LONDON – Falcons wide receiver Roddy White spoke to the media after practice on Friday.
Here’s what he had to say (edited for clarity):
Q: Who won penalty shootout?
A: Kenny, our goalie, did a heckuva job. I think they scored one out of 5, So that's a pretty good stop ratio, That sounded pretty good to me.
Q: How will the offense perform behind the revamped offensive line?
A: We just got to get the ball out a little quicker because of our offensive line situation. We have to find a way to do 7 and 8-man protections and push the ball down the field.
Q: What was the team’s point of emphasis this week?
A: We just got to go out there and execute ... In order for us to get a win, everybody has to play to their potential.
Q: Thoughts of facing Calvin Johnson?
A: He is a dynamic player. If he played on the defense, I'd get ready for him ... They've been playing well without him the last couple weeks and finding ways to win. So we've got to be ready to go out there as a team and get a win.
Q: Thoughts on playing in Wembley?
A: I've never been to the stadium and there's a lot of excitement about it. I want to get on the grass and take some pictures before the game, and roll from there.
Q: Is this a must-win game?
A: We're really one game out of first place in our division, one loss behind everybody, so if we can go ahead and get something going and get us a win, we could roll into the bye week and go from there.
Q: Do you think an 18-game season is a good idea?
A: I don't know about that. We already play enough games already. Just adding more to that, I don't think players want to do that ... We have too many games right now as we speak, and I don't think our bodies can hold up.
Q: Can the special teams help you all beat the Lions?
A: We've been working on our returns this week. That's been a big emphasis for special teams. (We have) to try to get Devin loose, We know if we can get him going and get him a little crease out there then he can make some things happen for us and eventually put some points on the board for us.
Q: Did the week over here away from your howling fans help the team bond more?
A: Absolutely because we've been spending a lot of time together, which is good. ... Just not just going to meetings, just hanging out, going to dinner, things like that, just hanging out. It's been good. It's been a good week for us. And as teammates doing things that's team oriented, so, we'll continue to do that for the next two days and then get ready to play.
Q: Can you all fix the third down problem?
A: Absolutely, the last three weeks our third down percentage has been horrible. We've got to get ahead of the chains and just go out there and execute. It's unacceptable for us to go three and out, three and out, It puts a lot of pressure on our defense, and they've been playing well last couple weeks. We've been kind of laying those guys out there. So, we've got to do a better job just progressing. The last three weeks on offense we've regressed. So we've got to go out there and execute and help those guys out and keep those guys off the field.
Q: Will it be a lift to get Harry Douglas back?
A: It'll be great. He does so much for us in all the different packages that we can have when he's out there on the field,
Q: Has the team rallied around rookie James Stone?
A: Yeah, absolutely, all of us talk to Stoney every day and his responsibilities. He's been into the playbook getting everything done this week. He's spent extra time with Coach Tice and things like that, just getting ready for the game. So he'll be fine. We'll do protections to help him out, so we can block people up. We've just got to get our running game going. That's going to be important for us, to go out there and run the ball and run it well.
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