The Houston Texans have a tough task on Sunday when they face the Atlanta Falcons: containing all-world wide receiver Julio Jones.
Jones, the NFL’s highest-paid receiver, continues to dominate in 2019. Through four games, he leads the NFL in touchdowns receptions (four) and has caught 23 passes for 317 yards. He has recorded two games with at least 100 yards and a touchdown.
Texans starting free safety Justin Reid is all too aware of Jones’ abilities. He will be tracking where he is all Sunday.
“He’s one of those guys in the league that you really need to know where he’s at, at all times. You need to know, whether he’s outside, whether he’s in the slot,” said Reid on Wednesday. “Have an extra pair of eyes on him, because he’s a threat.”
The Texans won’t play Jones like he’s any other receiver. He has their attention. Reid described how they are planning on making sure he doesn’t have quarterback Matt Ryan’s; by disguising defenses to throw him off.
“Maybe we can cheat an extra player over to him. Maybe we can do a great job with disguises, really just discourage Matt Ryan from going his way initially,” said Reid. “Like I said, disguise will be a huge thing, just not let it be easy on Matt Ryan to know what coverage we are in, so that way, he can’t check Julio into a route to beat us.”
Only time will tell if the Texans’ game plan of disguising coverages will work against Jones. In Week 3, against the Los Angeles Chargers, it didn’t, as No. 1 wide-out Keenan Allen racked up a career day: 13 receptions for 183 yards and two touchdowns.
