Tyreek Hill is a unique receiver who requires a unique game plan.
So Bill Belichick drew up something completely different than what he’d done all year. He assigned cornerback Jonathan Jones, who had played just eight snaps in the week prior against the Los Angeles Chargers, to Hill. Jones got help from safety Devin McCourty over the top, but Jones, essentially the fourth cornerback on the Patriots’ depth chart, was Hill’s mark. And both Jones and Belichick had confidence in that decision.
During an appearance on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football,” Jones was discussing the matchup and mentioned he felt he had the speed to run with Hill, who is one of the fastest players in the NFL. A host questioned the statement.
“I mean, you’ve seen my 40[-yard dash],” Jones said with a laugh.
Jones elaborated on the matchup, which resulted in just one reception for 42 yards. The play came when cornerback Keion Crossen, not Jones, was on Hill.
“Coming in there, having a great game plan and executing it,” Jones said of the recipe of New England’s success against the Chiefs. “There’s game planning and there’s execution. You mess up on either one of those and you’re not going to win, so great game plan and great execution [against Hill] from everybody. I mean, you look at guys like Stephon Gilmore, JC Jackson, those guys, see what they did in the game holding Kelce and those guys. They didn’t do much at all. Having guys like that that you can put on match-ups one-on-one and you’re not worried about them at all. It’s a whole team. It’s the team.”
