Atlanta Falcons: Two former greats flourish with new teams in week 10

Most Atlanta Falcons fans thought they had seen the end of perhaps the two best players in franchise history. One was benched for seemingly the rest of the season while the other could not stay on the field.

However, if there is one thing we know about the NFL, it is that things do not stay the same for long, hence why they say that the NFL stands for “Not For Long.” That is exactly what we saw during the tenth week of the 2022 NFL season.

Atlanta Falcons fans watch Julio Jones and Matt Ryan prosper in week ten

Just two short years ago, the Atlanta Falcons had both Julio Jones (when healthy) and Matt Ryan starting for them, but then Terry Fontenot traded them away in order to kick off a new era for the franchise.

You probably already know by now but Julio Jones was traded to the Tennessee Titans but was released after a disappointing season and was eventually picked up by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Matt Ryan, on the other hand, was traded to the Indianapolis Colts back in March.

This season, Julio Jones has struggled to stay on the field and Matt Ryan was up and down before getting injured and told that he would ride the bench for the remainder of the season. However, the Colts fired their head coach and they went back to Matt Ryan on Sunday.

For Julio Jones, he had a solid game for his Buccaneers — to the dismay of Falcons fans — and even scored the first NFL touchdown in Germany.

He helped the Buccaneers pull off a win, putting them up by a game on the Falcons in the NFC South. Julio ended the day with three catches for 53 yards and one touchdown. It may not seem like much but he looked fast on his TD catch. If he can stay healthy, then the Bucs could have a pretty good receiver.

As for Matt Ryan, he started for the Colts in their game against the Las Vegas Raiders. He completed 21 of 28 passes for 222 yards and one touchdown. He was also only sacked one time. Oh, and he pulled off a 39-yard run that almost went the distance.

Just two plays after this elite run, he hit Parris Campbell for a 35-yard game-winning touchdown.

It was just a couple weeks ago that we were talking about these franchise legends’ careers potentially being over, but now both of them directly helped their teams win in crucial games. It will be interesting to see if both of them can keep it up — but let’s just hope Julio Jones doesn’t do too much to help his team.