FLOWERY BRANCH — After landing the head coaching job and hiring some of his staff while sequestered on the West Coast, new Falcons coach Raheem Morris reached out to wide receiver Drake London.
“I knew Drake was out there on the West Coast,” Morris said. “I gave him a call, and he happened to live probably 20 minutes away from me. So, we got a chance to meet up for lunch and go out to have lunch together.”
They went to an Italian restaurant to dine.
“I think that was very instrumental,” Morris said. “I got a chance to sit down and talk to him and listen to him talk and (hear) how passionate he was about the team. How he wanted to do this and lead.”
London enjoyed the lunch meeting with his new boss.
“That was a great meeting,” London said. “That was the start of the relationship that’s going to be very, very strong. Coach Rah is just real for that one.”
London tried to pay for the meal.
“Yeah, I tried to put my card down like I was going to pay,” London said.
London was one of the bright spots on the offense as the Falcons finished with a 7-10 record in each of his first two seasons.
“I gave him free rein to be able to do some of those things and be able to be more of himself,” London said. “That’s exactly what he’s done since I’ve been here – OTA days, going all the way into last week of practice. Really being vocal and being a great communicator with his quarterback, with his other wideouts and with the whole offense.”
London has received 25 targets over the past two games. It’s clear that quarterback Kirk Cousins likes throwing the football his way. He caught 18 passes for 218 yards and a touchdown in big NFC South wins over the Saints and Bucs.
“If you look around the league for quarterbacks who have been together with guys, tight ends, wide receivers, they’ve been together for four-plus years,” London said. “You’ll see, sometimes they don’t even run routes. It’s just that feel that the quarterback, the connection that guys have.”
London feels he’s developing that type of connection with Cousins.
“That helps a lot in certain situations,” London said. “In situations that we’ve been in, to be able to click on that has been huge.”
Morris is proud of London’s growth.
“I’m so proud of him, where he’s gone and what he’s come to,” Morris said. “And coming to that for himself, really, because that’s what he wanted to do and definitely us allowing him to be himself and be able to do some of those things is very special for us.”
Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson has seen London’s development.
“He’s still a young player, still in his third year,” Robinson said. “Obviously, the style of offense is a little bit different this year. I think he’s another guy that just has a great feel for the game.”
London was the first wide receiver drafted (No. 8 overall) in the 2022 NFL draft. Garrett Wilson was drafted 10th by the Jets and Chris Olave 11th by the Saints. Wilson and Olave have posted back-to-back thousand-yard seasons and are off to strong starts in their third seasons.
London, who had Marcus Mariota and Desmond Ridder as his starting quarterbacks over his first two seasons, is catching up. He had 866 yards as a rookie and 905 last season. London is leading the trio with 354 yards receiving this season. Wilson has 292 yards and Olave has 275.
“He has really good savvy as a route runner, obviously great hands, all the things that everybody liked about him coming out,” Robinson said. “Now he just understands pro football. He understands the leverages that he’s working against, against other defensive backs and what we’re trying to do on each play.”
London has had to adapt his game to the new concepts.
“Those guys have that connection going,” Robinson said. “It’s been cool to see Drake, obviously, as a blocker. We’ve talked about it a ton. The value he brings is that as well.”
Wide receiver Darnell Mooney, who also is off to a fast start, is fine with London leading the way for the group.
“He’s been doing his thing since I got here,” Mooney said. “He’s a boss in my eyes.”
Mooney has 24 catches for 330 yards and three touchdowns. He’s on pace to set career-highs in catches (81.6), yards (1,122) and touchdowns (10.2).
But Mooney, who had a thousand-yard season in 2021 with the Bears, sees London as having a breakthrough.
“He’s continued to take that step forward,” Mooney said. “He’s going to continue to make his mark. I’m happy to be a part of it. I’m happy to be in the huddle with him. I’m happy to be his partner.”
The Falcons just want London to channel his emotions correctly. London was fined $14,069 by the NFL for a machine-gun salute celebration that included the mimicking of shooting a gun into the crowd during the big win over the Eagles on “Monday Night Football.”
“There’s a lot of stuff going around in the world with gun violence that I don’t think I should have displayed there,” London told reporters. “So, I’m not too happy with it, and (you) probably won’t see that again from me.”
The Falcons don’t want to dampen his enthusiasm for the game.
“He definitely can get aggressive,” Mooney said. “But it’s good anger.”
The Falcons’ passing attack has not been in the top half of the league over London’s first two seasons. The Falcons are ranked 26th in rushing (96.8 yards per game) and 10th in passing (260.6 yard per game).
“Just being a balanced offense,” London said. “To have that is huge in this league because you can’t be one-dimensional as an offense. So, to have that, is big-time.”
Now, if teams keep keying on the run game, the Falcons have an answer.
“It’s week in, week out there if we are going to run a lot or if we are going to pass a lot,” London said. “There is going to come a game where both run and pass are going to go crazy. I’ll be waiting for that game. I’ll be excited when we see it for sure because it’s going to be a lot of points on the board.”
London believes the Falcons can have an encore performance at the Panthers at 1 p.m. Sunday.
“They have a great secondary,” London said. “They have great corners. We have to go out there like it’s the Super Bowl. We are going to go out there and try and dominate.”
