Sidelined since Week 1 after a bout with friendly fire courtesy of teammate Brynden Trawick, to say that Jacoby Jones is anxious to get back on the field would be an understatement.
While Jones’ sprained MCL (knee) may keep him from being as fast as usual on the field, Jones is full speed when it comes to his entertaining locker room interviews. Appearing anxious to get back on the field, I asked Jones how hungry he was to return.
“I ain’t hungry, I just had some eggs and rice,” Jones fired back to me without hesitation. “Just sitting out since Week 1, it’ll make you want to play. I feel like a punished child you can’t go outside and do anything. You’re just sitting in your house begging your mama, ‘please let me go outside, I won’t do it again.'”
It seems fitting for Jones to compare his injury to a punishment, due to the fact that the injury was more of a freak accident than anything, and certainly not his fault. Jones has since missed the past 4 1/2 games and could potentially sit out Sunday’s contest against the Green Bay Packers as he seeks an acceptable level of confidence in the injured knee.
“You can fight through certain things, but it’s more mental than anything,” Jones said. “That and just having the confidence, if you keep babying it, you won’t believe in it. It’s just having that confidence.”
Jones did say that he would “step it up a notch” in practice, but his outlook to play against the Packers on Sunday would appear to be questionable based upon his responses to the media today.
Multiple times Jones reiterated that he wanted to get out and play, and given how many points the offense will have to score to counteract the high-powered Packers attack, the Ravens could use a more confident Jones.
Even though they played well last week against the Dolphins, the Ravens will need more than three wide receivers to beat the Packers. Jones’ big play abilities have been missed in the offense thus far, and if the team wants to have a legitimate shot of continuing their perfect 10-0 home record against the NFC under John Harbaugh, they may need Jones and fellow wide receiver Marlon Brown to dress on Sunday.
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