One week after Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce vowed to make some "business decisions" after calling his players out for giving lackluster effort in the Week 3 loss against the Carolina Panthers, it appears one of those decisions was benching cornerback Jack Jones in Week 4.
Jones was noticeably absent from the lineup in the first quarter before he finally got into the game in the second, and his absence may have been a result of him making the "business decisions" that Pierce was talking about on a few plays against the Panthers last week.
While we can't say for sure that was indeed the case, Pierce didn't shoot down the idea that Jones was benched when asked about it after the game.
"That was my decision between me and Jack," Pierce said of Jones' first-quarter absence, per Justin Churchill of AtoZ Sports.
Jones was also asked about not playing at all in the first quarter, but he kept his answer short and simple without going into detail.
“That’s ball. If I'm not up, I'm not up. And when I'm up, I gotta play,” Jones said, according to Vic Tafur of The Athletic.
When asked why he was benched, Jones again kept it simple again: “You have to talk to AP about that.”
While neither Jones nor Pierce will come out and directly confirm the cornerback was benched, their responses say everything. Both would have straight up said it wasn't a benching if that was the case.
Whatever the case may be, Jones took his benching like a pro and went on to tally four tackles in the three quarters he did play. With that behind them, the Raiders will look ahead to a Week 5 matchup against the Denver Broncos.
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