The Atlanta Falcons have been leaning heavily on Julio Jones through the first two games of the season. It is no secret the wide receiver is earning that contract extension as he is on pace for a big year statistically. However, the Falcons are leaning so heavily on Jones that he continues to get banged up in games leaving him limited in practice and on the injury report.
Falcons fans would be wise not to panic, but Jones was once again limited in practice on Thursday. The wide receiver sat out most of the week last week due to a hamstring injury, but that clearly did not factor into his Week 2 performance. According to ESPN's Vaughn McClure, Jones is still dealing with hamstring problems, but once again he is guaranteed to play Week 3 against the Dallas Cowboys. The injury does not appear to be a major cause for concern as it is being ruled merely as soreness and not a strain. According to Roddy White, if Jones can stay healthy, he will put up numbers that might break Calvin Johnson's single-season record.
"I tell everybody that if he can play 16 games, he's going to do some special things," White said, via ESPN.com. "I just want him to be healthy throughout this whole season. Yeah, 2,000 can happen. If Julio's rocking and rolling, you've got to feed him the pill. If he keeps doing what he's doing and just going out there and putting stats on top of stats, he'll be fine."
The Falcons plan to continue to do that, but must be cautious about his health considering Jones does have injury issues in his past. That could put White back in the forefront after not recording a catch in Week 2. The veteran downplayed any ideas that he was concerned about that as he simply wants to win. Leonard Hankerson and Jacob Tamme continue to play big roles in the passing game, hurting the value of White on the field.
Injuries have been an issue for the Falcons to start the season, but they remain 2-0 heading into the road game against the Dallas Cowboys. Devin Hester is expected to be out with turf toe issues while Tevin Coleman is not expected to play either with cracked ribs suffered in Week 2. That will make Devonta Freeman and Terron Ward the run game while Eric Weems continues as the special teams return man.
