Drake London — Week 2: Four Catches, Four First Downs
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 21
London caught 4 of 5 targets for 51 yards, every catch a first down, and led the Falcons in targets and receiving yards. His one carry lost 2 on fourth and one at the Carolina 31, and a 25-yard catch came back on a face-mask penalty. All five targets came from Cooper Rush; none of Jack Strand's 15 throws went to him, in a 34–3 loss to the Panthers.
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10 to nothing, Panthers, 46 seconds left in the first quarter, fourth and one at the Carolina 31. Drake London ran around left end, and Devin Lloyd tackled him at the 33 for a loss of two. Carolina ball. −4.1 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 3.1 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. The drive had opened with a 14-yard London catch, and the snap before the fourth down was Bijan Robinson for one yard on third and two.
The line: five targets, four catches, 51 yards, four first downs, +3.3 expected points on the targets; one carry, −2 yards. 33 of the 51 came after the catch. The catches: 14 on the first Falcons snap after Carolina's opening touchdown, pushed out at the Atlanta 43; 14 short middle with four 23 left in the first; 17 on third and two from the Atlanta 41 with two 42 left in the half, to the Carolina 42, one snap after his only incompletion, on the drive that produced Atlanta's only points; and six on second and four in the third. A fifth catch does not count: first and 10 at the Atlanta 12 with five 48 left in the second, deep right for 25 yards, and it came back on a face-mask penalty against Jake Matthews. Four targets before halftime, one after. He also made the tackle at the end of Lloyd's 53-yard interception return.
Five targets led the team; Bijan Robinson, Jahan Dotson and Austin Hooper had four each. 51 yards led it as well, with Hooper's 20 next. All five came from Cooper Rush, who completed 10 of 17 throws for 86 yards with two interceptions. Jack Strand threw 15 times after replacing him, and none went to London.
Back in June the preview called London "the alpha the market finally priced" — seventeenth among wide receivers last season on a 30-percent target share across 12 games, nine-plus targets a game, the kind of volume that tends to hold. Week 1 was four targets and two catches for 29 with Rush at quarterback. Sunday was five of Atlanta's 32 throws. Nine targets in two games is what the preview had him drawing in one. That contradiction is now two weeks old, and so is its asterisk: Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix were inactive again, per the Falcons' inactives list, and the read was built on a different passer. Atlanta is at the Packers on Thursday the 20-fourth, a short week.
_Data via nflverse._
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