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The New England Patriots defense has received a lot of bad news this week, but there might be one glimmer of hope heading into the weekend. 

After playing in the Week 1 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Jonathan Jones has been inactive every other game this season. However, Bill Belichick gave a positive update about the defensive back on Friday. 

Certainly a lot closer than he was at this time last week," Belichick told the media on Friday. "Probably be today, maybe tomorrow, make a decision on this. But he's got a chance."

"Good to have Jonathan this week. He did some things this week. Able to do more this week," Belichick added. "Coming to the end of the week and we'll see where we are with him."

Jones spoke with MassLive's Mark Daniels on Thursday and seemed to allude that he is nearing his return. And he may even be able to play on Sunday. 

“That’s been the goal,” Jones told Daniels. “I’m just trying to take it day-by-day – literally. Since I’ve gotten injured, it’s taking it day-by-day and fighting to get back out there with my teammates.”

While they have added J.C. Jackson into the mix, the Patriots are still fairly thin at cornerback after Marcus Jones and Christian Gonzalez went down. Specifically, the Gonzalez injury was one that was very hard for Jones. 

“Yeah, that’s when the urgency picked up even more for me – if that’s even possible,” Jones said to MassLive. “Just to see (Gonzalez) go down and know we were thin already at corner, it was tough to see.”

Injuries have not been kind to the Patriots defense this season, but getting Jones back would be a major boost. 

Everyone will be keeping an eye out as we wait for the announcement of Jones' status for this weekend.  

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