Julio Jones deserves better. The Atlanta Falcons had the football on the 50-yard-line with a little more than four and a half minutes remaining in the Super Bowl. After a blazing first-half, the Falcons offense was mired in an epic freefall, watching a 28-3 lead shrink to 28-20. The next few plays would determine the fate of Super Bowl LI.
Jones made a play for the ages. With a blitz bearing down on him, regular-season MVP QB Matt Ryan escaped a collapsing pocket, raced towards the line of scrimmage and unleashed a high pass towards the sidelines. Somehow, the pass made it just over the reach of the cornerback and into the speedy 6-foot-4 wide receiver’s outstretched hands.
In a split second, Jones managed to secure the football, drag one foot and slam the other one down – in bounds. He then turned to adjust his body before landing to ensure the ball did not touch the ground. It was a perfect pass and catch from Jones-to-Ryan, a combination that terrorized opposing defenses all season.
The reception gave the Falcons a first-down at the 22 yard line. It meant the Falcons would be able to kill some valuable time off the clock and/or eat up the New England Patriots’ precious timeouts. As long as Pro Bowl kicker Matt Bryant, who was 34-of-37 during the regular season and 3-for-3 in the playoffs, could make a chip shot field goal, the Lombardi Trophy was going to Atlanta.
Even with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, there’s simply no way the Patriots would be able to score 11 or more points in the time remaining. You don’t have to be a NFL analyst to know that the Falcons needed to put the ball in RB Deonta Freeman’s hands three times in a row and tell him to hold on for dear life. If they picked up a first-down, great. If they scored a touchdown, even better. But the worst-case scenario would have been that they had a Pro Bowl kicker attempting to seal the victory with a kick that would’ve likely been from fewer yards than an extra point.
For a brief moment, I let my mind wander far-beyond the game. Jones’ amazing catch would surely be replayed for ages as the key play that earned the Atlanta Falcons franchise its first championship. I wondered whether Jones, a bona fide superstar, would skip the visit to the White House to protest the man who apparently confused Fredrick Douglass with Fred Hammond and/or Fred McGriff.
Even if Jones and his teammates decided to go to the White House, there would be something poetic about a team representing ‘Black Mecca’ being the first professional team to visit the new administration.
However, just like the Seattle Seahawks’ Pete Carroll and Darrel Bevel in Super Bowl XLIX, the Falcons coaches decided to get cute and ruined everything. After a -1 yard run on first-and-10, OC Kyle Shanahan, who has since become the San Francisco 49ers head coach, dialed up a passing play. Instead of using his overriding the call, head coach Dan Quinn co-signed the call. Ryan was sacked and the Falcons lost some serious yardage.
Still, with the ball at the 35 yard line (a 52-yard attempt), the Falcons were still within Bryant’s field goal range. The smart call after the disastrous sack would’ve been to hand off the ball, hope to gain four or five yards and put Bryant within 47-yards. It would not have been a chip shot, but considering that the 41-year-old kicker made six field goals of 50 yards or more, including a 59-yard kick, the odds were good for Atlanta.
Instead, the Falcons opted to try another pass. This time a holding penalty pushed them back 10 more yards and out of field goal range. The rest is history.
Brady and Belichick did what they do best. Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman one-upped Jones’ catch with a spectacular shoe-string grab. The Pats marched down the field for a touchdown, a two-point conversion and then another TD in overtime to complete the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history.
When will coaches learn? You can’t outsmart Belichick.
Atlanta fans (and Patriots haters) wept as the Patriots earned another improbable Super Bowl title. It’s hard to argue against Brady as the G.O.A.T. Though the conservative Brady skipped the White House visit during the Patriots last Super Bowl title (when Barack Obama was still in office), he will surely be all grins to meet his hero.
Meanwhile, Jones, the Falcons’ #2 career receiver, despite being in the league for just six seasons, is left to limp off into the offseason. He’s contemplating foot surgery, after dealing with ankle, foot and toe injuries for most of the season. Yes, the same feet, ankles and toes that he so masterfully kept in bounds on his remarkable catch may go under the knife once again. The man who caught every thrown to him during the Super Bowl, who commanded a double team on nearly every passing down and whose catch should have lifted his team to victory must now go home and wonder how his team coaches managed to flush his efforts down the drain.
Jones deserved better. He put the Falcons on his shoulders when the team needed him most, only to have the coaches do their best to ‘Make Atlanta Great Again.’
Follow Ishmael and In the Clutch on Twitter @IshmaelSistrunk
