Green Bay Packers: 2016 opponents who could be game-breakers

3. Julio Jones

If Packers fans need to be reminded of just how dominant Jones can be, they can perhaps look up a Youtube video of the wide receiver’s Monday-night Week 15 performance in 2014 in which he single-handedly torched Green Bay’s defense by gaining 259 yards on 11 catches, including a 22-yard touchdown.

There’s a reason why Jones led the league in targets, catches and receiving yards along with outpacing his entire team’s combined target total by 27. He’s too strong to be defended with press coverage while also being a master at locating soft areas in zone coverage.

In addition, the long-armed pass catcher is as acrobatic as he is powerful in the way he’ll contort his body while going up for badly-thrown passes.

It’ll take a village to prevent Jones from exploding for big plays. The best way of keeping him in check is by conceding short catches to the 27-year-old phenom and forcing the Falcons to have to score from inside the 10 yard line where Jones can sometimes struggle in tightly-packed areas.

Another concern is Atlanta’s offensive line, which is expected to be much improved with free-agent pick-up Alex Mack taking over at center. One would only hope that Green Bay will have its full complement of pass rushers available for that Oct. 30 matchup in the effort of forcing Matt Ryan into making off-target throws.

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