Jacoby Jones Still Feeling Down About Role In Texans Playoff Loss

Cary Williams (29) of the Ravens tries to tackle Texans return man Jacoby Jones. (credit: Chris Trotman/Getty Images)

HOUSTON (CBS Houston) â€" As you can imagine, the Texans locker room was a rather somber scene Monday morning just hours after their season came to an end against Baltimore in AFC Divisional round of the playoffs.

No one seemed ready to come to grips with the 20-13 loss, but receiver/punt returner Jacoby Jones may have still been dealing  with the most difficult struggle after a costly mistakes he made during Sunday’s loss. The biggest being the muffed punt early in the first quarter that set up the Ravens first touchdown from two yards out.

Jones has taken the brunt of the Texans loss, though his turnover was just one of four on the day with rookie quarterback T.J. Yates throwing three interceptions that Baltimore converted into 10 points.

“I made mistake, I apologized to my teammates,” said a rather subdued Jones while emptying out his locker at Reliant Stadium. “It’s something I have to learn from.”

There are unconfirmed rumors an angry mob showed up at Jones home and set fire to his No. 12 jersey. Jones never addressed the report but he perhaps showed some frustration when the New Orleans native was asked how he will spend the offseason.

Jones said he will be do the required workouts here but that he will also train at home and then he defiantly let it be known he will be back.

“I ain’t going nowhere, trust me,” Jones said.  “No matter what nobody says I ain’t going  nowhwere. Believe that.”

Texans coach Gary Kubiak said he met with Jones as he did all of the team during their exit interviews Monday. The conversation was both positive and encouraging for the future.

“We talked about the play a little bit. The young man is very down. I can understand that,” said Kubiak, whose team ended its first playoff run 11-7. “I try to look at the big picture on things and I know how far he’s come as a person and player. He played very well for us when Andre was out though a nine-week period, he did a lot of good things for us.

“I know he’d like to have that play back yesterday but we will give him a chance to go get rid of it when we get going.

“It’s just difficult because there is no good way to get beat,” Kubiak continued. “We win as a team, we lose as a team.”

Kubiak also jumped to the defense of Jones when asked if he considered benching him after he also fumbled his second punt return on the catch but this time recovered it. Jones did have some electrifying moments returning punts but he also took some major steps this season as a potential playmaker on offense during the time star receiver Andre Johnson was down with an injured hamstring.

“He made mistake, but he has also made big plays for us throughout the course of the year,” Kubiak said of the first muffed punt.  “I’m not ready to give up on a guy because he makes a mistake in a game. Obviously it was a big mistake, it can happen. There is no talking around that or getting around that. But at the same time a lot of guys make mistakes in a game and they come back and make plays. As a coach you have to believe in your people and your players have to believe in each other.

“You are going to have your mistakes and hopefully you overcome them and we had our chance to overcome it that’s the great thing. We had a chance to overcome it but we didn’t.”

Contact Terrance Harris at terrancefharris@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @Terranceharris