Julio Jones feels rested now.
Can you tell?
“I’m just now getting my sleep,” the Falcons receiver said. “The Seattle trip messed me up. I slept nine hours last night. Felt great.”
The Falcons’ offense is finding its rhythm.
Was it obvious Sunday?
Jones, slowed recently by an ankle injury for two weeks and the half-season hiccups/malaise of the Falcons’ offense, played Sunday as if he was shot out of a cannon.
It’s probably no coincidence the Falcons, who last season put up cartoon-like numbers on a weekly basis, returned to video football against Tampa Bay. They totaled 516 yards on nine possessions (8.1 yards per play). They converted 11 of 14 third downs. They would have scored on 7 of 9 possessions if not for a Terron Ward fumble at the Buccaneers’ five-yard line in the fourth quarter.
They defeated Tampa Bay 34-20.
Oh, there they are.
There were a few late-game heart palpitations caused by a wounded defense. But the recent steady improvement of the offense, punctuated by Sunday’s fireworks, should be the overriding takeaway. Why? Because a stretch of four losses in five games, during which the team averaged 14.5 points in the defeats, has been followed by three straight wins with point totals 27, 34 and 34.
You can pull a dart out of Steve Sarkisian's picture now.
Jones expressed surprise afterward how often Tampa Bay left him single-covered. The Bucs’ defense is coached by former Falcons head coach Mike Smith. Oops.
Jones finished with 12 catches for 253 yards, touchdowns of 51 and 25 yards and saved 14 children from a burning building.
Jones’ first touchdown was thrown out of the wildcat formation by wide receiver Mohamed Sanu, a former high school quarterback and also did some slingin’ at Rutgers.
“I had a little flashback,” Sanu said, smiling.
The second touchdown was tossed by Matt Ryan, with Jones becoming airborne near the five-yard line as he dove for the pylon.
“He’s a freak – we all know that,” safety Keanu Neal said.
The Falcons have a nice roll going. Yes, the late-game defensive fizzles of Sunday and last week in Seattle are discomforting but they've gone from a 4-4 team on the edge of playing themselves out of the playoff race to 7-4 and feeling good about things. They're 6-1 in NFC games and in a strong position in playoff tiebreakers, should it come down to that, but more importantly play the next two at home (Minnesota, New Orleans) with a chance to make a move in the South.
They played their second straight game without running game Devonta Freeman (concussion). They lost cornerbacks Desmond Trufant (concussion) and Brian Poole (lower back) in this game. But they hung together for a win, which dovetailed nicely with the subject of Saturday night’s team meeting, led by coach Dan Quinn.
The Falcons have a tradition of awarding four black jerseys at practice each Friday. The jerseys are giving to players for things like hustle and doing something extraordinary for teammates.
“No matter who it is, even the scout team guys,” Jones said in a quiet moment after the game. “It’s about guys doing something for one another.”
The significance is that the Falcons wore their throwback black jerseys and black helmets Sunday. Quinn zeroed in on that in his team pep talk Saturday night.
“We talked about how the black helmets were a dedication to the players of the past,” Quinn said. “But the black jerseys is about us. They’re about this team. The black jerseys mean something different to us because of what we do on Fridays. We said, ‘Let’s dedicate this game to one another.’”
It may seem like one of those sappy, hokey things that make some roll their eyes. But those sappy, hokey things work in this locker room.
Consider Sunday. The Falcons led 27-6 in the third quarter. It was a bludgeoning. But Trufant left after an inadvertent helmet-to-helmet hit by Neal (“Friendly fire,” Neal said). Poole exited. Ricardo Allen played free safety, strong safety and cornerback. Defensive backs C.J. Goodwin and Damontae Kazee were pressed into duty.
Things unraveled. The Buccaneers drove to consecutive touchdowns on their first two second-half possessions to close the lead to 27-20. The Falcons’ offense appeared on the verge of a touchdown drive that would put the game away but Ward fumbled at the tail end of a run at the Bucs’ five-yard line with 11 minutes left.
There was a fan in Mercedes-Benz Stadium who wasn’t flashing back to last February. Heck, even a week ago, the team blew several two-digit leads in Seattle before hanging on to win by a field goal.
Jones went up to Ward after the fumble.
“I told him that play’s over and done with,” he said. “Just go back out there and play. Don’t try to be Superman.”
First, the defense would need to channel some superpower. Or at least be an obstacle. Tampa Bay drove to the Atlanta 19 and appeared prime for points. But after a second-and-2, the next three plays went incomplete, one-yard pass and incomplete.
The Falcons got the ball back at the 18 with 7:05 left and quarterback Matt Ryan drove the offense 82 yards for a touchdown. Ball game. Finally.
The ending wasn’t perfect. But the big picture is looking significantly better than a few weeks ago.
EARLIER: Why SEC title will be different from first Georgia-Auburn game
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