FOXBORO — The Patriots elected to start Sunday’s loss to the Commanders with two of their top cornerbacks on the bench.

Cornerbacks J.C. Jackson and Jack Jones began Week 9 on the sideline while Shaun Wade, who hadn’t played defense since Week 6, started at outside cornerback opposite Jonathan Jones. Jackson didn’t enter the game until the Patriots’ third defensive drive. Jack Jones had his helmet on but a towel around his neck for the entire first quarter. At one point, during a Patriots defensive drive, he sat on the Patriots’ bench next to kicker Chad Ryland while the rest of the team’s reserves stood closer to the sideline. He finally entered the game with 11:12 remaining in the second quarter.

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Wade played 13 total snaps but only one came after the Patriots’ first two defensive drives. Jackson finished the game with 53 snaps while Jack Jones was on the field for 30 snaps. Jonathan Jones led cornerbacks with 60 snaps while Myles Bryant played 55 snaps.

Head coach Bill Belichick said Jackson and Jack Jones were not benched to start the game.

“Everybody played,” Belichick said. “They all played.”

When asked why Wade barely played after the first two series’, Belichick repeated, “They all played.”

Belichick was asked a follow-up to clarify if Jack Jones’ playing time was disciplinary in nature.

“We played all the corners,” he responded. “I think we played all the safeties. I think we played everybody on defense.”

Patriots players didn’t provide any more specifics, but safety Adrian Phillips did seem to imply there was more to the story.

“I can’t get into that, but if you want to know what that is, you’re going to have to talk to them,” safety Adrian Phillips said when asked if he was surprised that Jackson and Jack Jones sat to start the game. “But they ended up playing, so it is what it is.”

Jackson appeared in the locker room but wouldn’t answer questions. Jack Jones never entered the locker room after the game.

Linebacker and captain Ja’Whaun Bentley declined to address the cornerbacks’ playing time.