Falcons’ X-factor Monday: How can they stop Rams WR Puka Nacua?

He currently leads the league with 114 catches and in yards per game at 113.7. He has 1,592 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. He was named to the Pro Bowl team for the second time Tuesday.

The Falcons faced a similar challenge in their outing Sunday against the Cardinals, who ran their pass game through tight end Trey McBride. The Falcons held him to four catches for 27 yards.

“There’s no one way to stop a guy that talented,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said of McBride. “We did a number of different things to go cover him. Whether it was double teams, whether it was coverage zone, coverage eyes and awareness.”

Safety Jessie Bates III was key to slowing McBride.

Bates and safety Xavier Watts will help the cornerbacks with Nacua at times. Also, the linebackers will need to help in the underneath zone coverages.

“Man, I’m really at a loss for words when you study him because you see people (stay over the top) cloud him, and he beats cloud,” Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said. “You see people bracket him north and south, and he beats that. You see them bracket him east and west, and he beats that.”

Nacua has been pretty much unguardable.

“You see people gloving him (man-to-man) with beautiful coverage,” Ulbrich said. “Tight coverage. Sticky coverage, and he catches these contested balls that don’t make sense.”