Falcons player Drake London regrets gun celebration in win against Eagles

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Two days after Drake London scored the game-winning touchdown on “Monday Night Football” and celebrated by miming firing a shot into the air, the Atlanta Falcons wide receiver said he was not happy with how the game went.

Quarterback Kirk Cousins ​​threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to London with 34 seconds left in Monday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles, tying the Falcons 21-21 in Philadelphia.

London said after his first MNF touchdown, he got a little carried away in the moment. The Falcons were given a 15-yard penalty and kicker Younghoe Koo had to kick a 48-yard extra point to give the team what they believed was a crucial 22-21 win to start the season.

“It’s a trend in football right now to have these kinds of celebrations,” London told ESPN. “It was my first Monday Night Football game. I was kind of lost there. I wasn’t happy with the position I put my team in.”

In addition, London said he regretted the celebration because of the gun reference. The Falcons hosted the Apalachee High School (Georgia) football team at their practice facility last week, just days after the fatal shooting there. The school is about 25 miles from the Falcons’ headquarters.

“There’s a lot of things in the world that have to do with gun violence that I don’t think I should have shown there,” London said. “So I’m not very happy with it, and you probably won’t see anything like that from me again.”

Falcons coach Raheem Morris said London apologized for the situation after the game, saying the team was “sensitive” given the climate in the country, especially close to home.

Drake’s move “was a celebration that you don’t want to see because there is violence in our country that we are very sensitive to,” Morris said. “But there was no ill will or intent. And it’s a mistake on all of our part that these things come to light in light of what’s going on in our country and we don’t respond sensitively to these situations, which we definitely do. We hosted the school where the violence took place here and we are very sensitive to all of these things and how these things happen to us. And it’s important to us.

“And that was just Drake having fun with his fan base and his people in the stands, and you don’t really think about things like that at the moment.”

The Falcons wore Apalachee High School T-shirts during warmups before their Week 1 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Some players still wore them in the locker room on Wednesday.

“Our game is one thing that helps bring those things back and make them better,” Morris said. “So, you certainly don’t want to shine a light on something like that, even if you didn’t intend to. And I know none of us did. I know for a fact that Drake didn’t.”