Julio Jones most important WR to his team’s success
Atlanta Falcons elite wide receiver Julio Jones is now the league leader in receiving yards with 1,428, as he turned in a record performance last night in a near-loss to the Green Bay Packers. In the previous week, Jones roasted Patrick Peterson to the tune of 10 receptions for 189 yards and a TD, and that performance was instrumental in the team’s upset victory over the Cardinals touted secondary (Jones did this without the help of Roddy White). He followed that up with an even better performance against Sam Shields and whoever else the Packers threw at him, as he caught 11 passes for 259 yards and a touchdown to set a new career high just a week later.
In a way, Jones is as important to the Falcons success as Matt Ryan, and there’s no doubt in my mind that he’s the second-most important player on the team. Cornerback Desmond Trufant isn’t far behind, but there isn’t a receiver who is as key to his team’s success as Jones. I mean, the Falcons were pretty much helpless without him on the field last year, and that was with Tony Gonzalez at tight end.
Let’s take a look at the numbers. Jones is making huge plays on a regular basis with an average of 15.4 yards per reception, nearly 110 yards per game, and six touchdowns on the year so far. He’s also been as consistent as ever, as his season-low for receiving yards in a game is 56. Jones has notched over 100 receiving yards on six occasions, and these six performances give us a glimpse at just how important it is for him to dominate.
The Falcons are 5-7 on the season, and four of those wins have come in those six 100-yard performances from Jones. This team is 4-2 whenever he goes over the century mark, and one of their losses is last night’s loss to the Packers. That’s obviously a disclaimer, since the Packers are widely viewed as the best team in the NFL, and they also benefited from Julio Jones going down with a hip injury during the game. The other loss was back in Week 5 against the New York Giants when he caught 11 passes for 105 yards in a chain-moving display. Since his average number of receiving yards per game this season is 109.8, it can be said that the Falcons are 4-1 whenever he goes over 110 receiving yards.
We don’t know the severity of Jones’s injury yet, and we can only hope that the Falcons won’t be forced to play without him for any period of time. As of right now, they are the best team in the laughably weak NFC South, and they have shown that they can play up with two fully legit playoff teams, beating the Arizona Cardinals and barely losing to the Packers in back-to-back weeks.
Jones is at the heart of what the Falcons do well, and the numbers he has been putting up are unreal. He is unquestionably one of the best five wide receivers in the game, and I would probably slot him at third. His week-to-week consistency combined with his playmaking ability are hard to ignore, and he’s treated us to some memorable performances. Wide receivers don’t always carry their offenses, but I don’t think any one wide receiver is more important to the success of his team than Jones.