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Atlanta Falcons coaches Mike Smith or Dan Quinn, have they ever spoken to the press like this about Julio Jones?
After the seven-time Pro Bowler opener with Tennessee, Titans coach Mike Vrabel said, “Julio needs to take advantage of his opportunities. We had a few drops. He dropped a few passes. … These are contested captures, but these are the ones we need to find. “
On June 6, the Titans traded a second round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft and a fourth round pick in the 2023 Draft to the Falcons for Jones and a sixth round pick in the 2023 Draft.
After missing most of training camp and pre-season with injury, the former Alabama star recorded three receptions for 29 yards on his debut for Tennessee – a loss of 38-13 against the Arizona Cardinals last week.
And for the second time in his career, Jones received an unnecessary roughness penalty. The 15-yard mark took Tennessee from third and 1 to its 34-yard line in third and 16 to 19, already behind 10-0, only two Arizona possessions in the game.
“Critical error,” Vrabel said in his assessment of Monday’s game. “It’s absolutely nothing that we train or teach, so it would fall under the category of doing stupid (swearing) that hurts the team. There, in bold type.
Jones said on Friday he would have preferred a better start to Tennessee, but all he can do now is work for a better performance in Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks.
“It was tough for me, of course, from last week,” Jones said. “But last week is last week, obviously. I never want to look back. You want to learn from previous weeks and things like that, but for me it comes out here every day, attacking every day and just working on my ability to get in and out of breaks, work on my conditioning, finish playing, things like that.
Jones incurred his penalty for pushing Arizona cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. after the whistle. The NFL fined Jones $ 10,815 for the personal fault.
“I was never pissed off the whole game,” Jones said. “I was just playing the game. I just went a little too far. That’s it.”
Jones said he looks forward to an exciting game against Seattle. In five regular season games against the Seahawks while with the Falcons, Jones caught 42 passes for 646 yards and a touchdown. The former Foley High School star also recorded 12 receptions for 126 yards and one touchdown in two playoff games, both won by Atlanta.
“This week, for me, I just want to take the bad taste out of my mouth – don’t I? – because I didn’t put the best version of myself on film, ”Jones said. “But I can’t be anxious. I’ve been doing this for a long time. I can’t be anxious. It is a process. I just have to work in this direction, and the sooner it happens, it will happen. “
The Titans and Seahawks are set to meet at 3:25 p.m. CDT Sunday at Lumen Field in Seattle.
“At the end of the day, the only person stopping me is me,” Jones said. “And that’s it. It’s just me working on myself.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at Arch AMarkG1.
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