The Falcons posted an image of the wide receivers A.J Terrell ‘shutdown’, and for some reason, Miami’s Jaylen Waddle was on the list

Yesterday the Atlanta Falcons posted an image on social media praising their young shutdown cornerback A.J Terrell. The picture showed each of his victims from the 2021 NFL season, except there was only one massive problem:

This.

Atlanta Falcons Twitter

#FakeNews

Now, before I post video evidence, let’s take a look at the stat sheet—so everyone can see that Miami’s first-round pick DID NOT lay an egg vs. the Atlanta Falcons last season. This would be the first step in debunking Atlanta’s claim that Terrell is a demi-god.

Pro Football Reference

Next, using FantasyProfiler as an outlier, I discovered that A.J Terrell barely covered Waddle in Atlanta’s 28-30 win over Miami. Instead, cornerback Richie Grant was responsible for covering Waddle on 87.3% of the snaps.

Waddle caught 7/8 targets for 83 yards vs. Grant, according to FantasyProfiler. However, Atlanta played with the lead for most of the game and played a ton of zone. On the other hand, Waddle was in the slot for most of the game — as he was for much of the 2021 NFL season. This revelation may skew things a bit, but in any case, Waddle vs. Terrell barely —if ever—happened.

PlayerProfiler.com

And lastly, in my third and final attempt to go Mythbusters on the Atlanta Falcons’ social media page, here is every dropback from the Miami Dolphins Week 7 matchup vs. the Atlanta Falcons.

(A.J Terrell is #24 and plays most of his snaps on the outside. Initially, I was going to post every offensive snap — so you could see that they didn’t line up across from one another on run-downs — but I’m not sure anyone cares that much. So here’s every dropback.)

What does all of this mean?

Not a whole lot.

I just figured before a team tries to pretend they could contain the NFL’s single season rookie receptions leader — and one of the most explosive players in all of football— they could, at the very least, get their facts straight.

And the facts say Waddle played well vs. the Falcons. The facts also suggest their best strategy was to have A.J Terrell cover…checks notes… Preston Williams on the outside. You do you, Falcons. But before you try to play it off like Terrell did anything of note to stop Jaylen Waddle, remember this one crucial detail— #TheFilmDon’tLie.

(P.S. Shoutout to DrizzzyJosh6 on Twitter for bringing this to my attention.)

What are your expectations for Jaylen Waddle heading into year two? Were you upset when you saw these graphics posted by the Atlanta Falcons’ social media team? Do you think Waddle will have more receiving yards than Hill in 2022? What about touchdowns? Let us know in the comments section below!