Former Alabama DB Cyrus Jones has had an up and down rookie season for the New England Patriots.

Just when it looked like he might have the third cornerback spot locked down, he was ejected for throwing a punch at a Cleveland wide receiver two weeks ago. Though the alleged “punch” looked like nothing and it appeared the officials erred when they ejected Jones, coach Bill Belichick opted to make Jones inactive last week.

According to AL.com, Jones isn’t losing hope and still wants to make an impact for his team this season:

“Of course, just being a competitor, you want to be out there,” Jones said before practice on Wednesday. “It’s tough. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to take it in stride and keep getting better and trust in the coaching staff. Coach Bill (Belichick) has been coaching a long time, and he’s coached a lot of players. You’ve just got to keep working hard and know that your time will come eventually.”

Though he wasn’t fined for his incident against the Browns, Jones said he needs to keep his head in difficult situations:

“I’m happy I didn’t get fined, but it’s still not a good look, either, especially in Coach’s eyes,” Jones said. “You’ve got to be the bigger person in that situation. After the game, I just told them, regardless of what happened, I’ve got to be smarter in that type of situation. It might not have cost us today, but in a bigger game, a bigger situation, that can’t happen because it can lead to us losing a game possibly, depending on the situation. I just told them that they’ll never have to worry about something like that happening again.”

Jones and the Patriots will take on the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday afternoon at 4:25 p.m. Eastern time. The game, which will be held in Pittsburgh, can be seen on CBS.