![]() Jones also got to do a bit of gloating this week after his alma mater won another national championship with a 26-23 overtime victory over Georgia. Last week, he had nine catches for 94 yards and a touchdown with just under six minutes remaining that finished off a 26-13 upset of the Los Angeles Rams in the wild-card round. He’s usually even better in the playoffs. He had 88 catches for 1,444 yards - an average of 90.3 per game - and earned second-team honors on the Associated Press All-Pro team. Jones’ production dipped this season, part of a wider drop-off under first-year offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, and there have been a few more drops than previous seasons - most notably, what should have been an easy 39-yard touchdown catch in a November loss at Carolina.īut, overall, it’s been another huge season for Jones. Since then, he’s learned to block out his various injuries. “I was a little timid to catch just because of the pain,” Jones recalled. He broke his left hand in a game, had surgery the next day and was cleared to play the following week. I’m not saying anything about it.”Ī turning point in Jones’ pain threshold came during his sophomore season at Alabama. You don’t want to talk about it and bring that stuff up during the game. If something’s hurting or anything like that, I never relay it back to (the sideline). ![]() Don’t bring it up in the middle of the game,” he said. That’s why, over the course of the last four months, the injury report has listed him as limited or out of practice more times than he’s fully participated. None of the injuries were serious enough to keep him from playing, but they did require plenty of tender loving care to make sure there were no setbacks. Jones has been on the injury report eight of the last 10 weeks, along with two other weeks early in the season. So that helps him as far as the timing goes.” “When he goes, it’s these full-speed, aggressive routes. “We try to feature him on plays that are unique for him and Matt to be at full speed,” Quinn said. If Jones is limited during the actual practice, he focuses on plays in which he’ll likely be the primary receiver. ![]() He uses the time to get familiar with the game plan, run some routes and hone his timing with quarterback Matt Ryan. Quinn noted that the Falcons usually have an extensive walk-through before each practice, and that’s a session Jones rarely misses no matter how much he’s hurting. “The thing with being injured, it’s really just blocking it out,” Jones said. That will be the case again for Saturday’s NFC divisional playoff game against the top-seeded Philadelphia Eagles.Īfter sitting out two days of practice with a sore ankle and going through a limited routine Thursday at the final full workout before the game, the star receiver will be in the starting lineup for the 18th consecutive time this season. “We’re fortunate that he’s played with injuries and kind of knows the routine of how to do it.” “He has a real process to do that,” coach Dan Quinn said. But by the time the game rolls around, he’s always ready to go. During the week, Jones often is limited in practice or doesn’t even take the field. He’s got a routine to cope with all the aches and pains. Then, with a slight smile and shaking his head, Jones added, “Long season, man. “Whew! All that?” he asked, sounding a bit incredulous. Even Julio Jones was caught off guard when someone mentioned all the various body parts he’s had to nurse back to health this season.
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