USA TODAY International Edition
Falcons’ Jones, brother Phillip thrive off bond
Just minutes after JuATLANTA lio Jones, foot injury and all, had torched the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night, he stood in the tunnel of the Georgia Dome with a group of friends and family.
They all looked happy, much as you would expect after the Atlanta Falcons wide receiver’s two touchdowns and 180 yards spearheaded a 44- 21 triumph that sent his team to the Super Bowl.
But none of them looked surprised, least of all his mother, Queen, and his brother, Phillip.
“He told me on the day his daddy left, when he was 5 years old, that it was all going to be OK,” Queen Marvin, Jones’ mother, told USA TODAY Sports. “He was going to be a football player and everything was going to be OK for us.”
Back then Marvin naturally dismissed the prediction as nothing more than childhood chatter, yet Jones’ career has panned out even better than the stuff of boyhood dreams.
This performance, highlighted by a 73- yard touchdown catch and run to make it 31- 0 early in the second half, was a natural extension of a career that has seen him dominate at every level and prompted the Falcons to give up a treasure trove of draft picks for him in 2011.
“He has been doing that since he was 5 years old,” Phillip Jones, 33, said of his brother’s weekend postseason classic. “It is normal for him. It didn’t surprise me. They don’t know how to stop him because he’s too good. He is two steps ahead of you. It has always been like that. They can try. Good luck with that.”
Phillip Jones has one arm — his left had to be surgically removed after he was the victim of a shotgun wound in Gulf Shores, Ala., in May 2014.
Along with quarterback Matt Ryan, Julio might be the most loved man in these parts for the remarkable efforts that have taken the Falcons to within one win of the first Super Bowl title in franchise history.
Yet among regulars at the Georgia Dome, Phillip is not far behind him in the popularity stakes. As he waited in the bowels of the soon- to- be- demolished arena, he was constantly greeted with hugs and well wishes from familiar faces.
“It has been difficult for ( Phillip) to deal with,” Marvin said. “When he looks back and his arm is not there, it is hard, just like it would be for anybody, and it is hard not to get down about it. It is hard for me to see it, too, because he is my son.
“But when Julio plays like that, it lifts him up. They are brothers, and they were always together. You can see what it does for him when Julio makes a run and a catch or something like that. It makes him happy, and it makes all of us happy. He can feed off the excitement a little bit.”
Although six years apart, the Jones brothers have always had the tightest of bonds.
“That’s my brother,” the wide receiver said. “We have grown up together going through the ups and downs — just being there for one another. He is fine. Nothing has hindered him from doing him, being who he is. He is my brother, and I love him. He has always been a supporter for me growing up, him being there for me when I was a young ’ un until now. He is still there supporting me, so that is the bond we have.”
Phillip Jones isn’t shy and has never been afraid to give Julio advice. Perhaps the most vital is to always attack the moment.
“It felt amazing ( to celebrate with my family),” Julio added. “Those are my supporters. That’s why I do it. From an early age, my mom, my brother, my stepfather, everybody. Those people have basically molded me into who I am today — the way I go out there, attack the game and take nothing for granted.”
A Super Bowl showdown with the New England Patriots awaits. But, according to Phillip, his brother’s trademark composure will not be affected by the opportunity to etch his name in the annals of NFL history.
“That don’t matter to him,” Phillip said. “It can be any game. A game when we were kids, high school, college or the NFL. He is going to get it done. People say ( Sunday was) a big game. To him it is just another game to do what he always does. He just plays the game, every game is the same to him. Even the Super Bowl.”