NFC Notes: Julio Jones, Falcons, Saints

Julio Jones

Falcons’ interim HC Raheem Morris said veteran WR Julio Jones keeps coaches accountable with a bag of notes he keeps on the sidelines.

“If you contradict yourself as a coach, he will pull those notes out of that little black bag and show you exactly what you said wrong,”  Morris said. “He is very rarely wrong. He knows exactly where he wants to be. He knows where he’s supposed to be in the alignments. He knows where he should be on assignments. He knows exactly where he should be based on the call and how it was tagged and everything that’s going to happen throughout the game. So when he goes out there, he kind of views the game sort of like a quarterback.”

Jones said he typically carries physical copies of notes to “easily review” and has done this done throughout his career. 

“Everybody learns differently. It’s just my era, the way I came up,” Jones said. “Just having the physical copies in my hand. The iPads die, you have to charge them up. You misplace them now and then, things like that. I know where my papers are at. It’s always good to easily review it. An iPad, they got so much stuff on it — OK, I gotta go here, I gotta go to ‘team,’ I gotta go ’360.’ Now I gotta find this game.”

Jones reiterated that his notes have helped him learn and prepare for games. 

“I just keep it all, go over it, make sure I put my notes over it and just be ready to go,” Jones said. “It’s very simple because I’ve been doing it for so long. I haven’t even thought about the whole process of how it goes with what I do. But they always have it available for me. I’m never looking for it.”

Falcons

Falcons’ OC Dirk Koetter has his eyes on the matchup between OL Kaleb McGary and Saints’ DE Cameron Jordan, noting that McGary has to continue improving upon his previous performance against Jordan.

“I thought Kaleb did fine until the fourth quarter,” Koetter said, via Jason Butt of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “That’s really the same thing that happened in the second game last year vs. the first game last year. In the first game (against the Saints) last year, we stayed ahead of the chains, we ran the ball pretty well. We had the lead, and Kaleb did fine in that game. In the second game last year, we got behind, we had to throw it every play in the second half, and Cam Jordan got rolling. That’s a tough matchup for anybody. The same thing happened this year. For Kaleb, our team on offense has to play better to keep it from being a pass-every-down situation. And Kaleb has to stay consistent with his hands and with his sets. And he’s much improved this year over last year. But Cam Jordan is an All-Pro player (in 2017) for a reason. From week to week in this league, players have difficult matchups. Right now, the Saints present a lot of those difficult matchups.”

• Falcons WR Julio Jones (hamstring) said he didn’t feel any limitations in Friday’s practice: “There wasn’t one route that limited me.” (Jason Butt)
• OUT for Week 13: G James Carpenter (groin)
• QUESTIONABLE for Week 13: DE Dante Fowler (hamstring), RB Todd Gurley (knee), WR Julio Jones (hamstring), CB Kendall Sheffield (illness)

Saints

• Saints HC Sean Payton said DL Marcus Davenport sustained his concussion in Week 12 but he did not show symptoms until later on in the week. (Luke Johnson)
• OUT for Week 13: WR Marquez Callaway (knee), DE Marcus Davenport (concussion), CB Janoris Jenkins (knee), RB Ty Montgomery (hamstring)
• QUESTIONABLE for Week 13: WR Deonte Harris (neck), CB Patrick Robinson (hamstring)