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Is Julio Jones The Division's Pre-Eminent Playmaker?


Lornoth

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Vaughn McClure Via ESPN-

"Today's question: Is Julio Jones, who set an Atlanta Falcons record with 1,593 receiving yards last season, the most dangerous offensive playmaker in the NFC South?

David Newton, Carolina Panthers: Jones is without a doubt the most dangerous receiver in the division. But when you consider the most dangerous overall, I'm going with a player who touches the ball on every offensive snap. I'm picking Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, because he can defeat you with his arm and legs. He can change what opposing defenses do because of his versatility. Jones isn't consistently dangerous when it's third-and-1 or fourth-and-1. Newton is, almost to the point of being automatic. Jones isn't consistently dangerous when quarterback Matt Ryan is under tremendous pressure, unless Ryan gets away. Newton often turns negative plays into big ones. Newton has 82 touchdowns passing and 33 rushing in four seasons. Jones has 26 receiving and none rushing during that span. As great as Jones is, Newton is far more dangerous.

Mike Triplett, New Orleans Saints: Yes, hands down. The better question is where Jones ranks among all eight divisions, where you could still make a decent case for him at No. 1. I was already sold on Jones before his ridiculous 259-yard display against the Packers on "Monday Night Football" last season -- with a hip injury, no less. Jones is the first player who pops into my head every year when I mull the Saints' chances of winning the division, because I think he makes Atlanta their biggest threat. Jones has caught more balls against the Saints (40) than any other player since 2011, according to ESPN Stats & Information. They have done a decent job against him, holding him to 559 yards and just two touchdowns in a total of seven games. But the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Jones is a big reason why New Orleans has invested so heavily in its secondary over the past three years.

Pat Yasinskas, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Jones isn't just the most dangerous playmaker in the NFC South. He's the division's best player. The Falcons struggled in many areas last season, but Jones still thrived. One statistic in particular jumps out at me: Jones had 76 catches that went for first downs. Only Pittsburgh's Antonio Brown (85) had more. That shows Jones makes things happen when he makes a catch. Jones is putting up big numbers despite drawing a lot of attention from defenses. Roddy White is aging, so defenses are doubling up on Jones more than ever. That doesn't stop him. On third downs last season, everyone knew he was the first target and he still produced 28 catches. A few years back, Jones had White, Tony Gonzalez and Michael Turner to take the defensive pressure off him. Now, he's pretty much a one-man show and he's producing bigger numbers than ever."

http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/170393/nfc-south-qa-is-julio-jones-the-divisions-preeminent-playmaker

There's also a Video if you go to the link discussing the offenses in the NFCS.

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The Newton argument is fine. He touches the ball more and is more involved so I get it. He also produces far more negative plays than Julio does, as a result.

I'd lean toward Julio.

Yeah I guess I can get that as well, but when he said "[Newton] can beat you with his arms and legs," I kind of thought; Can he?

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Who is David Newton?

Edit: He must've meant WAYNE Newton. Cuz I know he can't be talking about Cam Newton.

Man there's so much hype around Cam and frankly just not much productivity to back it up. I think they have a solid overall roster. That team carries Cam more than Cam carries the team.

Edited by Atlfanstckndenver
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Yeah I guess I can get that as well, but when he said "[Newton] can beat you with his arms and legs," I kind of thought; Can he?

Newton passing wise reminds me of Jay Cutler. He's very capable of making tough throws by he's very erratic from my point of view. He misses a bunch of easy throws ask the time. Edited by Atlfanstckndenver
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If they're going to count Cam's passing, then go ahead and throw Matt Ryan and Drew Brees in the mix. If we're just talking about playmaking beyond the act of throwing the ball, then Julio is hand-down the top in our division, and one of the top 5 in the league.

I think their blogger just wanted to be devil's advocate.

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The QB handling the ball metric distorts this omparison. QBs make way more plays than WRs. Maybe even RBs too. This should be broken down to:

QB - Ryan (will likely overcome Brees this year)

RB - up for grabs (could be Free, Coleman, Stewart, Muscle Rat, Sims, Ingram, Spiller, who knows?)

WR - Julio

A more interesting metric would be $$$ value per play. If that were the case, I would go with either Benjamin or Evans. Especially when Julio signs his Megatron deal.

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The QB handling the ball metric distorts this omparison. QBs make way more plays than WRs. Maybe even RBs too. This should be broken down to:

QB - Ryan (will likely overcome Brees this year)

RB - up for grabs (could be Free, Coleman, Stewart, Muscle Rat, Sims, Ingram, Spiller, who knows?)

WR - Julio

A more interesting metric would be $$$ value per play. If that were the case, I would go with either Benjamin or Evans. Especially when Julio signs his Megatron deal.

How could anybody have guessed that you would've found a way to bring your redundant narrative into this? How unpredictable. ;)
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If they're going to count Cam's passing, then go ahead and throw Matt Ryan and Drew Brees in the mix. If we're just talking about playmaking beyond the act of throwing the ball, then Julio is hand-down the top in our division, and one of the top 5 in the league.

I think their blogger just wanted to be devil's advocate.

I think it's more in the line of "wow! what a play!" rather than just the bulk of total plays created. So a routine crossing route completion isn't really a "play" whereas Cam spinning out of a sack and running for a first down IS a play.

Basically, it's all eye of the beholder stuff that would require a ton of tape study.

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Honestly, the first name that popped into my head when I read "Dangerous" was Cam's. My definition of a dangerous offensive weapon is a guy that can produce big plays even when the defense is well positioned. I would certainly say that cam fits that, especially considering that ball is always in his hand

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Yea he's at the top, and it's not close in the WR dept.

It's cute that the Panther's beat writer picked Cam. Guess he's just biding his time before he claims Benjamin and Funchess together are as good as Julio.... Cam is lucky he has the QB sneak and short yardage thing down. Looks like a real playmaker when he sails them 5ft over the receiver. Sweet spiral though ph34r.png

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The QB handling the ball metric distorts this omparison. QBs make way more plays than WRs. Maybe even RBs too. This should be broken down to:

QB - Ryan (will likely overcome Brees this year)

RB - up for grabs (could be Free, Coleman, Stewart, Muscle Rat, Sims, Ingram, Spiller, who knows?)

WR - Julio

A more interesting metric would be $$$ value per play. If that were the case, I would go with either Benjamin or Evans. Especially when Julio signs his Megatron deal.

I wouldn't say that because every time a qb makes a play that means somebody else made a play on the other end, unless it's a running qb. Qb can't throw to himself. Julio is arguably the best playmaker in the division based on what he does after the catch. Matt has nothing to do with that part.
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Cam newton sucks lol, he gets carried by their monstrous defense and benjamin/olsen/running game. Benjamin had career games when newton did not play, and lafell had a career year now that he is no longer with the panthers.

Julio is obviously the unanimous choice, with Ajax, ryan, and Brees fighting for second place.

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