Falcons to limit Julio Jones in practice, but he'll be ready to play
— -- FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn said wide receiver Julio Jones will be limited this week with a toe sprain but will be "ready to rock" for Sunday's NFC Championship Game against the Green Bay Packers.
Jones, who first suffered the injury in a Week 13 loss to Kansas City, aggravated the injury in Saturday's 36-20 divisional-round win over the Seattle Seahawks. He played a season-low 58 percent of the snaps (42 of 72 plays) and did not finish the game.
Leading into the divisional-round game, Jones was listed as a full participant in practice for the first time since suffering the injury. He was limited in practices at the end of the regular season.
"For us, we're going to stick with the same plan: We'll limit him throughout the week, and then as the week progresses, we'll give him a little more at the end," Quinn said. "That will be the plan moving forward for us. He's excited to play, but we'll make sure he gets the looks that are really specific to him. For him and his foot, he'll be ready to rock."
Jones has fought through a variety of injuries throughout the season and eventually missed two games after suffering the toe sprain. The games he missed were blowout wins over the Los Angeles Rams (42-14) and San Francisco 49ers (41-13).
"Sometimes you just have to make the decision for him," Quinn said of Jones. "And that was the case at L.A. [in Week 14], where I said, 'All right, we're going to take it all the way out to the game.' When I saw where he didn't look like him, I said, 'I'll take this decision off you today.' For that week, that wasn't his day to race. So we had to make that decision for him because he is that type of competitor, for sure."
Jones had just three catches for 29 yards on five targets when the Falcons defeated the Packers 33-32 in Week 8 of the regular season. He appeared to be double-teamed on every play.?
The Falcons look to be relatively healthy outside of Jones, although Quinn did confirm defensive lineman Adrian Clayborn has been lost for the rest of the playoffs. Clayborn suffered a biceps tear against the Seahawks.
"As it goes through, that's a factor for us," Quinn said of losing Clayborn. "We do have good versatility because of [Courtney] Upshaw. He's able to play defensive end and defensive tackle, so we'll rely on him some more to play outside at defensive end. Past that, there won't be a lot of change other than using guys in new, versatile ways. We're totally bummed for AC, for a guy who really busted his butt to come back from his knee [injury] as quickly as he did."
