Since Chandler Jones’ five-sack performance in Week 1 against the Tennessee Titans, the sacks have been slow to come. He did not get another sack until Week 9 against the San Francisco 49ers.
He exploded for two on Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks, giving him eight for the season.
His final line against the Seahawks was four tackles, two sacks, two tackles for loss, three quarterback hits and a forced fumble.
His two sacks gave him the 10th-most by any player at Lumen Field.
What changed?
A couple of things. First, it was some coaching by backup quarterback Colt McCoy. After the game, Jones told reporters about an interaction he had with McCoy.
“Colt, this weekend, he saw me working on some moves,” Jones explained. “He was like, ‘Hey, Chandler. I kind of hesitated on telling you this, but I see you thinking. Stop thinking, just go. You’re one of the best players in this league, just go. Be yourself.’”
Jones was impressed by the comments.
“I feel like it takes a lot for someone, I just met Colt this year, for someone to step out and have those words of encouragement to someone you know but you really don’t know, it means a lot,” he added. “That just goes to show you what type of person he is. He sees things. He could’ve chosen not to say those things to me, but I took it and I definitely retained it and definitely showed it today.”
Jones also revealed a little superstition as well. He shared on Twitter Monday morning how he wore the same cleats on Sunday that he wore in 2019 when he had four sacks against the Seahawks on the road.
Fun fact: After the 4 sck game in 2019 against the hawks, I put my cleats in my bedroom closet for memorabilia.. Saturday morning l dug those bad boys out blew the dust off em and packed them for the trip! Same laces, soles and all lol.. #superstitious
— ♛Chandler Jones (@chanjones55) November 22, 2021
Between the cleats, the past performances against Seattle and the encouraging words of McCoy, it all added up to a big performance.
Of course, the question was raised as to why he didn’t just use his cleats from the five-sack game in Week 1.
There was an easy answer.
Too worn down.. I wore them all training camp as well
— ♛Chandler Jones (@chanjones55) November 22, 2021
He said on Twitter they were too worn out because they were the same cleats he used all training camp.
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