Chris Jones knew it.
The New England Patriots defensive tackle went full-throttle on the final play of Thursday night’s game against the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium. Jones bull-rushed the Jets’ offensive line, stuck up his hand and blocked Nick Folk’s field goal attempt as time expired to seal the Patriots’ 27-25 win.
“When you hear the PING!, that’s the football noise,” Jones said of his block, according to CSNNE.com’s Tom E. Curran. “The double ping.”
The sound was music to Jones’ ears. It also was the sound of redemption.
Jones committed a costly penalty on a missed Folk kick in overtime of the teams’ Week 7 matchup last season. The Jets kicker was given a second opportunity to win that game and nailed it.
Thursday was a different story.
“I didn’t really think about it at first and then it kind of hit me,” Jones said looking back, according to ESPN.com. “I had people in here telling me about it. The reality is it did happen last year, and this year it was a different story. We ended up coming out with the win, and I’m excited about that.”
So how did it all go down?
“I was just trying to get as deep in the pocket as I could to get up and get my hands on it,” Jones said. “God willing, I blocked it. (Folk) was 50-plus yards away, so I knew it was going to be a line drive. I think it was just coming down to will at the end. We just had to see who could get the most push in the front and ended up getting it.”
Even Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, ever stoic, was excited for Jones.
“Obviously really happy for Chris at the end,” Belichick said. “After what happened last year, I thought it was so fitting that he made that play. That was awesome.”
Photo via Twitter/@SInow
