Tie game. Seconds left. Destined for overtime against a divisional opponent. Maybe the season on the line. His parents in the crowd together for the first time to watch him in person.
Marcus Jones was set up for a storybook moment, and he delivered the most epic ending you could draw up, taking a punt back 84 yards for a score to give New England a truly stunning win over the division rival New York Jets.
A giddy Jonathan Jones, who reminded reporters he was at Auburn for the famous “Kick-6” that knocked off the Alabama Crimson Tide, said the younger Jones’ play was even more amazing.
“That’s a movie script. At the end of the game — I couldn’t see anything like that coming. It’s amazing,” he said.
The venerable Matthew Slater, who added he’d never before been part of a game like the one that transpired at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, joined Jonathan Jones and receiver Jakobi Meyers in the “movie script” praise.
Linebacker Mack Wilson, who was also on the field for the return, has been waiting for this moment since before the season started.
“It’s something I’ve been talking to him about since OTAs, since I met him,” said Wilson, who added he’s been trying to build a relationship with the fellow Alabama native Jones. “Just letting him know his time is coming. And I told him, ‘When you do score, I’m gonna be the guy that gets the big block.’”
Wilson and everyone else out there got their blocks down as Jones cut back to the right — the side the return was set up for, according to Wilson — and outraced everyone from there.
Wilson and even Bill Belichick said after the game that Jones had been getting close on several returns in recent weeks, and the linebacker certainly seemed to think it was a matter of “when” rather than “if” the rookie would make a house call.
But even they couldn’t have seen that one coming. Movie script, indeed.
