In recent games the Falcons have matched cornerback Desmond Trufant with the opposition’s top receiver.
He shadowed Carolina’s Kelvin Benjamin for most of the game last week and Baltimore’s Steve Smith a few weeks back.
The Falcons are working on a plan for the return of Cleveland All-Pro wide receiver Josh Gordon, who’s coming off a 10-game drug suspension and will make his 2014 debut at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Georgia Dome.
“He’s a very explosive player,” Falcons defensive coordinator Mike Nolan said. “He’s one of the top receivers in the league without question. Big. Strong. Fast. He’s a very commanding player at the position.”
With Robert Alford out with a fractured hand, it’s reasonable to conclude that Trufant will be mainly responsible for Gordon, who played just 14 games last season but still led the league with 1,646 total yards and 117.6 per game. Gordon also had nine touchdown receptions with six scores for 37 yards or longer.
Trufant is having a fine second season and is the No. 4 rated cornerback in league, according to Pro Football Focus.
“The difficulty this week is that there is nothing to watch on Gordon,” Nolan said. “When you do that you’re trying to give a player an opportunity to study someone and prepare for the game a little more isolated and more intense on somebody.
“So, you’re not only trying to do it for your scheme and your big picture, but you’re also trying to help that player. But there’s nothing to watch on Gordon. This week, we’ll wait and see.”
Gordon will be playing his first game in the Browns’ new offensive scheme under offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. Looking at the tape from last season’s system, which was coordinated by Norv Turner, might not reveal much.
Falcons coach Mike Smith suggested on his weekly SiriusXM NFL Radio appearance that Gordon play the “X” or “go to” receiver position in the offense.
“Obviously, I don’t want to say which one it is,” Nolan said when pressed about matching Gordon. “But to a large degree I don’t know what’s going on either. We don’t know which position he’s going to play or what he’s doing. I would suspect there would be less of it that there’s been in past weeks.”
The Falcons may have trouble playing man-to-man with the Browns overall.
“They’ve got a tremendous amount of speed on their entire offense,” Nolan said. “The other receivers, this is as fast of a group that we’ve seen all season. They might be the fastest group in the NFL. They are extremely fast and you add him to the group. He’s a big dominate player.”
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