A Christmas Story? Ex-Patriots Cornerback Jack Jones Reveals Truth About Viral Celebration
The Las Vegas Raiders spoiled the Kansas City Chiefs’ Christmas with a 20-14 win in the defending champions’ own building. They dampened the holiday spirit for the Kansas City faithful, and especially one child in particular.
Late in the second quarter, Chiefs Patrick Mahomes was intercepted by ex-New England Patriots cornerback Jack Jones. He took it for a house call and a pivotal score—Las Vegas’ final touchdown of the day.
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During his celebration, he appeared to hand the ball to a young Chiefs fan, only to pull it away and send the internet into hysteria. Social media was split on whether to criticize Jones for the “classless” move or to laugh at what looked like an incredible job of trolling a rival fanbase.
Although Jones took to Instagram with himself edited like the Grinch who stole Christmas, he wasn’t totally on board with the outrage.
According to the cornerback, he pulled the ball away because a fan in the row behind the child went to grab it, becoming a Grinch in his own right. A clip of the play shows that a fan did reach down to grab the ball, though neither they nor the child came away happy.
Fans didn’t take kindly to Jones’ infraction, but playing the bad guy is nothing new to the Raiders franchise. Even if Jones was well-intentioned, Las Vegas was supposed to be eliminated weeks ago. With two games to play, the Raiders are still standing. Can you blame them for leaning into it?
Whether his story redeems him is up to you, but the play it came on was one of the most important snaps of the holiday.
Jones’ pick-six cost the Chiefs 19 points of win probability, bringing them from a 67 percent chance to win down to 48—they wouldn’t recover. Las Vegas managed to win despite not completing a pass in the game’s final three quarters, a testament to the defense’s performance against the most feared quarterback in the sport.
The interception also opens the door for the Raiders, with the fingerprints of former Patriots left throughout the organization, to make the playoffs. They have about a 15-percent chance per the New York Times playoff simulator, but with two winnable games in the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos, Las Vegas (7-8) could bring their chances up to 65 percent.
