy who goes against him in practice sometimes,

05:30a guy that's been around him a couple years now, we can see what's going on on the outside.

05:34We can see the impressive performances like he puts on the field yesterday.

05:38But how have you seen him develop and evolve even within just the last four weeks of this season?

05:45Yeah, man.

05:46Drake, he's a competitor, man.

05:49And he's a student of the game as well.

05:51Like, whenever we'll be in training camp and stuff,

05:53whenever we run a certain coverage or anything like that, you know,

05:57he'll ask us, well, what are we running after practice?

05:59And it's like, what do we see, you know, you look at the receiver for too long.

06:04And, you know, he's always asking questions.

06:05And that's great to end up having a young player have that veteran mindset of, like,

06:10constructive criticism and everything like that as well.

06:13So that's the main thing.

06:15And he takes it day by day.

06:16And, you know, each week, you know, anything that he has that, you know,

06:20that was bad or something like that.

06:21And he's always had a great response to the situation of mental responses and everything.

06:27So it's great to, you know, have a guy like that, you know, leading our team as well.

06:32Marcus, would you say you could feel the impact of a healthier defense, Gonzalez coming back?

06:39Like, did it feel like when you guys took the field and as the game progressed,

06:42you guys felt more like a whole, like the defense felt like the way you guys thought it should feel when the season began?

06:50I feel as though like any kind that we're, you know, on the field of the defense, you know,

06:55and we have guys that we, you know, we trust and, you know,

06:58we've put a lot of work in since training camp and OTAs and things like that.

07:03Whenever we're able to play our football and communicate and make plays,

07:06I feel like that we can be a very good defense in the National Football League.

07:10And as long as we do what we need to do and stay fundamentally sound,

07:15we could be one of the top defenses in the league.

07:19Marcus, I thought one of the fun aspects of your punt return,

07:22other than, you know, the fact that it was a touchdown and ignited the whole place and the game and everything,

07:26was Kyrese Tonga, your defensive line teammate, was out there.

07:29He was ahead of you.

07:30I don't know if you saw this on film or even saw it live,

07:33but when he saw you beat the punter on the first one,

07:35he threw his fist up in celebration about the 40-yard line.

07:39He knew it was a touchdown.

07:40What did you think of that?

07:43Oh, yeah.

07:44Tonga, that's my guy.

07:46Yeah, most of the time, you know, I always tell those guys, man,

07:50what I'm going to try to do is, you know, meet you guys at the end zone and everything like that

07:54and then go from there.

07:55So, you know, it was funny.

07:57We were talking about it and stuff, man.

07:59I believe in those guys blocking for me,

08:02and I'm thankful, you know, really thankful for the sense of having those guys out there,

08:07you know, wanting to block for me and stuff like that, too.

08:09So, you know, I'm happy to have guys like that by our team.

08:13All right, Marcus.

08:14So, big win for you guys to finish up the month 2-2.

08:17You get your first home win at Gillette after two previous efforts.

08:21Now, you go on the road with some momentum to the national showcase that is Sunday Night Football

08:27against your division leaders, winners of the AFC East the last five years.

08:32Some would say the best team in football right now, the Buffalo Bills.

08:35How fired up do you get for hostile environments like what you'll probably receive Sunday in Buffalo?

08:42Yeah, it's always different whenever, you know, it's a divisional opponent.

08:45But, yeah, their atmosphere is different, for sure, you know.

08:51They make it difficult for the opposing team to play there and everything.

08:55And it should be a great matchup from the sense of, you know,

08:59two big-time quarterbacks, you know, in the National Football League right now

09:03and two divisional opponents.

09:06Marcus, I'm not going to tell you what to do, but if I were you,

09:09I would take those punt return highlights, the broken tackles, the making guys missed,

09:13and I might send that over to Josh McDaniels and just say,

09:16hey, just a thought.

09:17You might want to give me a shot on your offense, maybe in the slot.

09:20So I'm not going to tell you what to do, but I would send those clips.

09:24I hear you. I hear you.

09:26All right, thanks, Marcus.

09:27Marcus Jones, Patriots defensive back.

09:29We'll talk to you next week.

09:30Good luck.

09:32Sure, thank you.

09:33Thanks, Marcus.

09:34Marcus Jones on WEI Afternoons.

09:37And up next, Drake May, the quarterback, will be giving us a call here on WEI Afternoons,

09:40so stick around.

Category

Transcript

Comments

Recommended