The last time the Houston Texans came to Baltimore for a postseason game, a Ravens postseason hero figured prominently in the result.
Just not for the Ravens.
On Jan. 15, 2012, Baltimore defeated Houston, 20-13, in the divisional round of the playoffs as part of the 2011 season. The Texans jumped out to a 3-0 lead, then forced a three-and-out. However, Sam Koch’s punt was muffed by returner Jacoby Jones, setting the Ravens up at Houston’s 2-yard line. Three plays later, Baltimore had a 7-3 lead.
Jones had signed a three-year deal in July 2011 but was released in May 2012, after the muffed punt and before the second year of the contract. The 6-foot-3, 192-pound receiver had a productive campaign prior to the playoffs, catching 31 passes for 512 yards and two scores. He also averaged 10.6 yards per punt return and returned a punt for a touchdown.
Jones recalled that he was not in a great place following that playoff game.
“There were a couple people who were true to me,” Jones said on Glenn Clark Radio Jan. 17. “When we played them in the playoffs that year and I muffed that punt in the first quarter, [fans] blamed the whole game on me even though it happened in the first quarter and we lost by seven points. I had death threats and people egged my house when I wasn’t there, all kinds of stuff.”
It didn’t take long for Jones to find a new home. He and the Ravens agreed to a two-year deal seven days after he was released by the Texans, but Jones initially didn’t think he was going to sign with the Ravens. He was ready to sign with the Carolina Panthers, who had gone 6-10 the previous season but were on the upswing with quarterback Cam Newton.
“I’m sitting there with Cam and the head coach. I’m sitting with them in the office,” Jones said. “… My agent called me and was like, ‘Hey man, Baltimore called. You want to take that visit?’ I’m like, ‘I’m going to play with Cam, man.’ He said, ‘Man, go take the visit.'”
So he did. The Ravens were coming off a heartbreaking end to the 2011 season at New England and were looking for the final pieces to put them over the hump. In Jones, they added an explosive returner and another deep threat for quarterback Joe Flacco.
“As soon as I walk in the locker room [John] Harbaugh’s like, ‘Want to come to the meetings?’ They were like, ‘Hey man, your locker’s going to be right here,'” Jones said. “It was like I was already on the team. I haven’t even said nothing or talked to nobody yet. I’m like, ‘Oh, this is family here. This is family.’ Signed on the dotted line. They just took me in like I was already there.”
Jones went on to earn first-team All-Pro honors in 2012, returning two kicks for touchdowns and one punt for a score. He also caught 30 passes for 406 yards and a touchdown. He saved his best for the Ravens’ Super Bowl run, however, in the form of the “Mile High Miracle” and his 108-yard kick return to begin the second half of the Super Bowl.
The Ravens do not win the Super Bowl without Jones, who not even a year earlier had been discarded by the Texans. He admits he still doesn’t see “eye to eye” with the organization, but he got the last laugh.
“I’ve still got a house in Houston. I still live there, so it don’t bother me,” said Jones, now the receivers coach at Alabama State. “When I walk around, I just be like, ‘I’ve got a ring.’ That’s my slogan.”
For more from Jacoby Jones, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Sabina Moran/PressBox