Jones, almost a Jet, not feeding rivalry's drama

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FOXBORO -- An effort was made Friday in the Patriots locker room to get Chandler Jones to rev up the rivalry engine. Because he's a rookie, because this is Jets Week, Jones was asked if he's noticed a uptick in energy in advance of Sunday's game.
"We're 3-3 right now. That's not where we want to be. Personally, that's not where I want to be. You've got to win. You go in every week with the same goal -- to win. You've got to win the football game. That's every week. You have to have that sense of urgency to win every week. And that's our goal."
He was practically chided to not take the reporter's bait. But Jones held steady in his response.
"I mean, we just want to win," he laughed. "If you want to call this a big game. Personally for me, it'll be a big game -- that's my mentality every week. Against the Jets, yeah, it's a big game."
He almost ended up on the other side of the fight.
A few days before the 2012 NFL draft, ESPNNewYork reported the Jets were showing "strong interest" in Jones and wanted to move up to select him. New York ended up taking a different defensive end, Quinton Copes, at 16 overall, but Jones confirmed the team's early inquiries.
"Yeah. They showed a lot of interest. They showed a lot of interest," he said.
Meeting with the head coach was part of the process.
"From what I know, Rex Ryan's a great coach," Jones recalled. "I sat down and I interviewed with him over the draft. He's a good coach. He's very up to date on things.
"I went up there and we sat down -- he sat me down -- we went over a few schemes. Basically what every team does with you. We talked about my brother UFC fighter Jon 'Bones' Jones a little bit, but that's about it."
Both he and the Patriots seem happy with how the draft turned out. The rivalry aspect will be decided, as Jones wanted it, on the field Sunday.

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