Julio Jones is not impressed.
The Falcons’ wide receiver shrugged off his twisting, diving, 40-yard touchdown catch against the Buccaneers last week at the Georgia Dome.
“I expect to make those plays,” Jones said flatly.
Teammate Roddy White said Jones is going to be the best wide receiver in the NFL “if he ain’t already,” but Jones said he’s not motivated to prove it.
“You can’t worry about numbers or you get complacent about winning the game,” Jones said. “My biggest goal is to win the game.”
Jones leads the NFL in receiving yards (365) and catches of 20-plus yards (nine) less than a year after he underwent foot surgery.
That’s nothing special, according to Jones.
“Not at all,” he said. “I’m only three games in. I’ve got a whole season left. I’m just trying to finish the whole season.”
At this point, that really is the only question remaining about Jones: Can he stay healthy? It’s likely that much of the Falcons’ fortunes depends on the answer.
Jones has been here before. He ranked second in the league in receiving yards after five games in 2013 when he suffered a fractured fifth metatarsal in his right foot that required season-ending surgery. Jones also had surgery on the foot before his rookie season.
At the beginning of training camp Jones said he had to overcome the mental hurdle of playing on the surgically repaired foot. By the time he played his final exhibition game Aug. 23, Jones said that no longer was the case. And he said the foot wasn’t sore after he had seven catches for 117 yards in the opener against the Saints.
The foot isn’t an issue and Jones is looking perhaps better than ever. Safety Dwight Lowery, who joined the Falcons this season, is convinced after nearly six months of seeing Jones up close.
“I think I understand why the Falcons did what they did to get him,” Lowery said.
In a 2011 draft-day trade, the Falcons sent the Browns five draft picks (two in the first round, one in the second, two in the fourth) for a first-round pick they used to select Jones. The trade cost them the chance to add depth with multiple draft picks, but they believed Jones to be the elite target that quarterback Matt Ryan needed.
“He’s a big physical, receiver, but he runs like he’s a small one,” Lowery said. “That is a hard combination to find, and it’s a hard combination to prepare for.”
Jones has stood out as an athletic marvel since his days at Alabama. He’s bigger and stronger now — he credits his increased agility to extra work on his quadriceps during his rehabilitation.
But White cites Jones’ improved grasp of the nuances of game while saying the difference between Jones as a rookie and now is “like night and day.”
“I had tunnel vision early on,” Jones said. “When I was a rookie I couldn’t see everything, the concept of the plays. ‘Why am I running this route?’ Now I do, and I have a better understanding of it.”
The 40-yard touchdown catch against Tampa Bay highlighted Jones’ combination of size, speed, athletic ability and knowledge of the game.
Jones ran past cornerback Alterraun Verner down the right sideline. With a safety coming from the middle of the field to help, Jones was already angling to the right pylon when Ryan released the pass. As the ball drifted toward the sidelines, Jones reached out to catch it and then cradled it as he hit the turf.
“It was a great catch,” White said. “It’s crazy because we go out there and practice that situation, and then it comes up in the game and he goes out there and makes it look easy.”
The video boards in the Falcons’ locker room Thursday cycled between the day’s schedule and a still image of the catch. But Jones insisted he did not look at replays of the catch in admiration, nor was there much celebration during video review of the game.
“We congratulate each other. ‘Hey, good catch.’ ‘Thank you,’” Jones said, still not impressed.
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