Bruce Arians: Ronald Jones’ mind is fine, but his playing isn’t as good as it should be

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Buccaneers running back Ronald Jones needs to improve his pass protection.

After Jones was benched for fumbling in Tampa Bay’s season opener against Dallas, Jones was taken off the field for missing a block that led to a Falcons sack on Tom Brady.

According to head coach Bruce Arians, that needs to change for Jones to be consistently on the pitch.

“Yeah, that speaks for itself, you know?” Arians said Monday, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay weather. “Ro, he’s her guy. He has to get out of those kinds of situations. I thought he was running hard and protecting the ball. But again, you can’t have these mental mistakes.

Arians noted that he expected more from Jones, as he has been in the system since the Arians arrived in 2019.

“This is his third year [in the offense], man, that shouldn’t be a problem, ”Arians said. “And sometimes it does. It’s just attention to detail like missing that blitz. But he’s a great runner. Caught the ball well. I would love to see him run for the first try. But yeah, I mean his mind is fine, it’s just that his playing isn’t as good as it should be.

In the final year of his rookie contract, Jones had 27 yards on six carries plus a catch for 9 yards in Sunday’s game. Leonard Fournette, however, rushed 11 times for 52 yards and caught four passes for 24 yards.

The Buccaneers travel to Los Angeles to play against the Rams in Week 3.