Patriots CB coach says "narrative's a little messed up" on J.C. Jackson, Jack Jones
The Patriots started last Sunday's loss to the Commanders without cornerbacks J.C. Jackson and Jack Jones on the field and head coach Bill Belichick had little interest in discussing why the two regulars did not play at all on the first two defensive series of the game.
Shaun Wade got the early nod despite not playing at all on defense the two prior weeks, but barely played once Jackson and Jones entered the game. Belichick said only that "they all played," but a report indicated that performance reasons dictated the change.
On Tuesday, Patriots cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino pointed in that direction while trying to shift the focus to why Wade played as opposed to why the other players didn't open the game on the field.
“I feel like the narrative’s a little messed up. Like, what did Shaun do to really earn that? Everyone’s trying to make it about those two,” Pellegrino said, via Nick O'Malley of MassLive.com. "I think the narrative should be more pushed towards, ‘What did Shaun do right to earn that opportunity?’ Because Sean has done a lot of great things here for us in this past year and is a different player than what he has been in the past."
Missing from that explanation is why Wade did enough to play all those early snaps, but not enough to play over the remainder of the 20-17 loss that dropped the Patriots to 2-7 on the season. There's also been no word on how the Patriots plan to handle things in Germany against the Colts this weekend, so it will likely be Sunday morning before we learn how the cornerback playing time stacks up this week.
