Jonathan Jones insisted that he didn't commit the costly penalty that played a large role in the New England Patriots' 23-20 overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
In the Seahawks' opening drive in overtime, the Patriots corner was called for a defensive pass interference penalty as he contested a ball thrown to Tyler Lockett. The penalty gave Seattle 20 free yards, moving it from its own 31-yard line to New England's 49-yard line.
As the flag was thrown the play, Jones was adamant in real time that he made a clean play to defend the ball. He remained adamant that he didn't commit a pass interference when he spoke with reporters following Sunday's game, sharing that Lockett felt similarly about the play, too.
“He said, ‘That’s not a penalty.’ Straight up. That’s what he told me,” Jones told reporters of the conversation he had with Lockett about the play.
Instead of facing a second-and-10, the Seahawks had the ball in Patriots territory and were within reach of Jason Myers' field goal distance. Just six plays later, Seattle kicked the game-winning field goal.
Jones continued to show some frustration with the penalty call as the Seahawks scored just a handful of plays later, but he was careful with his words in order to avoid league discipline.
“Without getting fined – I would like someone from the officiating office and NFL to show where the penalty was,” Jones said. “Overtime, I don’t feel like that’s a penalty. The receiver acknowledged that wasn’t a penalty. At that point, it’s out of my hands. He’s got the flag. He threw it.”
Jones also left open the possibility that he could have committed a penalty on the play, recognizing that he could always do better as a player, too.
“It sucks. I kind of feel like that was the play of the game,” Jones said. “I’ll go back and watch it on film. I haven’t watched it on film to see if there’s something I could’ve done better and take it from there.”
Jones' mishap was one of the handful of mistakes the Patriots' defense made on Sunday. Geno Smith threw for 312 yards in the win, seemingly dictating play for much of the second half.
Other Patriots players weigh in on key penalty call in loss to Seahawks
Jones wasn't the only Patriots player frustrated with the penalty call in overtime following the loss to the Seahawks. Patriots safety Kyle Dugger also expressed some displeasure with the defensive pass interference call, too.
“I’m not going to bash the refs,” Dugger said. “I know there was a lot of physicality going on from [the Seahawks], as well as ourselves. It definitely wasn’t a call in the right direction. I feel like they were both battling, and they kind of just chose the defensive guy.”
Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers also seemed to be irritated with the penalty, but wanted the team to remained focus on their play.
“We can’t leave it up to officials,” the defensive co-captain said. “We’ve got to make plays. We had countless opportunities to get off the field, and we just didn’t execute.”
Peppers' message was similar to the message Jerod Mayo told reporters following Sunday's loss.
“This is NFL football. It's one play here, one play there,” the Patriots head coach said. “You just never know which play it is. It's easy to try to pick out some plays here and there, but it's all of us. We have to get better as a team and look forward to getting back on the practice field and getting better.”
The Patriots only have a few days to get better before they hit the field again. They take on the New York Jets on Thursday, hoping to move to 2-1 in Week 3.