

ATLANTA, Ga. -- The Rabbit didn't hesitate when asked what it will be like when receiver Josh Gordon re-joins him on the field Sunday against the Falcons after his 10-game drug ban.



"Scary,'' said receiver Travis Benjamin, a.k.a. The Rabbit. "Hands down we have the fastest receiving corps in the league as we see it. We can't wait to get back out there and put on a show Sunday against the Falcons."



Receiver Taylor Gabriel, who came out of nowhere in Gordon's absence to ascend to second in the NFL with an average of 18.2 yards per catch, also found the right word. So right that uttering it once wasn't enough.

"Explosive. Explosive. Explosive,'' he said. "It's going to be fun.''

It depends, of course, on who you ask. Falcons cornerback Desmond Trufant, charged with the Herculean task of covering the NFL's reigning receiving yardage leader on the day they're letting him out of his cage, isn't expecting the good times to roll. The Falcons are 32nd against the pass, and one of their starting corners is out with a broken wrist.

"He's legit,'' Trufant told espn.com. "I just have to bring my A-game.''

Trufant, a second-pro, watched all 87 of Gordon's catches from 2013 for a league-high 1,646 yards -- and all of his targets.

"I look at what they're good at, I look at what they're not good at, and I try to exploit that," he said. "I look at other corners that had success against that receiver. And I look at myself and am real about what I'm able to do. I'm just going to go into it just like any other game: confident in my technique, first. And I'm going to be all right."

And just exactly which cornerbacks had success against the All-Pro last year?



"Really nobody," said Trufant. "He was killing everybody last year. That's why I'm just going to do what I do. It's going to be a challenge. He might make some plays. But as long as I contain him, don't give up any explosives, we'll be all right."



Falcons safety Kemal Ishmael, another second-year pro, is also getting his gameface on.



"He's a crazy-good athlete," Ishmael said. "He has good hands, size and speed. He's going to be a lot to handle."



Browns cornerback Joe Haden, who joined Gordon as a first-time Pro Bowler last season, is one of Gordon's best friends on the team. Gordon often hangs out Haden's house, and the cornerback knows a different man than the one who's been portrayed as an addict.



"He's really, really cool dude,'' said Haden. "(His wife) Sara, she loves J.G. to death, man. He's just a good dude and he's like a brother to me honestly."

Gordon has shared with Haden the havoc he plans to wreak in the final half-dozen games, but the cornerback wouldn't give it up.

"He has, but I don't want to talk about it,'' Haden said with a smile.

Still, knowing 'JG' like Haden does, the Falcons should be afraid. Very afraid.

"It wouldn't surprise me if he went out there and had 250 (yards) even a little bit,'' said Haden.

Haden knows what it's like to come off a suspension and have so much to prove when you get back. Haden was banned for four games in 2012 for using Adderall in the offseason, which he said was prescribed. In his first game back, he broke up three passes and picked off Andy Dalton. He's betting that Gordon's intensity will be two-and-a-half times that after 10 games off.

"You come back with a different perspective, just being away from the game shows you how much you miss it and how much it means to you,'' he said. "I think J.G. he like that and he's just going to come out here and he's just excited. He's happy. I see him smiling and it makes me happy just to know that he's back and just ready to ball."

In Gordon's first game back off his two-game suspension last year for what he said was codeine, he caught 10 of the 19 passes thrown his way for 146 yards and a 47-yard TD in a come-from-behind victory over the Vikings. In addition to the ban, Gordon was dealing with pre-game reports that then CEO Joe Banner wanted to trade him before the looming deadline. It was also Brian Hoyer's first start for the Browns and he relied on a hungry No. 12 to record his first NFL victory.

"It was his first game back. It was my first game starting,'' said Hoyer. "There was a little bit of 'throw it to the most talented guy on the field' type of mentality, but I think now as far as where I've progressed to, especially in this offense, it's more about going through reads and things like that. I think, obviously, you put Josh on the field and see how the defense plays it."

After Gordon's first practice since late August on Wednesday, coach Mike Pettine joked that "the ball somehow mysteriously went his way every time he was out there.

"(Hoyer was) like a kid with a new toy at Christmas,'' said Pettine. "We just have to careful with Brian when Josh is out there so he doesn't develop tunnel vision, that the ball goes to where the read takes him. (But) Brian gets it.''

Besides, Pettine and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan aren't about to cast aside their overachieving group of receivers, the misfits that had no place to go until the Browns came calling. In Gordon's absence, the pass offense climbed to No. 14 in the NFL when no one gave it a chance.

"We've accomplished a lot with the group that we have,'' said Pettine. "I don't think it's time for those guys to just step back and turn and say, 'OK, here's a guy that's going to come in and be a savior,' so to speak. We've played a lot of good football. I think that group has done an outstanding job. As far as a group exceeding expectations, of any one position group, I'd think you'd have to say it was the wide receivers.''

Hoyer echoed those sentiments, beginning the week by taking some of the heat off the 2012 supplemental pick.



"We all know what Josh is capable of, but let's not put all this pressure on him to be the savior,'' said Hoyer. "We don't want to create these crazy expectations for Josh. He's got six games to play. ...we have to bring him along at this own pace.''



Shanahan, who's coached the likes of star receivers Andre Johnson in Houston and Pierre Garcon in Washington, isn't worried much about giving Gordon too much too soon. If Hoyer is a kid with a new toy at Christmas, Shanahan is the older brother eager to snatch it out of his hands and run the battery down.

"He fits in great,'' said Shanahan. "We love real good receivers so it's not too hard with that. You never know how a guy's going to be until he comes back, but I can tell just watching him run and stuff that he's come back ready. He's ready to go. He's been working. I've been excited just watching him out here knowing that it does mean a lot to him. You can tell by his actions."

Shanahan also isn't concerned about an 'all-Gordon, all-day' gameplan.

"I never forced Andre the ball, never forced it to Pierre last year,'' he said. "Pierre led the league in catches last year, kind of just happens naturally. You try to design plays to go to them, but if coverages take it away, you don't just throw it to him.''

Falcons coach Mike Smith, who has a couple of elite receivers of his own in Roddy White and Julio Jones, expects to see Gordon early and often. Afterall, the guy had back-to-back 200-yard games last year and averaged 117.5 yards.

"We're anticipating seeing Josh Gordon out there on the very first play and seeing him out there for the majority of the plays in the ball game,'' said Smith.

Defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, leader of a unit prone to the explosive play, agrees with Benjamin that the Browns are lightning-fast.

"They've got a tremendous amount of speed on their entire offense," Nolan told reporters in Atlanta. "The other receivers, this is as fast of a group that we've seen all season. They might be the fastest group in the NFL. They are extremely fast and you add (Gordon) to the group. He's a big dominate player."

As for the other Browns receivers, they've welcomed Gordon back with open arms -- and can't wait to see the ball float into his.

"Josh is a part of the family,'' said Hawkins, who leads the Browns with 45 catches for 601 yards. "He always has been and none of that's going to change.

Josh is very charismatic. Josh is a joke-around guy, keeps things light. He's young and he's fun, especially with the game of football. Just having that around is a breath of fresh air."

And on the field?

"The difference is you add an incredible playmaker to an offense,'' he said. "That'll be the biggest difference, and I don't see any downside to that."

And if he's anything like he was last year -- scary.