Julio Jones (1 Viewer)

[LawFitz]

Jones owner here, so let's get that bias out front to start.

I've been watching the Falcons very closely this season and I've repeatedly seen JJ beat his defender badly only to watch Ryan lock in on Roddy or Gonzo. Is Matt just not developed enough as a QB to find and exploit the mismatches created when the defense doesn't focus Julio?

I had a fairly high opinion of Ryan heading into this year and thought he was just missing another legit weapon to take the next step to elite status. I'm really rethinking that opinion after watching the first three games. Pass pro has been terrible, so that's definitely part of the story here, but I've seen countless plays now where the pass pro was fine, and JJ broke open in a nasty way, but wasn't even looked at.

 

[footballnerd]

3rd in the league in sacks, that O-line is pretty bad this year.

Cutler 14

T.Jackson 14

Ryan 13

 

[unckeyherb]

From what I've seen he forces a lot to Roddy. Last week driving down the field at the end of the game, he must have targeted white 8 times in a row..

 

[bcflyer]

I've watched the three ATL games and have seen a different trend. The first two games, Julio was targeted a fair bit. He broke off a few nice runs but also had a lot of dropped balls. It was frustrating to watch when we're used to seeing Roddy bring those down.

In the PHI game, the PHI secondary put a lot of pressure on Ryan and he often checked down to Gonzalez. I think this game was the anomoloy as Gonzalez typically does not play a large part of the offense.

In the TB game, I noticed that Ryan definitely targetted Roddy more and the team started to look a lot more like last year's Falcons. This also allowed Julio to get open more and he had a nice game.

I think adding Julio as a weapon has mixed with the chemistry a bit. They're so anxious to get him involved but they haven't figured out the right mix of plays. I expect it to get better as the season progresses.

As for Ryan's ability. When they give him the offense and forget the huddles, he has a fantastic abilty to read the defense and make great plays. He sometimes seems to struggle with Mularkey's play calls.

Disclaimer: I'm also a Julio owner and a Falcons fan.

Recommendation: Julio's value will increase througout the year. Hold on to him and play him as a WR2/Flex when ATL has good matchups until he's proven he can catch consistently in the NFL.

 

[LionOfGosforth]

Noticed this watching the Falcons game with the Eagles, whenever they went to pass he would only look towards White or especially over the middle to Gonzo. I put that down to Ryan wanting to stay away from the Eagles CB's. Sure enough, Jones had a pretty decent game this past weekend @ the Bucs and could have had a long TD. No doubt Ryan is a bit overrated, cringe at the Matty Ice name and he does look to White and Gonzo first without a doubt. I took Jones' game this past week as a pretty big positive, I still like him to get more involved as the season goes on.

 

[The Jerk]

Even though he has the most cringe-inducing nickname in NFL history (for me, personally, it makes me want to throw bricks at the TV every time I hear it), I think he's an above average NFL QB. Like most other QBs, he is more effective when he is only part of a balanced offense. Most NFL QBs are not at their best when asked to carry the team. In fantasy production, it's what separates Brady, Rodgers, Brees (and a healthy Peyton) from the next tier of QBs like Roethlisberger, Eli and Rivers. Even Romo and Vick can be fantasy productive with limited run support. Stafford is showing signs of being able to carry the offensive load with little support from the run game. Matt Schaub is an interesting case, in that his production typically is boosted considerably when his running game is ineffective, like a latter day Troy Aikman in terms of fantasy production.

However, I agree that the offensive line has been a major detriment to Ryan and the Falcons offense as a unit. I don't think any QB would be consistently productive with the turnstiles Ryan has had in front of him the first three games.

 

[TheDirtyWord]

Ryan IMO has stagnated a bit. His first year, he looked like a YPA demon. Since then though, he's been pedestrian in this area. However, he's a gutsy QB whose value may not show on the box score as much as it does on the field.

The O-Line has been bad, so you can see that Ryan is jittery in the pocket. But all too often, I'm starting to sense he feels pressure when it isn't there and I think there are times when he escapes pressure by rolling out, where stepping up in the pocket would be the better option.

That said, his #2 WR was Michael Jenkins who was rarely read #1 before. With Julio, I think some level of reconditioning needs to happen for Ryan who already has established chemistry with Roddy & Gonzo. However, if the O-Line doesn't step up, it's all academic.

 

[chinawildman]

Ryan just doesn't have that "go for it" attitude that most elite QBs do. It seems to me he doesn't take enough shots down the field and looks to check down to his backs and gonzo WAY too soon. He tries to do the whole Manning change the play at the line thing, but it annoys me even more. Manning changes the play and goes on the offense to attack the defense, Ryan seems to change the play "defensively" basically to react to a blitz or lack thereof with something supersafe like a WR screen or handoff.

 

[Dought Man]

Ryan has a coach that preaches ball control and no turnovers. I think it makes him gun shy to take shots downfield with coverage. There certainly needs to be some opening up of the offense for Julio to be a consistent producer.

 

[The Jerk]

Ryan has a coach that preaches ball control and no turnovers. I think it makes him gun shy to take shots downfield with coverage. There certainly needs to be some opening up of the offense for Julio to be a consistent producer.

Atlanta seems to not know what they want to do. Drafting Jones suggests they want to open up the attack, but I wonder if they would have been better off leaving their approach the same, at least to start, and letting the talent upgrade at WR emerge throughout the season to enable the offense to slowly evolve toward a more pass-intensive offense.Between this loss of identity on offense and the line being so porous, it's not a surprise that the Falcons have struggled offensively. By the way, it should be mentioned that Chicago's defense slows down a lot of teams, so it's only the anemic output against Tampa Bay that should be considered truly alarming.