NFL: Julio Jones leads Falcons past Eagles

ATLANTA – In his first game with that big contract, Julio Jones was worth every penny.

Jones hauled in nine passes for 141 yards, including a pair of touchdowns, and the Atlanta Falcons came back after squandering a 17-point halftime lead to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 26-24 Monday night in the NFL coaching debut of Dan Quinn.

“You just trust the preparation, let it rip and have fun,” Quinn said. “That’s what we did.”

He sure enjoyed watching Jones, who was rewarded for the best season of his career with a new $71.25 million contract during the preseason. Showing no signs of complacency, Jones shreded the Eagles’ revamped secondary as Atlanta raced to a 20-3 halftime lead.

The Eagles rallied behind new quarterback Sam Bradford, taking the lead for the first time at 24-23 on Ryan Mathews’ 1-yard run with 8:37 remaining.

Atlanta bounced back, driving into position for Matt Bryant’s fourth field goal of the game, a 47-yarder with 6:27 to go that turned out to be the winner.

Cody Parkey was wide right on a 44-yard field goal that could have restored Philadelphia’s lead. The Eagles had one more chance, but cornerback-turned-safety Ricardo Allen intercepted a pass that went through the hands of Jordan Matthews, sealing the victory with 1:11 left.