Editorial: No, you don’t have to beat the champ to become the champ
So I honestly don’t really have a true opinion on the fight. I was simply pointing out that time and time again we have seen judges give a close round to the champion. From the 2 friends of mine that watched the fight (1 a Jones fan and the other hates Jones) they both said they would have gave round 3 to Reyes. Again, I’m not saying they should or should not have awarded the round to Jones, I just looked at the fight metrics and are basing this off of other peoples comments that round 3 was close.
I’m glad you brought up Jake Matthews. While Julio Jones came a few yards shy of repeating another milestone, and his presence on the field provides a boost to their entire attack, his snap counts aren’t even close to close of Matthews. Yes, Jake got beat a few times resulting in pressure (or more) on Matt Ryan, he more than anyone kept our prize asset upright for the most part. That in and of itself is a massive expression of consistency.