Richard Sherman will likely shadow Julio Jones in Week 6

The best way for the Seattle Seahawks defense to slow down Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones could be a healthy dose of Richard Sherman, and that appears to be the plan in Week 6.

Seattle hasn’t revealed the defensive game plan and surely won’t before kickoff, but given Sherman’s recent usage, he’ll likely get the assignment of following Jones everywhere Sunday, according to ESPN’s Sheil Kapadia.

Shadowing receivers has been an oft-discussed topic during the 2016 season after the year began with Antonio Brown of the Pittsburgh Steelers torching the Washington secondary — mostly against cornerbacks other than Josh Norman. It’s a strategy that the Seahawks have done with Sherman in the past — pinning the cornerback on the left side of the field only — allowing the rest of the defense to shade to the other side.

“People are like, ‘Oh man, you’re not following him. You’re scared of him.’ It’s like, I don’t call the defense,” Sherman told reporters Wednesday when asked about “shadowing” receivers. “I don’t call the plays. They call the plays. I do what they tell me to do. And the receivers are the same way. They run the plays that they are told to run. They don’t get to go out there and make stuff up.

“So people need to understand that. But obviously it makes for great talking points, I guess, for the people who don’t know football and don’t know anything about anything. It gives them a conversation to be had.”

But the Seahawks have gone away from the strategy recently, and Seattle asked Sherman to follow top receivers like Brown, A.J. Green and Dez Bryant in 2015. In Week 4 of the 2016 season, Sherman followed New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall for most of the game, holding the receiver to four receptions and grabbing a pair of interceptions along the way.

Sherman compared the swap from one side of the field to the other like learning how to dribble a basketball with both hands, but still had some words for those who criticize cornerbacks who stay on one side.

”It’s just the footwork, the footwork is different, the footwork from side to side is different,” Sherman said. “It’s like asking a left tackle to switch to right tackle. You rarely ever see that. You hear a lot about corners flipping, but you don’t ever see great tackles following the ends. You see Von Miller on the right, you don’t see left tackle move to the right to follow Von Miller.”

Jones shredded the Carolina Panthers secondary in Week 4, but hasn’t been all that effective in other weeks. He finished with just one reception for 16 yards in Week 3 against the New Orleans Saints and just two receptions for 29 yards against the Denver Broncos in Week 5.

The Seahawks defense enters Week 6 with the fewest yards allowed per game and has given up just one passing touchdown in four games.