Julio Jones thinks it's "crazy" we set off fireworks after we scored in the fog

Greg M. Cooper/USA Today Sports

We all saw the fog during the game. It was, in fact, all you could see. It was pretty nuts. I've watched a lot of Patriots games in my long and storied career and I've never seen anything like that. Since every single thing that happens at Gillette is some form of us cheating, I was glad that in this case OBVIOUSLY both teams were dealing with the same conditions. No one could possibly complain about the weather, right?? Wrong.

Here's what Julio said after the game. “No, it didn’t affect me. It’s crazy, though. They score and they shoot fireworks off and then it sits up and sits high kind of in the stadium. So it’s kind of hard, if you do get behind, how can you throw deep balls and things like that because it’s foggy? It didn’t affect us at all, though. They were the better team tonight.”

Just for reference, here's what others on the Falcons were saying:

Matt Ryan: "You know what? It wasn’t bad on the field. I think it was worse when you kind of got off and you tried to look into the stands or anything like that. You realized you couldn’t see that far. But I mean on the field it wasn’t bad."

Devonta Freeman: “I remember playing in the fog at my high school national championship game down in Orlando, Florida against Dr. Phillips; it was a similar situation. It’s just foggy for the fans, but on the field it’s kind of clear. No, it didn’t affect us at all.”

Mohamed Sanu: "You just have to focus a little more. It was weird but you just have to go out there. They have the same element. I could see.”

Everyone reporters spoke to said on field level it was fine. Including Julio! Even though he was pulling the "it didn't affect us, but I mean it affected us, but I'm not making excuses, but it was a problem, but they were just better, but it was bullshit' routine. All of us at home would agree based on the SkyCam view that the field level was fine. I absolutely believe that a deep ball would be a different story, because the fog was definitely up high in the air, making those long arcing throws tough to track. But that was the fog! The idea that it was musket blasts and firework smoke lingering in the fog making it worse, which was done intentionally by us to make a comeback harder, is insanity. We do that every game. It's not like we decided once we had a lead and the fog rolled in, 'Hey quick get the fireworks going it will really screw up the Falcons comeback effort!'

Not to mention we are second in the league in yards per attempt! We are the ones who want to throw it deep. I understand that Julio's argument is we weren't trailing, and they needed big strikes more than we did, but still we have to move the ball. If he's saying deep balls are not an option any more than they should have been able to get stops on us pretty easily. Then they could have gotten the ball back and moved down the field like the good offense they are supposed to be.

At the end of the day, it's a frustrated rant from a player who got his teeth kicked in by Tommy. Again. And I fucking love it. The more people that come to Gillette concerned with how we are going to bend the rules to beat them, the less they are focused on DOING THEIR JOB on the football field.

Game, color rush blouses.