Julio Jones has a chance to become the Atlanta Falcons’ all-time receptions leader on Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys.
What makes it iconic is that he could make the big catch against another former Alabama star Trevon Diggs.
The rookie cornerback played all of Dallas’ 73 defensive snaps last week in a 20-17 loss to the Rams.
Cowboys new head coach Mike McCarthy has a lot of faith in Diggs covering Julio, a seven-time Pro Bowler, this Sunday.
“The reality is I don’t have any hesitation on playing the young man, McCarthy said via AL.com. “No disrespect to Julio or any of the receivers. He’s earned the starting position at corner for so many good reasons, and so he’ll line up and play and the game will unfold the way it does. But he’s a very impressive young man. He’s off to a good start.”
Jones Set to Break Franchise Record
Last week, Jones become the second-fastest to reach 800 receptions in 127 games. Antonio Brown did it in 126.
Now, Jones enters Sunday’s game with 806 career receptions. The Atlanta franchise record for career receptions is 808 which is set by Roddy White during his 11 seasons with the Falcons. White is also another Bama (UAB) standout.
White served as a mentor during Jones’ first five seasons and Jones owes a lot of his success to him.
“Roddy kind of taught me the game early in my career,” Jones also told AL.com, “and being able to put up numbers the way he put up numbers and having the ability to surpass him and things like that, it’s nothing but love on both ends. Just the way we play the game. And like I said, just being mentioned in the same sentence as Roddy White, what he stands for the Atlanta Falcons, what he did here for his 11 years.”
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Jones Jumps White Against Seahawks
Jones jumped White’s receptions record last week with nine catches for 157 yards against Seattle.
After Week 1, the Falcons star ranks No. 1 in the league for most receiving yards in his 16th regular-season game with at least 150.
There are only three other players in the NFL who have more regular-season games with at least that many yards; Jerry Rice with 30 games, Lance Alworth with 17, and Terrell Owens who also has 17.
Jones has played the Cowboys four times in his career, totaling 29 receptions for 468 yards and three touchdowns. Calvin Johnson and Buddy Dial are the only two players who have exceeded Jones’ average 117 receiving yards against Dallas.
Jones Leaving Week 1 in the Past
Jones is going into Week 2 leaving everything in Week 1 behind him.
“I don’t bring nothing into the new week,” Jones said. “We watched film. It’s over and done with. It’s on to the next. At the end of the day, it’s one game. You can’t measure yourself off one game. We didn’t play the way we needed to play to get the win. It is what it is, but we’re not going to hang our head on that.”
The Falcons started the season off poorly losing 38-25 against the Seahawks. Jones knows Atlanta has all the pieces and that they’re a better team than we saw on Sunday.
The Falcons offense has a lot more weapons than the Rams. And Diggs is about to get a taste of big-league speed covering Julio.
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Julio Jones Set to Break Falcons Franchise Record Against Cowboys