What Dennis Allen Thinks About Increasing Kyler Gordon's Workload

It will be interesting to see whether 17 plays nets Kyler Gordon NFC defensive player of the week honors.

Gordon's return on Sunday to the playing field after a calf injury that kept him sidelined from training camp until last week was more like an explosion than the soft opening promised by defensive coordinator Dennis Allen and coach Ben Johnson.

Although Gordon played so few downs, he had the third-highest tackling total (4) and made three game-impacting sacks. It included two strip-sacks as Allen used his slot cornerback in ways the Falcons couldn't stop. The production had many fans who had written him off writing something else on Monday — that would be an apology.

Last month's drama about how he wasn't rehabbing in conjuction with team medical personnel was the reason many turned against him.

"Look, it was exciting to see because I think he did some things that we've always felt like that he could do for us," Allen said. "And so, I've always thought that there was a way that we could utilize him that he could really help us win games, and he was big in the game this week. And we'll see how things play out moving forward.

"It was really kind of a limited role last week."

As the season was about to unfold, GM Ryan Poles actually said he couldn't be certain if or when Gordon would be playing for them again.

“I don’t know. I would hope so," was Poles direct quote. "I still have hope there. He's going to have to continue to work hard and get back to playing football again.”

He did, and he's back even if it wasn't exactly how the team would have wanted to see him do it. Gordon, at least outwardly on Sunday, expressed no great concern about what Poles or anyone else had said about the way he handled the injury rehab.

"It is what it is," Gordon said in Atlanta. "I can't control what somebody else is going to say, but at the end of the day I'm going to do my job to my best ability and be the best player in the league at my spot. Unfortunately, it is what it is."

The question now is whether Allen will expand the role. Gordon's physical condition had to be a question last week because he hadn't gone through the full 21-day window to be activated and hadn't done his rehab from the injury with the team. Instead, he did it through his own medical personnel. It led to great consternation at Halas Hall.

"I would kind of expect something very similar," Allen said. "And yet, we're just getting into the game plan process now so there's a lot that has to happen over the course of the next three days."

While the limited reps was planned for Gordon, the production was not.

"Well I certainly didn’t into the game thinking he was going to come away with three sacks and two caused fumbles," Allen said. "That wasn’t what I thought would happen. And yet, that’s the way the game played out. That’s how the game was dictated and then, yeah, I think certainly knowing that he was playing at the level that he was playing at we probably played him a few more plays there at the end and put him in those positions.

"And look we’ll see how it plays out this week."

Allen pointed out the future role might not be so heavily laced with blitzing from the slot.

"They won’t all play out that way," he said. "So there’s a multitude of other things that we’re going to ask him to do and I’m sure he’ll do well at those things too. So we’ll see how this game plan plays out."

Considering Drake Maye runs the ball better and can elude the rush so much better than Atlanta's Michael Penix Jr., a blitzing slot might need to be a coverage DB in Week 7 on Thursday Night Football.