The Cleveland Browns visit the now NFC South-leading Atlanta Falcons on Sunday with their most dangerous offensive weapon, Josh Gordon, back on the field.
The Atlanta Falcons took another hit to an already thin secondary last Sunday; losing starting cornerback Robert Alford to a broken wrist for a few weeks. The Falcons were already short in the secondary with starting safety William Moore, sidelined since Week 4, still at least a week away from returning to action.
The much-maligned Atlanta defense has shown signs of life the past few weeks and one of the brightest spots has been Desmond Trufant. Trufant (+10.4) is No. 4 in overall PFF grade among CBs as he continues to produce in his second season.
Another key to stopping Gordon, who ran 73 routes from the slot in 2013, will be primary slot CB Josh Wilson. Wilson leads all slot CBs in slot performance, allowing only one reception per 15.1 cover snaps from the slot.
Brian Hoyer, coming off a season low -7.6 performance, attempts 30.1% of his passes from play action. It will be interesting to see if the addition of Gordon shifts the run-heavy focus of the Browns to a more aerial-based attack.
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