The Atlanta Falcons kicked off the 2022 season by losing to the New Orleans Saints by just one point, 27-26 in Week 1.
After that, the team barely lost to the Los Angeles Rams, 30-27 in Week 2.
And then in Week 3, the Falcons chalked up their first win of the season against the Seattle Seahawks, 27-23, putting the team at 1-2 to start the season.
But according to Falcons’ rookie wide receiver Drake London, the team Falcons should have entered Week 4 with a 3-0 record.
“I think that everybody knows in this building that we could easily be 3-0 right now, London said during a recent interview on the Keyshawn, JWill & Max Show. “[There’s] lot of self-inflicted wounds that we’re trying to clean up and once we get those cleaned up I think we’re gonna get the ball rolling.”
The Falcons were able to keep their momentum moving in Week 4 as they took down the Cleveland Browns in a 23-20 victory.
London Makes NFL Transition Look Easy
It’s normal for a rookie to struggle in their first year as they make the jump from the college to professional level because the players are much smarter, faster, bigger and stronger.
And so far, London has made that transition look like a breeze.
‘It’s been fun I mean it’s had its challenges,” he said, “and it’s still gonna have its challenges, but right now [I’m] just navigating my way through and I think I’m doing a decent job at that.”
London didn’t play a very big role against Cleveland as Marcus Mariota struggled in the passing game. London had two catches for 17 yards vs. the Browns. However, one week prior against Seattle, London logged three catches for 54 yards. And before that at the Rams, London led the receiving group with eight catches for 86 yards in just his second NFL regular-season debut. He also led the receivers in Week 1 with five receptions for 74 yards.
Despite getting off to a hot start as a rook, London believes he has a long way to go and that he’s “just scratching the surface.”
“Everything,” London said when asked what he needs to work on. “I got a lot to work on and that’s what I’m so excited for. I feel like I’m just scratching the surface and I’m excited for the years to come, so I’ll have to say everything.”
London Came to the NFL As a Two-Sport Star
There were several ways the Falcons could have gone with their No. 8 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, but Drake London was the direction they went.
It was hard for Atlanta to pass up the size (6-foot-4) and jumping ability of the former two-sport athlete that would give opposing defenses more of a challenge.
As a senior on his high school basketball team, London averaged 29.2 points and 11.9 rebounds. He then played a single season of college ball at USC as a walk-on. He could have easily continued to take the basketball route out of high school into college but decided to focus on football instead.
“It’s just kind of how the dominoes fell at the time you,” London said about choosing football over basketball. “I went in 2019 to go try to play both and accomplish that and then 2020 hit with covid. So, it was already hard to do that when life was normal and when Covid hit, it was a little tough to do that.
“I just put it in God’s hands and it worked out to be football at the end of the day. So, I just left it up to the man above.”
In his final season on the Trojan’s football squad, he was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year despite missing four games with a fractured right ankle. Through just eight games, London logged 88 passes for 1,084 yards and seven touchdowns, finishing his college career with 160 catches for 2,153 yards and 15 scores.
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