After Mohamed Sanu tossed a 51-yard touchdown to Julio Jones, quarterback Matt Ryan filed a grievance.
“I told him I was open,” said Ryan, who was flanked out to the right of the Falcons’ 12-Gauge formation. Sanu, the former high school quarterback, faked a handoff, dropped back and launched a tight spiral to Jones.
“I just saw him take off and let it go,” Sanu said of the wide receiver-to-wide receiver connection after the Falcons beat the Buccaneers 34-20 to improve to 7-4 on Sunday.
The Falcons have used the formation a few times this season, but Sanu has run up the middle to pick up first downs or score at touchdown.
Sanu hadn’t thrown a pass out of the formation until Sunday. Sanu had the green light if he saw a certain formation.
“I had a little flashback,” Sanu said.
He has completed 6 of 6 passes for 228 yards and three touchdowns over his NFL career. He started his collegiate career at Rutgers as a safety before converting to wide receiver. He also played some quarterback for the Scarlet Knights.
On the touchdown to Jones, Sanu bobbled the ball and almost didn’t get into passing position.
“I ran into the running back a little bit, but then I got a good handle on it,” Sanu said.
Jones, who caught 12 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns, enjoyed the play, too. He said the Falcons had not practiced the play at full speed.
“We’ve mostly done it in walkthrough,” Ryan said. “Those guys have thrown a lot of passes to each other, too. They work on throwing to each other all the time.
“It was cool to see it in live action for the first time. It was a perfect pass.”
Ryan had some passer envy on Sanu’s nice ball.
“Mohamed Sanu is a stud,” Ryan said. “It was a really great throw and good adjustment by Julio at the end. It was very timely. That was a huge play on a third-and-1 situation.”
The long touchdown gave the Falcons a 10-3 lead.
“Mo, he’s a great quarterback and has a great deep ball so he doesn’t need it,” Jones said. “We throw a lot every day in practice, throwing the ball around so I’ve seen his ball numerous times.”
Jones thought the play had a chance. He knew it was in the game plan.
“When I came and lined up I was just trying to see what the guy outside of me was going to do,” Jones said. “He just kind of stayed there and it was just one-on-one with the safety. Mo didn’t care and he just gave me an opportunity to go up there and make a play.”
Jones had just one touchdown entering the game. He’s been battling through an ankle injury.
“I’m feeling better, a couple weeks ago I had an ankle injury and it has kind of been lingering, but I’m good,” Jones said. “I’m striking and ready to go.”
Jones liked that Falcons offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian called the play.
“Just dialing up plays and seeing early on, just taking advantage of what they were giving us on defense,” Jones said.
Another big dive into the end zone capped Jones’ 25-yard touchdown pass from Ryan later in the game. Jones hit the pylon with the ball before landing.
“When I came out of the route, I caught the ball and I turned back and saw the defensive back on the ground,” Jones said. “I’m guessing he slipped down, but like I said earlier we don’t practice any bad ball security here. I would have never stuck the ball out had I seen him upright. I saw him on the ground, so I had to get in there.”
Jones were perplexed by the amount of single-coverage he drew from the Bucs.
“Yes and a lot of quarters,” Jones said. “We were just trying to hit the holes on quarters and go over the top.”
Jones, with Ryan or Sanu throwing, believes the offense is headed in the right direction.
“We just have to keep building,” Jones said. “You never know who’s game it’s going to be. That’s why I’m not a stat guy. I’m not going to get down and not go out there and play for my brothers. That’s being selfish.”
Of course, Ryan was kidding about being an option on the Sanu-to-Jones play.
“I guess 11,” Ryan said when asked what option he was on the play. “If there are 10 guys out there, I was number 11. I told him I was open, though. We only needed one. I hear that enough from them, so I was throwing it back at them.”
