Julio Jones gets stupid with catching the pigskin and has since his days at Alabama.
We all know this.
But in todays fast-paced, fleeting, social media mash, even a talent like Julio can get lost in the celebrity sauce following a few low profile weeks.
With just 20 targets and 10 catches for 188 yards in the Falcons first three games of the season, people were either asking, Whats up with Julio Jones? or not mentioning an assassin who has grabbed 240 balls over the past two seasons when discussing the game’s top wide out.
I guess Jones NFL stock had dropped further than we thought despite grabbing 136 balls last year for 1,871 yards, because the Carolina Panthers, less Josh Norman, still had man coverage on JJ all game on Sunday.
The result was beyond fatal as a faulty defensive scheme allowed Jones to get his numbers up. After catching only one pass for 16 yards in the Atlanta Falcons’ 45-32 victory over the New Orleans Saints on Monday night, Jones went crazy and torched the Panthers for 12 catches and 300 receiving yards in the Falcons’ 48-33 victory on Sunday. It was the sixth time in NFL history that a receiver had reached that mark.
(Photo Credit: nydailynews.com)
Julio Jones was interviewed via Skype by Prime Time Deion Sanders for NFL Network. Sanders asked him if he knew the Panthers were dog food from the jump.
Early on we came out… I noticed our first four plays was passing,” Jones said. “We went out and was aggressive. They were single coverage on me and I was surprised so we just took advantage of it.
Flipper Anderson of the Los Angeles Rams set the NFL single-game record for receiving yards with 336 against the New Orleans Saints on Nov. 26, 1989.
Megatron Johnson of the Detroit Lions had 329 yards of destruction against the Dallas Cowboys in 2013, Stephone Paige of the Kansas City Chiefs had 309 yards against AFC West Division-rival San Diego in 1985. Two other cats did it prior to the Super Bowl era.
Sanders went on to say that if not for a couple of poorly thrown balls by QB Matt Ryan, Jones could have been at 400 yards receiving.
I knew I had them from the jump when I caught a couple balls on the rookie and he said his toes were hurting, Jones joked. When they go to tapping out and running from you…thats when you got em.
In Ryans defense, he did throw for over 500 freaking yards and for the first time in the Super Bowl era a QB slang for at least 500 yards and a receiver hauled in 300 yards of aerial excellence.
Expect double teams for Mr. Jones from here on out.
