Falcons receiver Julio Jones had his Monday night performance cut short by a hip injury, but he sure made the most of the time on the field he had.
Jones gained 259 receiving yards, the most of anyone in any NFL game this season. That increased his season total to 1,428 yards, allowing him to take the NFL lead from Steelers receiver Antonio Brown. (Jones was in sixth place in the NFL in receiving yards heading into Monday night.) Jones’s game was just the 26th 250-yard receiving game in NFL history.
When injuries aren’t slowing him down, Jones is putting up absolutely phenomenal numbers. Jones was also leading the league in receiving yards last year until an injury cut his season short after five games, and over his last 19 games he has 2,190 receiving yards.
Jones is on pace to gain 1,758 receiving yards this season, which would be the fourth-best total in NFL history. Jones is 537 yards away from breaking Calvin Johnson’s single-season NFL record, meaning Jones would need to average 179 yards a game over the Falcons’ final three games to set a new record.
That’s a tall order, but all three of Atlanta’s remaining games -- against Pittsburgh, New Orleans and Carolina -- are against teams with sub-par pass defenses. Jones has a shot at making history.
