Julio Jones isn’t just an all-pro receiver who’s currently leading the league in receiving yards, he’s also a bonafide hard-hitter on the football field. Late in the first half, Matt Ryan took a shot down field for his star receiver to grab, but he overthrew the pass. Had Julio Jones’s safety instincts not kicked in, the play would have resulted in an interception for Cowboys safety Jeff Heath. Instead, it resulted in one of the more satisfying hits we’ve seen in a game this season.
It’s not just that this hit came from a receiver—Jones has an established history of getting big hits—it’s also that the form on the tackle was pretty damn impressive. Jones led with his shoulder, hit his target square in the chest and immediately tried to limit how much of his weigh would fall on Heath on the way to the ground. Had the roles of this play been reversed, officials would have likely left their flags on their sides. Plus, this probably satisfied the population of football fans who believe the league is getting too soft. Somewhere, even Tom Jackson and Chris Berman are yelling “Heath go JACKED UP!”