Brandon Jones – November 18, 2021
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Thursday, November 18, 2021
S Brandon Jones
(You’ve started a significant amount of games this season. Where is your comfort level now in this defense compared to where it was last year? – “I think my comfort level has grown a lot. I think early on I really struggled with my role on the team, which was to kind of multi-task and do as much as I can. I think that was the biggest place that I struggled because coming fresh out of college, it was a lot for me, especially with just how I learn. I have to see stuff multiple times, kind of walkthrough it, go through it and once the season starts, stuff can change every single week. That’s probably the biggest thing that I struggled with. And now having that and learning everything I learned my rookie year, it has really helped me grow to where I am today just when it comes to being confident and being able to trust all of my teammates and play fast.”
(Was it them carving out a role for you and you feeling that comfort level with that role, or was it ‘I have five different things last year and I learned from those five things, and now I incorporate them in my game?’) – “I would say I was able to learn those things and incorporate them in my game. It was hard to realize at first because I think rookie year, I was more so, ‘This is what I’m playing this week. This is what I’ve got to do.’ Then it can change any week. Now I look at it as where I’m playing this position but I also know what’s going on at all the other positions. With that, it helps me know where my help is in certain situations and makes me play fast and communicate. I can be confident when I’m trying to relay a message to somebody and tell them all types of stuff when it comes to communication.”
(When did you realize that you were a good blitzer?) – “I don’t know. I didn’t blitz that much in college. I blitzed most of my time was in my senior year when I played the nickel/Star role. I don’t know. I blitzed a lot last year too. I just never really got home. I think now, when it comes to timing, working on my swim move or whatever I got to do, I’m not able to spin. I tried to do that last year and I got chewed out by the coaches saying I can’t spin, this isn’t Madden and all that stuff. (laughter) I think being able to do it a lot in the games has also helped me build my confidence in that aspect too.”
(You mentioned how challenging it is as a rookie safety last year. How impressed are you with what S Jevon Holland has been able to do?) – “Jevon has been able to do some great things obviously, and it’s really cool to see just how young he is, especially with me being my second year, just how different we are from when I came in versus how he is now and his overall understanding of the game. It’s hard to tell, if you don’t know him, that he is a rookie even by the way he plays, by the way he talks about the game of football and his overall knowledge. We’ve been able to build a really good relationship, which is growing each week with each other, and just getting everybody ready to go every Sunday. It’s been cool to see him grow and the sky is the limit for him.”
(Going back to last year when they were throwing all of this stuff at you, what was it like for you inside? Was it a feeling of being overwhelmed or was it a feeling of being challenged where ‘I’ve got to master all of this stuff?’) – “It was a really good challenge for me because it’s an honor to be in that position and have the coach’s trust to give you the realm to be able to do multiple things. I kind of cherished it in a way, but there were points where I was kind of overwhelmed, from just not understanding when it came to certain gameplan situation stuff and just not having a good feel of the overall defense. So much isolating my job and not necessarily knowing the overall picture of why we call things or why we’re doing this. I think that’s the part that has grown the most in my game.”
(Is it a net gain now? Even though there were growing pains last year, is there a net gain to go through that for this year?) – “I definitely think so. I wouldn’t be able to say that last year going through it, but I’m glad I went through it and got that out of the way early because it did teach me a lot of lessons good and bad.”
(How excited are you about the future in terms of what you and S Jevon Holland can do as a tandem? Because you’re both young, you could be here a while as a starting combination.) – “I’m really excited. Mainly just being a part of this overall defense and how we do things on and off the field. It’s really good to be a part of. I genuinely love being around the players and being in the locker room, being in the facility. I enjoy being here. I think it will be really special overall as a team just to see where we grow with how young we are.”
(You’re going back to MetLife stadium, which is where last year you got your first career sack against the Jets. What do you remember from that moment and did you think it was going to be the starting point of your sack ways?) – “It was really weird just because there was nobody in the stands. When I got the sack, I started off and I felt really hyped. Then I heard literally nobody making any noise or anything, so I was a little confused. It was cool just to be able to get my first sack. I wish it was in front of a crowd. It would have been cool if it was a home crowd. It would’ve been lit. I probably would’ve tried to do some type of dance move or something like that. It was cool. I liked it.”
(The guys on the sideline had to be excited for you.) – “They were lit. And Christian (Wilkins) is always going to find you anytime you make a play. You always got to watch out for him. (laughter)”
(When you think about the general approach the defense has taken in the last two games, how would you describe the identity of the defense in those two games?) – “I would say physical, fast and keeps the offense on their toes. I think being able to blitz multiple people and not knowing where it’s coming from and having to make in-game adjustments has been really beneficial for us. Just the type of athletes and players we have on the team, to be able to do a lot of those things where we bring in certain packages with multiple DBs or being able to bring in big guys when we need a third-and-short, and to know and have the confidence that they’ll be able to do so, like stop them on fourth down and stuff like that. It’s been really fun. It’s been really special.”
(What does having an All-Pro caliber corner like CB Xavien Howard and CB Byron Jones as well allow a defense to do that maybe not all defenses have the luxury to do?) – “It’s a great position to be in, obviously. It’s a lot of pressure when you don’t catch balls in practice and stuff and ‘X’ (Xavien Howard) and Byron make you do about 100 pushups a day, which is always fun. It gets you right. And for me, it helps me blitz. It gets me stronger and stuff like that. It’s really cool seeing them and having them, being able to pick their ears. They’ve been in the league for a while, so they know how to approach things on and off the field when it comes to a routine and how to take that next step in being a pro.”
