At last! Julio Jones scores his first touchdown of the year
Attention, Julio Jones fantasy owners: exhale.
With less than four minutes remaining in a convincing victory over the Washington Redskins, the star Falcons wide receiver broke free for a 35-yard touchdown pass from Matt Ryan. That ended one of the more inexplicable streaks in the NFL: Jones’ total lack of touchdowns this year. A full 200 players, and eight Atlanta Falcons, have scored touchdowns this season, according to Pro Football Reference, and none of them have been Jones.
Part of that’s been a more diversified Falcons gameplan, and part has been because he’s been manhandled any time he gets within sight of the end zone:
Julio Jones is never gonna score at this rate 😭#ATLvsWAS | #InBrotherHood pic.twitter.com/exrqg9sRrA
— Yahoo Sports NFL (@YahooSportsNFL) November 4, 2018
It’s not like Jones hasn’t been productive; coming into the weekend, he ranked second on the season yardage list, behind only Minnesota’s Adam Thielen, averaging 116 yards per game. Still, the fact that he can add some points as well as yards has to come as a bit of a relief for the Falcons.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.