BRADY HENDERSON

Seahawks’ Richard Sherman set for what could be a ‘classic matchup’ with Falcons’ Julio Jones

Oct 13, 2016, 12:35 PM | Updated: 1:10 pm

Richard Sherman and Julio Jones, pictured in a 2012 playoff game, could see plenty of each other Su...

Richard Sherman and Julio Jones, pictured in a 2012 playoff game, could see plenty of each other Sunday. (AP)

(AP)

LISTEN: Will Richard Sherman follow Julio Jones?

RENTON – Moments after the Seahawks beat the Jets on Oct. 2, cornerback Richard Sherman said he wouldn’t mind playing the following week even though Seattle had a bye before hosting Atlanta. That’s how much he was looking forward to facing Julio Jones, the Falcons’ All-Pro wide receiver who had just torched Carolina for 300 yards earlier in the day.

“I heard Julio went off,” Sherman told reporters inside MetLife Stadium. “That’d be fun. Three-hundred? That’s what he had? Oh, man, that’s going to be a big deal. He’s a good friend, and it’s going to be a fun matchup battling him.”

Indeed, it’ll be the marquee matchup of Sunday’s game – and maybe of the entire Week-6 NFL schedule – as two of the league’s best players at their respective positions square off, even if Sherman doesn’t spend the entire afternoon following Jones wherever he goes on the field. Whether or not he will has raised anew what is becoming an increasingly regular topic now that the Seahawks have shown a willingness in recent season to move Sherman around.

Only on occasion early in his career did Seattle assign Sherman to cover an opponent’s No. 1 receiver – San Francisco’s Anquan Boldin and Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald being a couple examples – as he rarely left his post at left cornerback. That has changed in recent seasons, particularly last year when Sherman began doing so with regularity – and success. He moved inside to the slot in Week 1 of last season then spent either the majority or the entirety of games matched up with a single receiver.

“Sometimes I find out in the middle of a game. Sometimes I find out on game day,” Sherman said when asked about when he typically receives his marching orders. “Sometimes we’re having trouble on the other side and they’ll be like, ‘Well, you go follow him from now on.’”

That’s what happened last year against Cincinnati, when the Seahawks stuck Sherman on A.J. Green after the Bengals receiver beat Cary Williams for a pair of long receptions to start the game. Sherman slowed down Green then neutralized San Francisco’s Torrey Smith (one catch, 16 yards in two games), Dallas’ Dez Bryant (two catches, 12 yards) and Pittsburgh’s Antonio Brown (three catches, 24 yards vs. Sherman, who picked off a pass in that game).

With Sherman trailing him two weeks ago, the Jets’ Brandon Marshall caught four of 12 passes thrown his way for 89 yards and a touchdown. Sherman intercepted two of them.

“It gets easier the more you do it,” he said of moving around to cover an opponent’s top receiver, adding that it’s always been the coaches’ decision and not something he’s ever had control over.

That decision, coach Pete Carroll said, is the based on several factors beyond just Sherman and the receiver he would cover. The Seahawks must also consider what it would mean for the other cornerback-receiver matchups and how it would fit into their game plan, for instance. The level of comfort Sherman has gained when moving away from the left side has made it much more of a consideration than it once was.

“It’s different,” Carroll said of playing on one side versus the other. “It’s not the exact same. It feels different when the ball is in the air, particularly on the deep ball, and guys have to get accustomed to that. He is there. He can do all that now. But it’s also not just him. It has to do with the other guys. If the other player is flipping, that’s part of the variable also. We’re at a point where we can do whatever we need to do now.”

There’s a good chance the Seahawks decide they need to have Sherman cover Jones, whose production has been historically prolific. His league-leading 1,871 receiving yards last year rank second in NFL history for a single season. He’s now second on the all-time list of single-game receiving performances with 300 yards two weeks ago to go along with his 12 catches and a touchdown.

Denver held him to two catches for 29 yards last week while, according to Jones, employing a lot of what’s called two-man coverage, i.e., cornerbacks playing man-to-man on receivers underneath with help from two deep safeties playing zone behind them.

Against Carolina, Jones said he had one-on-one matchups throughout that game and wasn’t double-teamed. That was against the Panthers and a sub-par secondary that was starting Bené Benwikere, who was waived after he couldn’t up with Jones.

This is against the Seahawks and Sherman, an All-Pro who leads the league in interceptions and passes defended since he entered the league in 2011.

“He’s very smart. He’s a very smart guy he studies a lot of film,” Jones said of Sherman. “… Going against Richard, you have to change up a few tendencies that you do. You can’t tip a guy off like Richard Sherman because he will definitely make you pay for it. He’s a long player. He’s a longer cornerback. He’s instinctive. He has great ball skills. Like I said, he studies a lot.”

Sherman may not spend the entirety of Sunday’s game covering Jones. If Jones lines up in the slot, for instance, he could be Jeremy Lane’s responsibility instead. But as Falcons coach and former Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn said, it’ll happen more than a few times at least.

“I’d say what the fans should expect is two real dog competitors wanting to go battle for it,” said Quinn, who coached Sherman for two seasons, in 2013 and 2014. “That’s one of coolest part about our game, when you get to compete at the highest level. Really, two technicians and guys who work with their craft. I watch the wide receiver play in Julio, he’s one the very greatest football minds at his position. He has a real understanding of the game, the coverage, the leverage and that was one of the things when I first met Sherm that I was so impressed with, his football knowledge growing stronger through the years.

“That’ll be a classic matchup that were looking forward to being a part of.”

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