NFLBy Matt Clapp on

It’s very difficult to throw for 300 yards in an NFL game (especially in a winning effort rather than come-from-behind football), and it’s insanely difficult to have 300 yards receiving, at any level. That requires the quarterback to do his job, the wide receiver to be a total beast, and the opposition’s secondary to do a pretty piss-poor job.

Well, Julio Jones accomplished this feat on Sunday afternoon, in the Atlanta Falcons’ 48-33 victory over the Carolina Panthers. Yes, the very same Carolina Panthers that had a tremendous defense last season and went to the Super Bowl. That secondary is clearly missing Josh Norman — now making plays and doing bow and arrow celebrations in Washington — and Jones shredded them for 12 receptions, 300 yards, and a touchdown. This of course meant that Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan must’ve thrown for a lot of yards, and that he did. 503 yards, to be exact.

How rare is it to have a quarterback throw for 500 yards and have a player rack up 300 yards receiving? So rare that it had never happened in the NFL before!

Jones is the sixth receiver to ever have 300 yards receiving in an NFL game (honestly I’m surprised there have even been five other occurrences of this):

And when someone has a performance like this, you want to see it video evidence of it for yourself. Good news! We have some highlights for you thanks to some friendly users sharing these on Clippit.

Here’s a long Julio reception in the first quarter:

And a long Julio reception in the second quarter:

And a long Julio reception in the third quarter:

You probably can figure out where this is going… a long Julio reception in the fourth quarter. It’s actually a 75-yard touchdown that served as the dagger in the Falcons’ victory:

The Falcons are now 3-1 with a two-game lead over everyone in the NFC South, and their superstar wide receiver is a huge reason why.

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor at The Comeback. He attended Colorado State University, wishes he was Saved by the Bell's Zack Morris, and idolizes Larry David. And loves pizza and dogs because obviously.

He can be followed on Twitter at @Matt2Clapp (also @TheBlogfines for Cubs/MLB tweets and @DaBearNecess for Bears/NFL tweets), and can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.

View all posts by Matt Clapp