If the Cardinals were a band, Zay Jones understands that he would not be Freddie Mercury of Queen or Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones.
At times, he’s just going to be Gene.
“Sometimes, you’re not the lead singer, and that’s OK,” the wide receiver said, asking if the media remembered the old Will Ferrell skit on “Saturday Night Live.” “Sometimes, you just got to play the cowbell and that’s your job, and you do it with a great attitude until you’re asked to come in and be the lead singer of the group.”
In Sunday’s loss to the Colts, Jones finished the game with 79 yards on five receptions. His stats nearly eclipsed his total for last season (eight receptions for 84 yards.) With quarterback Jacoby Brissett filling in for the injured Kyler Murray, Jones wasn’t the only wideout who flashed.
Wide receiver Michael Wilson had a season-high 44 yards on four targets. On top of his special-teams production, Greg Dortch played 44 percent of the offensive snaps and had a touchdown reception. After noticing that the Colts “had a plan to take away Trey,” coach Jonathan Gannon applauded tight end Trey McBride for his eight-reception, 72-yard outing.
Jones finished with the team-high in yards, more than doubling the 37 he had compiled in the first five games of the year.
“It was fun to be in that groove,” Jones said. “For me, again, it goes back to the process, not to sound like a broken record, but it’s using that experience of what I’ve done, staying present, trusting my ability, trusting what I’ve been coached to do here and going out and executing. That was just a glimpse of what happened (Sunday).”
The receivers were pushed into a more prominent role when Marvin Harrison Jr. left the game with a concussion in the second quarter. The offense also had to adjust their play style prior to their opening drive after Travis Vokolek was taken off the field on a stretcher. The blocking tight end was expected to fill in on 13 personnel packages after Tip Reiman’s season-ending injury last week.