Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator Gus Bradley realizes that as Calvin Johnson goes, so goes the Detroit Lions offense.
With that in mind, Bradley has been consumed all week with finding a way to slow the physical specimen. Here's what he told Eric Williams of the Seattle News Tribune on how he has been preparing his players to deal with the one they call Megatron:
"We're so aware of the deep ball, the explosive plays with him," Bradley said. "And It's not like it happens on third and 4, third and 5. On first and 10, the first play of the game you're seeing them take shots. So I think it's important that our safeties - we always say, ‘When you're back, you're back.' So don't come up there sniffing out the run, on some of the run plays."
And while Bradley has been preparing, Seahawks CB Richard Sherman has been running his mouth. Sherman vowed to treat the All-Pro pass catcher like any other receiver before changing his twitter handle to Optimus Prime, Megatron's robotic nemesis in the Transformers series.
Johnson hasn't been performing up to his touchdown standards this season with only one score through his first six games. But when it comes to yards, the sixth-year pro is actually 28 yards above the pace he set last year during his dominant 1,681 yard campaign.
Maybe Sherman should be following in Bradley's footsteps after all.