Iron Bowl 2010 -
An Indicator of What The Falcons Have In Julio Jones
By Don Stone - Football Atlanta
Waiting for football to start, I was scanning the cable
dial and noticed under the heading "College Football" a replay of the 2010
Iron Bowl between Auburn and Alabama.
I don't normally go back and watch games that I've
already seen. Knowing the outcome tends to take away most of the drama for
me. But, this one, I felt I owed to myself. I remember looking forward to
watching it last November and then getting mightily disappointed as the game
progressed. Within minutes, the Crimson Tide was all over an undefeated
Tiger team that was on its way to a national championship. QB Cam
Newton was the talk of college football and
rightly so. He was amazing.
But, apparently their success had been all smoke and
mirrors because there was Alabama scoring again, and again. It was 24-0. And
the only reason it was that close was because running back Mark
Ingram had the ball knocked from his arms
into the end zone on the way to another touchdown. No points that time.
"This is pitiful," I thought. So, I turned it off.
Didn't care who wan. Just wanted to see a competitive and interesting game.
Not this one, it seemed obvious.
A few hours later, I caught the final score. Auburn had
scored 28 or the next 31 points and stunned Nick Saban
and his Bama faithful 28-27.
How could that be? Who does that to Alabama?
In this case, the Tigers did. I vowed that, if I had
the chance, I'd want to watch the game again just to see what I missed.
So, here it was at my disposal. I tuned in and saw the
already known first half.
The reason that I'm writing about this on a Falcons
news page is that I'd forgotten about Julio Jones'
part in this game. Of course, Jones is the talented wide receiver taken in
the first round of this year's NFL Draft by Atlanta. He was brought in to
serve as a compliment to Roddy White
and help the offense stretch the field with it's play calling. There is a
lot of anticipation on what he'll be able to do.
But, not everyone watched him play at Alabama. They
know the headlines, the analysis. But, unless you're a big Crimson Tide
fan...and there are plenty in Atlanta, you may not be completely familiar
with him.
His performance in this game tells you why the Falcons'
brass was high on him. He was a huge part of why Bama jumped up on Auburn
24-0.
Read this column covering the game and you'll get a
feel for what he was doing...http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/11/alabama_notebook_from_75th_iro.html
Jones had his longest touchdown catch of the season of
68 yards to bring the score to 14-0. He set single-season records for
catches and yards. On top of that, Julio had his 10th career 100-yard game.
A total of ten catches for just under 200 yards. The only reason those
numbers weren't even higher is that he suffered a knee injury that slowed
him down considerably in the second half.
It was a game changing performance and showed how he can
carry a team on his back.
OK, so they lost. Not his fault. But, just a little reminder
of what Falcons fans can have in store as this season finally gets under
way.
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