Falcons: A.J. Terrell is on a historic pace as the NFL's best CB

Why A.J. Terrell isn't considered the best NFL cornerback is beyond me. Over the past six games, he has been an elite shutdown corner.

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In fact, more than that, the Atlanta Falcons' CB is on a pace that you rarely ever see from a player who is playing one of the most unforgiving positions on the football field.

Falcons CB A.J. Terrell has been shutting down everyone in his way

It feels like years ago when A.J. Terrell had his lunch taken by Mike Evans when the Atlanta Falcons were in Tampa Bay. Terrell took that game personally and has been playing better than anyone since then.

While he gave up a long touchdown to DeAndre Hopkins in Tennessee, we all know there was egrious offensive pass interferece on that play. That play should have never counted, the problem is that it did so it goes against him.

That was seven games ago and since then Terrell has basically given up nothing, absolutely nothing.

14 yards have been gained on Terrell's watch over his past six games combined. 14 yards... think about that. On average, he is giving up slightly over two yards per game.

Here are his coverage stats over his past six games, according to PFF:

• Week 9: 2 targets, 2 catches allowed, -4 yards, 0 TD
• Week 10: 6 targets, 1 catch allowed, 14 yards, 0 TD
• Week 12: 1 target, 0 catches allowed, 0 yards, 0 TD
• Week 13: 0 targets, 0 catches allowed, 0 yards, 0 TD
• Week 14: 3 targets, 1 catch allowed, 5 yards, 0 TD
• Week 15: 3 targets, 2 catches allowed, 1 yard, 0 TD

He has been targeted 15 times, allowing six catches for 16 yards and zero touchdowns.

How is that possible?

If the refs had called that Hopkins catch correctly, we would be looking at 22 yards allowed over the past seven games. And to add to that, those 14 yards Terrell gave up in Arizona came on one catch that he had perfect coverage on, the receiver just made an excellent, strong catch.

He has played receivers like DeAndre Hopkins, Marquise Brown, Jordan Addison, Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Adam Thielen.

It is astounding what he is doing and to think he still doesn't get close to enough credit for what he does. He isn't top in Pro Bowl voting at his position which is just ridiculous. He should be one of the starters based on how he is playing right now.

He finally is on a good defense which should garner him more attention but that has not happened. That needs to change because he is one of the best, if not the best, lockdown corner in the NFL.