Drake London's First Touchdown Came From One Yard Outside the Red Zone

Drake London scored a touchdown tonight. It took seven games, and it came from outside the red zone.

Twenty-one yards. Deep left. Michael Penix Jr., first sequence of the fourth quarter.

Now do the arithmetic nobody does. A 21-yard scoring play gets snapped from the 21. The red zone starts at the 20.

His first touchdown of the season was thrown from one yard in front of the only part of the field that was ever the problem.

On October 16 I wrote that Atlanta had attempted eleven passes from inside an opponent's 20 all year and London was the target on none of them. Fourth in receiving yards among the 161 players ESPN counts as qualified. The only man in the top 26 by yards with no receiving touchdown.

Nine days later he has one. From the 21.

Here is the part that is going to get lost by Tuesday.

Nothing got fixed.

Atlanta went two-for-five in the red zone tonight. Five trips, two touchdowns, the same arithmetic that has trailed this offense since September. They won 29-20 anyway, and Miles has the reason. It was not the offense.

What changed is smaller than a fix and better than nothing. Somebody finally let the best receiver on this roster run a route from outside the 20 and win it clean.

That is a workaround. It also worked.

Tampa Bay, Sunday, one o'clock. If London goes another seven games without being asked the question from inside the 20, the workaround is not a workaround. It is the plan.