Rookie may star in SoCal again as Falcons hit road
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Drake London spent the past three seasons tearing up college defenses for the University of Southern California, so football followers from that region weren’t surprised when the 6-foot-4, 213-pound receiver made a strong professional debut with the Atlanta Falcons last weekend.
The Los Angeles Rams fans in that SoCal contingent hope their reigning Super Bowl champions can come up with ways to slow down the former Trojans star when the Falcons visit SoFi Stadium on Sunday for a meeting of teams hoping to avoid 0-2 starts.
London caught 160 passes for 2,153 yards and 16 touchdowns in 27 games at USC before the Falcons made him the eighth overall pick of April’s NFL draft. After being slowed by an injury in the preseason, London had five catches for 74 yards as Atlanta blew a second-half lead and lost 27-26 to the New Orleans Saints in a season opener between NFC South Division rivals.
“I don’t want to pump his tires and let him get a big head after one game, but Drake is exactly the guy we thought he was when we went out there and worked him out at USC,” second-year Falcons coach Arthur Smith said. “Just a very mature, competitive, strong-minded individual.”
The 21-year-old’s speed, grace and tenacity on the ball are already well known back where he grew up as a twosport star in football and basketball. London is from Moorpark, California, just a few minutes north of the Rams’ training complex in suburban Thousand Oaks.
However, London is hardly the only challenge facing the Rams, who gave up 297 passing yards and struggled in multiple other ways during a season-opening 31-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills on the NFL’s opening night.
Titans visit Bills in prime time
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen feigned ignorance when asked if he winced while watching video of himself getting stuffed on fourth down near the goal line in the final seconds of a loss to the Tennessee Titans last October in Nashville.
“What fourth-down play?” Allen said this past week, shrugging his shoulders before winking to let on he knew exactly the play being referenced.
As the Bills prepare to host the Titans on Monday night, their most recent meeting remains unforgettable for those involved.
Down 34-31, the Bills marched 79 yards and faced fourth-and-1 at the 3 with 22 seconds remaining. A combination of Allen’s foot slipping and Titans defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons blowing up the left side of the offensive line led to the quarterback being stopped for no gain.
“I’m just kidding,” Allen said. “And yeah, you don’t need to watch that one.”
It was the first of five losses in eight games for the Bills as they went into a midseason tailspin before recovering to win their second consecutive AFC East Division title. It was the second of six consecutive wins for the Titans as they repeated as AFC South champions and earned the conference’s top seed for the playoffs.
The play was also the latest in a series of memorable moments between the franchises, which are set to meet for a fifth consecutive season.
There was, of course, “The Comeback” as the Bills erased a 32-point deficit in the 1992 season’s playoffs to beat the Houston Oilers, who later moved to Tennessee and became the Titans. Then came the “Music City Miracle” as the Titans scored the decisive touchdown on a kickoff return in the final seconds of a wild-card playoff game for the 1999 season. Two years ago, video of running back Derrick Henry bowling over Buffalo cornerback Josh Norman in Tennessee’s 42-16 win went viral.
“You remember things from every season that carry with you, highs and lows,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “But we’re really focused on this game this week.”
Tennessee is coming off last Sunday’s 21-20 home loss to the New York Giants in which it squandered a seven-point lead in the final two minutes and the usually reliable Randy Bullock missed a 47-yard field-goal attempt as the clock expired.
As for the Bills, despite opening with a road rout of the Rams on Sept. 8 — a Thursday night game that gave them extra time to prepare for this week — the sting of last year’s defeat plus the familiarity of the Titans is keeping them grounded.
“They’ve given us problems for the last couple of years, and we all know what happened last week,” Allen said. “They’re going to be a motivated team coming into our stadium.”