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Home > Terence Moore > Archives > 2009 > January > 26 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USFalcons’ White paying attention during SB week
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Roddy White has spent most of his 27 years watching the Super Bowl. It’s just that when he does so Sunday from his Braselton home, he’ll leave that fan stuff behind.
He’ll study the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals with a physical or mental notepad in hand.
That’s splendid news for the Falcons, but only if White’s teammates do the same. You see, they blew it during the first round of the playoffs. So White will have a slew of objectives whenever he sits in front of his television screen this week, not only for Super Bowl Sunday from Tampa, but for Super Bowl Week in general.
“I’ll be learning how to win in big games and being in crucial situations and how to handle them,” said White, the Falcons’ rising wide receiver. “I’ll be learning how not to give up big plays and how to have big drives near the end of games. I’ll be looking at the attitude of the teams. That and their confidence. You can see those things in how hard they play, and that’s something our team can learn from those cats, because we have such a young team.”
They also have a frustrated team, or at least they should.
Every cleat step the Cardinals take toward an unlikely, but possible world championship, should cause those in Flowery Branch to cringe when they aren’t inclined to fume. With just a decent effort instead of a jittery one earlier this month at University of Phoenix Stadium, the Falcons of then could have become the Cardinals of now. They could have replaced Arizona as the NFL’s magic team. They could have been preparing for Tuesday’s Media Day at Raymond James Stadium.
It could have been this simple for the Falcons: They beat Arizona, and then they travel to Carolina, where they meet a Panthers bunch that the Falcons slammed during the second of two meetings this season between division rivals. The Falcons win again, and they face the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game at the Georgia Dome.
Remember, too, that the Falcons were within a controversial play of surging past the Eagles earlier in the season.
Hear that loud sound? It’s White joining others with the Falcons. They’re exchanging screams over the thought of those “could have been” situations.
“Yeah. You think about how we played those guys right down to the wire (in Arizona), and without a few mistakes and turnovers, it would be different,” said White, who also keeps imagining the missed opportunity of making a second Super Bowl trip for the franchise exactly a decade after the Dirty Birds. “I was really kicking myself after Philly beat the New York Giants in the playoffs, because we would have had that home game.”
Oh well. This gives White more time to learn from Larry Fitzgerald in particular. No athlete with a breath these days is hotter than Fitzgerald, and he plays the same position as White for the Cardinals. He just plays it at a significantly higher level than White or anybody else.
“The guy has the best natural hands of anybody in the NFL, because he catches the ball very clean,” White said. “He’s always going downfield. He just goes up and catches the ball at its highest point, which everybody is taught to do. But he just does an excellent job at it, and you can learn a lot from that.”
Just so you know, White can keep learning from Fitzgerald after the Super Bowl in Hawaii.
They’re both in the Pro Bowl.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Falcons/NFL
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By D-Man
January 26, 2009 5:44 PM | Link to this
Good article Mr. Moore…I was really concerned about R. White when he first joined the Falcons and failed to produce after a couple of years, but he is really lighting it up with the team now and I’m excited he wants to continue to learn and improve his craft. I hope when White is standing next to Fitzgerald at the Pro Bowl that we will learn a few extra tricks he can use later this year. It’s also very refreshing especially from a WR to hear that he is willing to learn and doesn’t already think he knows it all…GO FALCONS!
By FALCON FAN
January 26, 2009 5:48 PM | Link to this
Roddy why don’t ya learn how to go for the ball when its thrown your way as in watching the CB catch it then tackling him . Being a WR is not just catching and blocking it is also defending when a poorly thrown ball comes your way. Just don’t watch it. Defend it.
Ok now that I got that off my back. Besides that your pretty dam good. I probably could and should blame coaching on that too.
By gdg73
January 26, 2009 5:52 PM | Link to this
Not glad that the Falcons lost in the first round, but I don’t think we could have beaten both Carolina and Philadelphia. See our problem was not on offense it was on defense. Arizona turned the defensive intensity level up in the playoffs and started making game-changing plays. We didn’t do that in the Arizona game. We hadn’t done it all year. Until we turn it up on defense, Roddy White can become the second coming of Jerry Rice, but it still won’t matter. I have been saying it for years, we need an aggressive Top 10 scoring defense. Until then, we will never win big in the NFL. Find some good/nasty players on defense via the draft or free agency. Let’s build a defense to go with this potentially wonderful offense. We need a playmaker at ever level of the defense. Right now, John Abraham is the only player on our defense that could start for another team. That is pathetic.
By ERIC
January 26, 2009 7:35 PM | Link to this
To Thomas Dimitroff Draft as many defensive studs that you can I believe your offensive unit is pretty solid I knkow that all the mock draft gurus think that Micheal Johnson may slip down the board quite a bit if he’s there take him.And that’s alot to say for a DAWGS FAN but I’m willing to for go that for the betterment of the falcons Jamal Anderson is a bust
By Doug
January 26, 2009 8:13 PM | Link to this
Biggest thing for Roddy to learn from Fitzgerald: Attack the ball. Don’t wait for the ball to get to you. I remember at least twice where Roddy let defenders grab the ball and get interceptions, whereas if he would have gone up and attacked the ball, or at least defended against the interception the result would have been different. Fitzgerald wins all one on one’s, or at least does not let the defender win it. It has nothing to do with size, but everything to do with heart. Roddy has the talent to do that, he just needs to have the tenacity to go after it.
By kurula
January 26, 2009 9:06 PM | Link to this
if atlanta beat arizona, wouldn’t they by rule have to have played the giants since they are in the same division? seems like i read that somewhere before the playoffs.
By Sly Ty
January 26, 2009 9:20 PM | Link to this
Great article Mr.Moore, this is a great sign of humility on R.White’s part. He is really,really good at this point, and he is striving to be great.Also, to the many fans, R.White is the perfect example of being patient. Jamal Anderson can only get better, and he is a good Run stopping DE. If he gets better, like R.White got better, it will improve the entire Defense. Oh, and by the way,Kroy Bierman, and Thomas Decoud who were drafted last year, look to be really good role players.
By crabapplejoe
January 26, 2009 9:21 PM | Link to this
Roddy needs to hope that Lawyer Milloy gets traded to a team we play against next year….then he would know he would have at least one great game….just ask Fitzgerald and Boldin.