Byron Jones knew Philip Rivers would test him early

Hours before the game, Dallas Cowboys cornerback Cowboys Brandon Weeden Authentic Jersey Byron Jones knew Philip Rivers would be looking his way Thursday night thanks to a conversation with his coaches.

That’s what a veteran like Rivers does when he sees a rookie.

On the first third-down chance for the San Diego Chargers, Rivers saw Jones lined up on Keenan Allen and fired a back-shoulder throw for a 12-yard gain.

“I knew it was coming, Keenan Allen in the slot, they’re probably going to run a route for him,” Jones said, “and he made a veteran move and caught the ball.”

The veteran move was a slight push to get Jones off balance, but the rookie wasn’t complaining.

“They didn’t call it so it’s not a push off,” Jones said. “But it’s one of those things you’ve got to fight through.”

How?

“Just play better coverage, got to be more Cowboys Charles Haley Womens Jersey physical with it,” Jones said. “Just got to come up with the ball somehow.”

As he has during training camp practices, Jones was all over the field. He played outside corner. He played in the slot. He played over the tight end. He played some safety. The Cowboys did the same with Corey White.

Jones led the Cowboys with five tackles. White didn’t have a tackle but had two pass deflections.

“That’s one of the things we wanted to do, play a lot of man-to-man coverage out there, wanted to see those guys cover, cover outside receivers on the National Football League in game situations,” coach Jason Garrett said. “They made some plays but I think our guys made some plays as well. Both [White] and Byron were playing the outside corner for the early part of the game, wanted to get each of those guys to play safety and we were able to do that early in the second half. Each played a series there. So thought it was good night for both those guys win terms of the work they got but we have to go back watch tape and see how well they did.”

Perhaps what the Cowboys will like the most http://www.nflcowboysofficial.com/Authentic-Chris-Jones-Jersey about Jones’ game was a first-quarter tackle of Melvin Gordon. He filled nicely and was unafraid to throw his body in to bring down the Chargers’ first-round pick.

“Hey, if you play defense, you’ve got to be able to tackle,” Jones said. “That’s what I displayed there. Just got to be able to understand where the [blocker] is coming from and replace. That’s what happened right there.”