White-Ryan connection strikes again

Roddy White says you still haven’t seen his best effort.

The back flip he performed in the end zone Sunday afternoon at the Georgia Dome?

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Johnny Crawford/jcrawford@ajc.com

Falcons receiver Roddy White caught five passes for 119 yards, his eighth 100-yard receiving game.

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A 5 or a 6 on a 1-to-10 scale, White said.

There’s an excuse, though. “I was kind of tired,” he said.

No wonder, considering the 70-yard touchdown reception that preceded White’s flip. Even the Falcons’ top pass-catcher isn’t used to prolonged sprints like that. It was his longest catch in five years, since his junior season at UAB.

“Now I’ve got to get me an 80-yarder. I’ve got to beat that,” White said, and after Sunday’s 38-14 victory over Kansas City that seemed like quite a reasonable goal.

White caught five passes for 119 yards, his eighth 100-yard receiving game. Five came last season, when he ranked third in the NFL in receiving yards. He’s 26, just getting the hang of working with first-round draft pick Matt Ryan. Already, in Game 3, things have started to click.

Just like his end zone flip, White suggested, the Ryan-to-White connection will improve.

“We’re getting better. It takes a long time to build a relationship,” White said. “He’s still a rookie. He’s got a long way to go, and he’s got a lot of defenses to read and see. We’re getting better each week. That’s all that matters.”

Two conditions were perfect for the 70-yarder.

First, the Chiefs played the coverage the Falcons wanted. When White went in motion on third-and-11, Kansas City’s defensive backs adjusted into a scheme where each was responsible for a quarter of the field. When White saw that, he knew all he had to do was make enough of a fake for the safety to hesitate, just for an instant. When that happened, White got behind the defense and Ryan let loose the pass, which hit White in stride.

That’s where the second condition came into play: Being indoors.

“We were working on it in practice, and the wind was blowing a couple of times, and it wasn’t on the mark,” White said. “Today, there’s no wind. He threw it right where it needed to be.”

Ryan credited White.

“That’s him,” he said. “He just ran by the defense there. He ran right behind them and showed what kind of speed he has, and he adjusted to the ball being in the center of the field really well. He came to it and made a fantastic catch.”

Ryan was equally impressed with another catch White made, a 7-yarder on third-and-6 from the Kansas City 8. White knew he was going to get clobbered but held onto the ball, setting up the Falcons’ third touchdown. Falcons coach Mike Smith, true to his profession, praised White for buying into the need to block on running plays.

But the highlight film from Sunday’s game won’t show White’s blocking. It will show the 70-yard play, and the celebration that followed.

White has been flipping since he was 8 years old. Sunday, he said, he was just “going with the flow.” Maybe next time he won’t be as fatigued and will get better reviews from the judges.

“I give it a 7.8,” fellow receiver Michael Jenkins said. “He was a little forward on the landing. He needs to be straight up.”