FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – Many Falcons players have said they feel a greater level of comfort with offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian as he enters his second season as the team's play-caller, and star receiver Julio Jones believes that familiarity will can pay off in 2018.

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"It's because this is year two," Jones said before practice on Tuesday. "We're going to have a better relationship, we're going to know each other better because he came right in and everyone had so much hype and stress and pressure and things like that. I didn't know how he took it. But at the end of the day, yeah, we're good. Moving forward, we're going to make something special."

Jones is undoubtedly an important part of the Falcons' offense. A five-time Pro Bowler, Jones has surpassed 1,400 receiving yards in each of the last four seasons and he's the only receiver in NFL history with three games of 250-plus receiving yards.

Despite his production in the face of double- and triple-teams from opposing defenses, there are fans who point to the three touchdowns he had in 2017 and are left wanting. This offseason, the Falcons have placed a great emphasis on producing in the red zone and taking advantage of the mismatches their plethora of weapons can create.

"What we've been doing here is just working on the red zone and just trying to get better every day," Jones said. "Seeing different looks every day. Different looks, if we get pressed down there, we get zone, anything like that and everybody can make a play down there, so we've been trying to work everybody in the red zone and let those guys work their one-on-one matchups, their base matchups."