Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Drake London did not take kindly to what he called “personal stuff” said to him by somebody in the stands at Mercedes-Benz Stadium during his team’s 34-3 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, September 20.
“I’m going to be honest here, I don’t take light to disrespect at all,” London, 25, told reporters after the game. “I don’t care who you are. I’m a man, too, at the end of the day. So, if you want to get on a personal level, I can get there, too, but it’s not the right thing to do. So, I got to take accountability for that, and I got to push forward and be the bigger man in some of those situations.”
Cameras caught London appearing to get into a verbal altercation with a fan in the third quarter of the game, while his teammate, Olamide Zaccheaus, held him back. The Falcons were trailing 27-3 at the time.
London admitted that his team’s struggles played into his reaction. Asked if it was a fan he was talking to, he said, “it was somebody.”
“But with how the game was going and what was said to me, I don’t like it,” he added.
London had four receptions for 51 yards in the Falcons’ loss, while quarterback Cooper Rush was benched in the third quarter after a pair of interceptions and a fumble.
“I think we as playmakers — us in the backfield, us on the outside, on the wing — we got to go out there and make plays regardless,” London said. “We’re all in the league for a reason, right? We’re all good football players. I don’t care if you’re fourth string or you’re the starter.”
The former first-round draft pick also noticed fans booing the hometown Falcons during the losing effort.
“To me [the booing] just gives me more juice to go prove everybody wrong,” he said. “If we have everybody against us, then all you can do is push forward.”
Falcons running back Bijan Robinson added, “I love our fans a lot, every single one of them. If we let ourselves focus on the boos and things like that, that will creep into our mind and that will make us have a bad performance. I know that just comes with the game. It’s our job for them to not boo.”
Atlanta is still playing without both of their top quarterbacks — Tua Tagovailoa and Michael Penix Jr. — due to injuries.
The Falcons will have a quick turnaround for their next game, with a return for Penix, 26, still on the table. Atlanta travels to Green Bay to face the Packers on Thursday, September 24.
