Letting go of a Week 15 loss in New Orleans won’t be easy. He made several huge plays, including a gorgeous one-handed catch, but lost a fumble on fourth-and-5 that effectively ended a Falcons comeback attempt. He was open and honest about the mistake and its impact after the game, but had moved on from it as the week progressed.
Falcons coaches viewed it as a teachable moment that in no way diminished trust in the USC product.
“We’ll continue to work, but in terms of mindset, he’s such a competitor,” head coach Arthur Smith said. “You have to understand that I’m going to continue to call his number. We’re not down on him. Nobody loves what happened with the result, but Drake is wired the right way. We’ll continue to work and learn from those mistakes, but I have all the faith in the world in him.”
The Falcons had a good idea of what they were drafting in the first round, but there’s always some unknown in how he’ll act and develop once he goes pro. The Falcons have been pleased with what they’ve seen this summer and fall, as his rookie season winds down.
“I think it’s one of those things where, you know, you go into it and you want to see how he adapts to certain looks that he gets,” offensive coordinator Dave Ragone said. “We try to, as you can see right? We move him around and his ability to grasp space obviously is one of the things that attracted us to him and his ability to make the tough catch. Right? It’s hard to get guys wide, wide open in the National Football League. You want guys who are fearless, who understand space, and you can trust and he’s shown in times and critical situations those [traits] and you hope he continues and we hope we’re able to put him in situations to make plays.”
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