Drake London will play in Week 13 after a brief appearance on the Falcons' injury report.
The Atlanta Falcons will have their top wide receiver on the field in Week 13 against the Los Angeles Chargers. Drake London made an appearance on Atlanta's injury report on Thursday as a limited practice participant with a hip pointer that dates back to Week 10; however, head coach Raheem Morris announced London will play, per Marc Raimondi of ESPN.
The Falcons will also have wide receiver Darnell Mooney available, who was limited on Wednesday with an Achilles injury. He exited early from Atlanta's Week 11 game against the Denver Broncos and did not return.
Cornerback Mike Hughes and running back Jase McClellan will not play. This is Hughes' second straight game in which he will not play. McClellan was a late addition to the injury report after being limited on Thursday and not practicing Friday.
Morris added he hopes cornerbacks Dee Alford and Antonio Hamilton Sr. can return and were not given game designations.
Kicker Younghoe Koo is questionable with a right hip injury.
Falcons clinging to slight edge in NFC South
Since the NFC East and North divisions are full of teams with strong records, only one team from each of the South and West will likely make the postseason. For now, the Falcons have the postseason nod as the No. 4 seed. Division winners are also guaranteed a first-round home game.
Atlanta also benefits from beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers twice, as they hold the tiebreaker advantage should they end up with the same record.
Kirk Cousins spent the bye absorbing the new movie Wicked and “ruminating” on the playbook, per ESPN's Raimondi.
“There is a little bit of making a bonfire outside [in] my backyard and sitting there looking at the fire and just ruminating on my third-down reads and my footwork and decision-making and those kinds of things,” Cousins said. “So, it's the way it always will be.”
Morris spoke about how Cousins returns from a bye with much to go over.
“I'm sure he consults with Julie, his wife, and then he's able to come in and absolutely attack whether there are issues or things we do well, things he wants to keep doing, get a state of the union from me — whatever the case may be. He's awesome in those ways because everybody wants to have that relationship with that quarterback. And Kirk won't let you not have that relationship with him, if you know what I mean.”
Coming off back-to-back losses against the New Orleans Saints and Broncos, the Falcons' Week 12 bye couldn't have come at a better time.
“I don't know when the perfect time would've been for it — probably before we lost the two games — but you definitely go into it saying, ‘man, we needed the bye last week,'” Morris said. “We certainly needed it. There's no doubt about it.”
The Falcons host the Chargers in Week 13 on Sunday, December 1, at 1:00 p.m. EST.
