Dre’Mont Jones: ‘Greatest series of my career’

In one series on Sunday, defensive end Dre’Mont Jones almost single-handedly took the Lions’ offense off the field.

The Broncos had just scored after a fumble recovery to go up 24-10, but in the previous half, the Lions had proved they could move the ball.

Yet Jones proved he could move them right back.

1st-and-10: Jones sacks Jared Goff for negative 16 yards.

2nd-and-19: Jones tackles running back Godwin Igwebuike for a three-yard loss

3rd-and-22: Goff connects on a deep pass to receiver Josh Reynolds for 20-yard gain

4th-and-2: Jones deflects Goff’s pass for an incomplete.

“I’m [going] to be real with you. That was probably the greatest series of my career—middle school included—ever,” Jones said after the game. “That was sweet for me.”

Talking about his 4th-and-2 read, Jones admitted that he just keyed in on the “talking” from the very young offensive line.

“They talked a lot [and] I knew what they were doing. They said one of their calls, and I knew the center and the guard were going to slide to me. I knew I wasn’t going to get much of a pass rush, so I hit the b-gap, got a feel for it and knew I wasn’t going to get through,” he said. “I saw Goff ready to throw it so I just jumped. It worked out perfectly.”

Well, perhaps a tiny bit less than perfect.

“It hit me right in my face,” he laughed, noting that he was happy it wasn’t a pass thrown by Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen. “Yeah. Definitely. For sure. I still got it, so it doesn’t matter.”

Jones earned a game ball from head coach Vic Fangio - one of only two for the defense.

He also earned a compliment.

“He’s really come on here as of late. He’s playing good football for us, we need him to,” the head coach admitted. “Part of being a good pass-defense team is the pass rush, and we need that to show up. Tackle for a loss when you’re really kind of struggling against the run a little bit is big, to get them out of the favorable down and distance, and he came through there. We expect that out of him. He’s a good player, and we need that to continue.”

Jones certainly intends for that to happen, still aiming for a double-digit sacks season.

“Yeah my goal hasn’t changed [but] if I don’t get it I don’t feel like I failed,” he said, noting that at 5.5 so far makes it possible even if difficult. “But it doesn’t matter about me. It’s about us winning that game and we won in a tremendous fashion. We won [by] 2,8 [and] we have a chance to make the playoffs still. …I haven’t been in this position yet in the NFL [and] I’m sure a lot of guys haven’t in a while yet too in the NFL so I’m excited about this opportunity.”