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.
Drake London
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.
Chris Lindstrom
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.
Brandon Dorlus
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, who was downright awful during his 2021 rookie year, gave up a pressure rate of 9.2 percent. Dorlus and the rest of the Falcons’ interior defensive line should feast on Sunday whenever lined up against Zavala. This should be instrumental in keeping Panthers quarterback Bryce Young under siege.
Mike Hughes
Beleaguering Young this Sunday is a core part of the team’s strategy to mask the absence of cornerback A.J. Terrell, who is out with a hamstring injury. But in addition to the pass rush, the Falcons will need their remaining secondary players to step up. Chief among them is veteran Mike Hughes, and what he lacks in lockdown coverage ability is partially made up for by his reliable tackling. And that’s something the Falcons will need on Sunday to deal with the bigger-bodied Panthers wideouts like Tetairoa McMillan and Xavier Legette.
Both could be a challenge to take down in the open field, given the plethora of smaller bodies and frames dotted across the Falcons’ secondary. While the Falcons piece it together at the other cornerback spot in Terrell’s absence, it’ll be important that Hughes becomes a stabilizing force on his side of the field.
Parker Romo
The Atlanta Falcons have begun a new era at kicker with the team officially moving on from Younghoe Koo this past week and plugging Parker Romo in at that vacated spot. Romo is coming off an impressive five-field goal performance against the Vikings, but is far from secure in his role.
When Koo took over for longtime Falcons placekicking fixture Matt Bryant midway through the 2019 season, it paid immediate dividends as he proceeded to make 10 of his next 11 field goal tries in his first three games as a Falcon. The Falcons will need similar consistency from Romo moving forward for him to solidify his grip on the roster spot. That, of course, begins with another strong day against the Panthers.
Can you name any more Falcons that intrigue you for Sunday’s matchup against the Panthers?
