Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones will miss going up against Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman, who suffered a season-ending Achilles injury and has been placed on injured reserve.
The Falcons (5-4) face the Seahawks (6-3) at 8:30 p.m. on Monday Night Football at CenturyLink Field.
“We always have a good time,” Jones said. “He’ll try to stay on me the whole game a lot of times. Guys start playing me, and then get off, have help, and Sherman’s not one of those guys. He comes out and competes every play, just man up.”
Last season, Jones caught seven passes for 139 yards and one touchdown in a 26-24 loss in Seattle on Oct. 16.
Sherman appeared to interfere with Jones on a late deep pass that could have put the Falcons in field-goal range.
In the playoff meeting in January, Jones caught six passes for 67 yards and a touchdown in the 36-20 victory in the NFC divisional victory.
Jones said that Seattle has a unique home-field advantage.
“It’s very different,” Jones said. “The 12th man they have out there, the fans are very loud, but for me it doesn’t impact me. It’s my job to help others around me to help them make sure it doesn’t affect their game because it can be effective because it is that loud there.”
Seattle leads the league with a plus-20 turnover ratio, and Jones thinks the crowds contributes to that stat.
“Most definitely,” Jones said. “It’s one of those things about keeping all 11 guys on the same page at the same time due to the crowd noise. Offensively, if you get off the ball later than normal, obviously ... then you’re in trouble already.
“The defensive ends and whatever they’ve got going on being able to penetrate and get pressure upfield, they can create turnovers and put a lot of pressure and stress on the quarterback to make him get the ball out of his hands quickly.”
Jones believes the Falcons must build on their win Sunday over Dallas.
“Every win is a good win for us and things like that,” Jones said. “Yeah, we can build off it because we did a lot of great things in the game, but we’ve got to continue to keep building, and don’t take anything for granted. We had success last week, and we’ve got to continue to keep building on those things to keep getting better.
