Cut Jones now!

His play on defense was decent. He should not be returning anything for the rest of the year.

Brady&Springsteen FTW said:

No YOU'RE dumb.

Sorry.

Click to expand...

Your child is dumb

TommyBrady12 said:

Don't cut Jones, but for heaven's sake, keep him off special teams. Not sure why BB thought Jones would all of a sudden fix his fumbling issues. It's going to take a lot of offseason work.

Click to expand...

Again, all players practice throughout the week. The coaching staff sees them almost every day. By all accounts Cyrus is doing well there which is why he repeatedly got a chance to return in games. It's not "all of a sudden" if you see him catching punts repeatedly, again and again for weeks almost every day.

In any case we have come to the point where he won't see any return chances anymore except maybe at the Miami game if it's meaningless. But unless we get hit by tons of injuries I doubt that he will return anything until next year.

Don't know if already mentioned in the thread, but Jones' problems with ball handling indirectly led to Amendola getting hurt.

IllegalContact said:

cutting him would be stupid......a year ago he was the best returner in the country and one of the best press corners in the draft.......he's had a tough rookie year

Click to expand...

What has he done at a professional level other then be a disaster?

ausbacker said:

He needs to break off a return TD.

Click to expand...

he needs something thats for sure. i would be happy with him just holding onto the ball and making smart decisions. hes completely over his head out there .

patfanken said:

cut Brady for the horrid pick or Slater for the fumble, or maybe Tuney for the hold. W

Click to expand...

Ian, Ken needs to be Banned, NOW!!!

First, punt returning is much harder than it looks, which is why so many teams are always looking for the perfect fit there. It needs to be someone with a good quarterback's smarts, and a running back's ability. Someone who can make split second decisions about each kick and the coverage accompanying it--so many factors here. (add in the injury and fumble and flag possibilities)

Second, you put a young kid in this role who has already failed at it, and you do get a confidence problem. I would have been no more inclined to use Whalen here for the same reasons I might not have wanted to use Jones (too big a stage, for either a cold player or a nervous player)

I like Jones and I hope he makes it as a defensive back--and who knows, maybe more.

chasa said:

What has he done at a professional level other then be a disaster?

Click to expand...

He's clearly showing something in practice to earn these opportunities, which is more than can be said for a lot of rookies.

Sciz said:

He's clearly showing something in practice to earn these opportunities, which is more than can be said for a lot of rookies.

Click to expand...

Perhaps, Zolak or Chatham mentioned after the game the punt returns in practice are more like walk through a than live action. So it seems like breaking in a rookie returner is kind of a crap shoot

He's thinking too much and not just naturally playing the game. Often, even smart players make mistakes when they think too much instead of reacting naturally. With that said, no more ST, please.

AndyJohnson said:

You can't blame slaters fumble on jones that is ridiculous. Was Brady's int jones fault too?

Click to expand...

Sure I can. If Jones was competent at returns in any way, Slater is not catching that ball. And no, I don't blame the stupid Brady INT on Jones.

fxkane said:

First, punt returning is much harder than it looks,

Click to expand...

Yeah, like, when the ball hits the ground you get away from it.

PatsDeb said:

Sure I can. If Jones was competent at returns in any way, Slater is not catching that ball. And no, I don't blame the stupid Brady INT on Jones.

Click to expand...

Slater and jones were the return men. You want jones to run in front of slater and take it out of his hands?
First time I've ever seen a player blamed for someone else's fumble for not being the guy the ball went to.
What's next? Global warming: all because of Cyrus jones.

AndyJohnson said:

Slater and jones were the return men. You want jones to run in front of slater and take it out of his hands?
First time I've ever seen a player blamed for someone else's fumble for not being the guy the ball went to.
What's next? Global warming: all because of Cyrus jones.

Click to expand...

There is a domino effect with someone like Cyrus Jones not doing his job properly. Amendola's injury is one such example.

So, I guess it is safe to call it a consensus on these boards that Cyrus Jones is the default meme for blame whenever anything deleterious happens to the Patriots going forward.

ausbacker said:

He needs to break off a return TD.

Click to expand...

This would mean he gets another chance this year.

No thank you.

He can redeem himself with a big INT or pick-6.

Tunescribe said:

There is a domino effect with someone like Cyrus Jones not doing his job properly. Amendola's injury is one such example.

Click to expand...

Stop. That is ridiculous.

Here's a theory I came up with last night and it might have some validity...

BB always has a left footed punter. He believes that opposing players are not used to the ball spiraling off a left foot and he thinks it gives his team an advantage. Also if you have a right footed place kicker, it is more natural for a left handed person to hold for his kicks.

All solid concepts except, the Pats punt returners are now used to catching left footed punts. So when they face a right footed punter in the game, they are uncomfortable with fielding the punts.

The Pats have fumbled something like 7 punts in the last two years, which is enough for a lifetime. So maybe there is something to this.

AndyJohnson said:

Slater and jones were the return men. You want jones to run in front of slater and take it out of his hands?
First time I've ever seen a player blamed for someone else's fumble for not being the guy the ball went to.
What's next? Global warming: all because of Cyrus jones.

Click to expand...

Well, he did cause a lot of steam to come out of Pats fans' ears...