With a successful career comes a lot of publicity, but Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones says he feels no pressure as the season gets going but instead is focused on staying healthy and working towards achieving the team's goals.
Jones, who begins his third season with the Falcons this year, said Tuesday that to continue his successful run with the team he needs to avoid injuries and to always put hard work in.
"I'm going to continue to do what I've been doing," he said. "As long as I come out here and get the work in now, everything else will come easy for me. You have to put the time and effort in. I've been very successful in football and you can be talented as you want to be but you just have to have that work ethic and then nobody will put that work in like you."
Jones, who said that there is always room for improvement on every level, sets no personal goals for himself and doesn't think about what he wants to accomplish individually, but instead on what he needs to do to help the team.
"I don't go out there and try for the Pro Bowl; I'm thinking of the Super Bowl," Jones said. "It's all about the team. I've always been like that. I don't have any personal goals. I don't want to sell myself short."
Jones' body feels great going into this season, as he took on a new diet that resulted in him putting on muscle. This translates into how he feels practicing in training camp, saying it allows him to run around well without getting tired.
Despite the enormous amount of pressure the media and the fans put on the team to have a successful season, it's not something Jones thinks about but instead just focuses on putting the amount of work in needed to accomplish what the team ultimately wants to do.
"No pressure at all," Jones said. "We know we have to start out from scratch. We have to come out here and put the work in and effort in every day to get where we want to get to. Once you're successful, people are going to tell you this and tell you that. But Coach (Mike) Smith makes sure you're going to go out there and work, he makes us work everyday. We know what it takes to get there."
