If it seemed like the Eagles were a little extra excited when Julio Jones caught a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter on Sunday … they were.
For good reason.
“They worked on it long enough in practice, so we were like, it better work,” A.J. Brown said. “We were all excited, man, for the vet to get in the end zone."
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Head coach Nick Sirianni said the Eagles installed that red zone play during Friday’s practice but the first attempt failed. So then Jalen Hurts and Jones kept repping the throw — Sirianni estimated they threw it about 15 times — before they ran it in practice again and it was successful.
“It’s amazing. We just believe in one another,” Jones said. “They believe in me to go out there and execute and take advantage of the opportunity that’s given. But it was more so for the team, me going out there and playing my role and doing it to the best of my ability.”
That carried over into the game for the Eagles’ go-ahead touchdown in their 38-31 win at FedExField. The Julio touchdown came at the 7:17 mark in the fourth quarter and gave the Eagles their first lead of the day.
“I mean, you would have thought the way Lane Johnson and A.J. (Brown) and (Jason) Kelce and all the guys, Jordan (Mailata), ran to the end zone, you would've thought there was a fight that had broken out in there,” Sirianni said. “They were just going into the end zone to celebrate with Julio because of how much respect they have for him, how much he's done in the two weeks he's been here, just his work ethic. Everybody notices that. Everybody notices the way Julio works.”
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“It was good,” Jones said. “It was a play we’ve been practicing. We seen some looks that they were gonna give us down in the red zone throughout the week. Me and Jalen practiced it. Couldn’t have drew it up better. They did exactly what they’ve been showing on film and we just went out there and executed.”
Jones, 34, was the primary target on the play, which was designed to give him a chance to go up and get the football. The Eagles knew the Commanders had to respect the run in the red zone so when the linebacker and safety crashed, Hurts pulled the ball and gave Jones a chance to come down with it.
It was a catch with a relatively high level of difficulty too. Jones had to contort his body, rise to make the catch and brace for the hit from safety Kamren Kurl.
Not that he worried about the impending hit.
“I mean, I don’t care about getting hit. It’s football,” Jones said. “Like, that don’t even cross my mind. I see somebody coming in, he’s supposed to hit me. It’s football. I don’t blink. I’ve been doing it for a long time so it’s not like I freak out when somebody’s coming to hit me or hit me in the head or whatever it may be. My job is to focus on the football and catch the football.”
This catch was the 905th of Jones’ long NFL career and the 64th touchdown he’s scored in the league. He’s the NFL’s active leader in receptions and receiving yards but he hasn’t found the end zone at the rate you’d expect. He’s eighth among active players in that category.
But the Eagles brought Jones in less than two weeks ago and his second catch as an Eagle was a huge touchdown.
It’s a little surreal to think about Julio Jones catching a touchdown pass for the Eagles. It’s also a little surreal for Hurts to be throwing to him..
“He made a big time play at a big time moment, you know,” Hurts said. “I know he's not afraid of those. He's been in those moments a lot of times in his career and it was cool to see, cool to see, cool to do, you know. Cool to see him making a play for you, you know. In all my years, I wouldn't say that I’d be throwing a touchdown pass to Julio Jones, but here it is.”
While Jones is still technically on the practice squad, the Eagles clearly plan to eventually add him to the 53-man roster and utilize the future Hall of Famer for the rest of the 2023 season.
Even if the Eagles want to keep playing Olamide Zaccheaus and even if Quez Watkins does return from IR, neither of those guys is 6-3, 220 pounds.
After playing 16 snaps in his Eagles debut, Jones played 15 on Sunday afternoon. But he was up to 23.8% on Sunday after playing 22.2% in his debut. He’s clearly not one of the Eagles’ top options and he’s no longer in the prime of his career. But it looks like Jones might be able to help.
He was on Sunday.
“My number was called,” Jones said. “I needed to be clutch and do my job.”
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