The Falcoholic
Naming five Atlanta Falcons is a singular task that requires remarkable expertise. As the team travels to take on the Carolina Panthers in Week 3, there is a lot of intrigue as the Falcons battle for their first divisional win. These five players could prove instrumental in the outcome.
It’s been a quieter-than-expected start for Drake London, who many expected could vie for the Triple Crown as the league-leader in receptions, yards, and touchdowns. He’s coming off a disappointing performance against the Minnesota Vikings, marred by a fumble early in the game. However, not to be overshadowed was a strong finish where London had two clutch catches on the team’s penultimate drive that ultimately ended in a touchdown and sealed their win. Notably, both receptions came with London either working out of the slot or over the middle, something that the Falcons have yet to really lean into this year, which could partially explain London’s lethargic start. According to PFF, roughly half (73) of London’s 149 targets came in the slot last year, leading him to be one of the NFL’s most productive “power slot” receivers.
The Falcons should look only to last year’s road win over the Panthers to see how effective London can be in the slot. In that game, five of London’s six catches came when he was in the slot for a career-high 61 percent of his snaps. Getting London matched up against nickel cornerback Chau Smith-Wade, who is a first-year starter, would be a great way to baptize the latter and jumpstart the former’s production.
Falcons right guard Chris Lindstrom is probably tasked with the toughest individual assignment on Sunday: keeping Panthers defensive tackle Derrick Brown in check. Brown spends the majority (about 80 percent) of his snaps lined up on the left side of the defensive line, pitting him against the right side of the Falcons’ offensive line, where Lindstrom lines up.
With Brown missing nearly all of 2024, it’s been a while since these two have seen each other, but one can say Brown got the better of Lindstrom in a back-and-forth battle during the season-opener in 2023. Brown, as one of the league’s best run defenders, needs to be neutralized if the Falcons hope to have anything close to the same success from their 218-yard rushing performance a week ago.
Like Brown, Falcons defensive tackle Brandon Dorlus spends the bulk of lined up on the left side of the defensive line. But unlike Brown, who will be facing the Falcons’ best blocker this week, Dorlus should benefit from facing the Panthers’ worst. Starting right guard Robert Hunt went down last week, and his replacement Chandler Zavala has been one of the worst blockers in the league since his 2023 debut.
Per PFF, Zavala has given up seven sacks and 39 pressures on 364 career pass-blocking plays for a pressure rate of 10.7 percent. For the sake of comparison, former Falcons guard Jalen Mayfield,...
