Jonathan Jones’ fourth-down stop of Bengals wide receiver Andrei Iosivas doesn’t go down in the gamebook as a turnover, but the Patriots are treating it as such.
Facing fourth-and-2 from the Patriots’ 36-yard-line while trailing 13-0 with 7:08 left in the third quarter, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow hit Iosivas on a short pass before Jones, who’s 5-foot-9, 185 pounds, drilled the 6-foot-3, 210-pound wideout to prevent him from getting to the first-down marker.
“That was on my physical tape,” defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington said Tuesday on a video conference call. “We had a tape where we showed some physical plays and some tackling plays, and that definitely was a part of it. Every Wednesday, that’s what we work on, our block disruption and our tackling. We have on the pads, whether we do a circuit or we do it in our individual drills, that’s a point of emphasis for us, defeating blocks and tackling. That’s a part of fundamentals for us.
“That was great that he was able to do that on a fourth-and-1 situation for us, which was a takeaway. You put that with (Kyle Dugger’s forced fumble) and then that was a takeaway, so that’s two takeaways for the day for the defense, which is great for us. We get the ball back to the offense without them scoring points.”
Covington also praised 5-foot-8, 188-pound cornerback Marcus Jones for his physical play.
“It doesn’t matter about the size of the dog, right? It’s really about the heart of the player and they’re not scared of anything or anybody,” Covington said of Jones and Jones. “They do it in practice. They show the same thing in practice, and they’re able to do it in the game. That’s what we’ll continue to preach for those guys.”
Patriots special-teams ace Brenden Schooler reached the fastest top speed of any player in Week 1, hitting 22.42 mph as a gunner on a first-down punt by Bryce Baringer. Schooler was moving so fast, he reached Bengals punt returner Charlie Jones as he was fielding the punt. “He can roll. That dude is an animal,” special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer said of Schooler on Tuesday. “We have good coaches. Coach (Tom) Quinn does a great job with him, Slater, those guys. But at the end of the day, the man goes out there and does what he does because he’s got a built-in fire within him, and he’s got a bigger heart than most of us. And the guy just loves football. I contribute everything he does is because of how hard he works and what he puts into the game. So, nothing is a surprise what he does on gameday because of how he approaches his day-to-day and which makes him successful on Sundays.” … Covington compared Patriots defensive tackle Daniel Ekuale, who filled in for Christian Barmore, to Super Bowl champion Lawrence Guy on Tuesday. “When you get guys like Daniel, who came into our program (three years ago), and never found a home until he really got here. You look at players like Lawrence Guy in the past who bounced around from team to team and then found a home here. … Daniel’s one of those guys of the same way who’s earned the right to be out there, started on the practice squad then ended up on the roster. Then every year, he’s improved his game, fundamentals, understanding the defense, his detail.”