Reeta Hubbard: Jacoby Jones loved Baltimore, and Baltimore loved him back

Jacoby Jones is legendary in the city of Baltimore.

When you think of the word, “legendary,” you think of someone who has done admirable things. Someone who left behind meaningful, unforgettable moments. Someone who is cherished. During his short time with the Ravens, Jones personified all of those things and more.

On Sunday, his family announced that Jones had passed away, just days after his 40th birthday.

Most legendary people have the same path: they deal with adversity that fuels a fire in them to make themselves better and as a result, they find redemption, changing the perception of themselves to the people around them. That’s exactly how the story was written for Jones.

Let’s go back to 2011. The Houston Texans were AFC South champions and solidified a playoff spot. They beat the Bengals during Wild Card playoff weekend. They faced the Ravens the next week, in Baltimore, for the divisional round.

Early in the game, Jones, then a WR/kick returner for the Texans, fumbles the ball deep into Ravens territory. The crowd goes wild. The Ravens scored on the turnover and never looked back, winning the game 20-13. With the score only being a 7-point margin, Texans fans soon turned on Jones, saying that the fumble was the difference-maker in the game. And while the Texans weren’t considered true Super Bowl contenders over the likes of the Ravens and the Patriots, fans and pundits alike place heavy blame on Jones.

That offseason following the playoff loss, Jones, now a free agent, became obsessed with catching the ball. He would catch passes using a JUGS football machine for up to five hours a day. He felt like he derailed his team from winning a Super Bowl and he wanted to make sure that the next team would have nothing to worry about.

In the 2012 offseason, Jacoby signed with the Ravens. What happened next is nothing short of legendary. A guy whom the Ravens picked up as a kick returner would go on to become one of the most impactful players in Ravens history. The magic started during the 55-20 rout over the Oakland Raiders when Jones returned a 105-yard kickoff for a touchdown. He immediately became a fan favorite with his celebration. What we didn’t know was that Jones had only begun his legacy as a Baltimore Raven.

January 12, 2013. The Ravens go into Mile High Stadium with 78.6% of the nation believing that the Broncos would advance to the AFC Championship game, according to ESPN’s SportsNation. It’s third down and three with 44 seconds remaining, on their 33-yard line. The Ravens have a 2.8% probability of winning that game at this point. 

I’m sitting at the bar with my football group. We called ourselves, “The Crew.” We all started saying, “here we go again,” “another season wasted,” and “better luck next year,” as we did the year before. Then the unbelievable happened. Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco threw a deep pass to Jones, Broncos CB Rahim Moore misjudged the pass, and Greg Gumbel on the television screamed, “CAUGHT!!!! INTO THE END ZONE, TOUCHDOWN JACOBY JONES!!!!!” 

Dan Dierdorf, the CBS color commentator at the time, was in disbelief, but not in as much disbelief as the Crew and the other fans at the bar that were watching. My friend immediately fainted (she was okay, by the way), and the bar was swaying in a way that I had never felt any brick-and-mortar on ground level shake before. The Ravens, who essentially had no chance of winning that game before that moment, tied the game to send it to double overtime, ending with a Ravens victory.

We know how the rest of the story goes. Jones scored two TDs, including a kickoff return for a TD to open the second half in Super Bowl 47 against the 49ers. After that remarkable win, Jones was now a 2012 All-Pro, Pro Bowler, and Super Bowl champion.

Redemption

What turned into a redemption story for Jones became a tale for the ages, both for him and for the Ravens organization. One of the most under-the-radar signings had now become one of the most impactful in just one year.

Legendary

Jones would stay in Baltimore for two more seasons before leaving in free agency, but he always found his way back to this city. He said constantly how much he loved Baltimore; that he loved the people, and the people loved him; that Baltimore was always special to him beyond the field. And he honored that by becoming a position coach with Calvert Hall High School and Morgan State University. When my good friend and radio personality Glenn Clark asked Jones why he kept taking these low-paying coaching jobs, Jones became emotional. He talked about how he didn’t have anything and neither did the kids, but that he wanted to do anything he could for them. That was who Jones was: a guy who had a heart of gold and would do anything to help.

Jones’s passing has led to an outpouring of love and sadness from his former teammates, friends, local politicians, and fans alike. Former Texans teammates JJ Watt and Matt Schaub expressed their condolences. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh put out a separate statement from the team, who made a team statement. Former Ravens teammates took to their X and Instagram pages to express their love for him. Even Maryland Governor Wes Moore made a statement about Jones.

Impactful

If you knew him, you know this is par for the course. He was a fun-loving, funny guy who loved people and they loved him back, equally. A guy who took a setback and made it one of the biggest comebacks of his career. A guy whose celebration TD dances and shining personality helped him get on TV and dance for the world to see. A guy who always found his way back to Baltimore and had his son by his side. A guy who always knew what the assignment was when it came to trolling fans of the other AFC North teams that he owned them. A guy who just knew how to have fun, but also knew how to love hard.

Make no mistake about it, Jones is legendary in the city of Baltimore. And he will be missed greatly.