I am glad there is at least youtube. There are highlights of Bengals players from the game on there, Shipley, Jones, Owens, Coffman, Leonard. Notice how Owens runs the same route as Jones, except Jones is able to shorten his steps and turn it up field, but Owens steps don't shorten up and it takes him out of bounds before he can go up the field. They are both around the same distance from the sideline (Owens might have even had a few more feet) when the catch is made, except after Owen's catch he takes a long stride and winds up out of bounds, Jones shortens his steps and turns it up field. So much for Matt Jone's being "too long in the legs" and him not being able to "quicken his steps".
I was also pretty upset when I looked at NFL.com's highlights of the game, Jordan Shipley and Matt Jones were nowhere to be found. I thought to myself that I could understand the Matt Jones not being in there because it didn't lead to a score, but the Shipley return is the reason why they were in the redzone and were able to score. They just decided to leave those 7 points out of the highlights? especially when it was because of a 60+ yard play? But then you could say that "well the media favors the Cowboys" but there is nothing of Scott Sicko who led the Cowboys in receiving, or John Phillips. I guess its all good because we get to see Owens make 2 catches for 18 yards, showcasing is superior talent, even though he was targeted 4 times....
It seems like the coach had Jones running routes to make him look like a possession receiver, nothing to showcase his deep speed, just a quick out route, a hitch route and another out route. I bet they didn't expect him to be able to cut a quick out route up the field for 28 yards, taller guys have a harder time with getting yards after the catch on those types of routes. He looked better than Owens running similar routes though, except Jones is taller and can simply jut snatch a ball that is highly thrown where the db has no chance of getting his hands on it.
Edited by: snow
