A conversation with ... Falcons receiver Roddy White

In a Q&A with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, White discussed going against his former teammate Chris Houston on Sunday and the personal-foul penalty he was called for last week.

Q: Do you and [former Falcons defensive back] Chris [Houston] have a good relationship?

A: Yeah, we have an excellent relationship. He has been my friend for five years now. We've been cool. We've stayed in touch. We vacation together. But it will be a little bit different when we are on the field. We will be friends in the offseason, but on Sunday it will be totally different.

Q: How important is the game with a chance to go into the bye week over .500?

A: It is. I feel like we have to get off this up-and-down streak and put consecutive wins together. That is a good thing we did last year is win a lot of games in a row. This year we have been up-and-down, up-and-down. This is our opportunity before the bye to get ourselves going, get over .500 and get another road win.

Q: What did you notice the Panthers’ defense do last week against you without Julio [Jones] on the other side?

A: I got a lot more double-coverage, a lot more roll. Things like that. You get those things when Julio is not out there. Hopefully he gets out there this week, and we get a lot of opportunities to get one-on-one coverages.

Q: Do you keep up with how [Lions wide receiver] Calvin Johnson has done this year?

A: He is doing a good job. He's off to a very, very hot start. He's been doing his thing. He's right up there at the top. He leads the league in touchdowns and is right up there in yards and catches. … He's been scoring every game. It will up to our defense to keep him out of the end zone. I hope he doesn't score. I check on him every once in a while. I text message him and tell him he's doing a good job. We'll see how it goes.

Q: Coach [Mike Smith] said he had to talk to you about the personal-foul penalty you got last week?

A: I got frustrated in the game. I kind of really protected my teammates. You just can't let those guys get out there and get hit just blocking. I was kind of doing my job. I got a penalty right there. I was wishing the ref wasn't paying attention, but he was watching me.

Q: Would you have thrown a flag on the play?

A: Absolutely not. I would have thrown a flag on Carolina because they initiated it really. I was just coming to the defense of my teammate.

Q: Were they playing dirty?

A: I wouldn't say that. Harry [Douglas] was jacking one of their guys up, and one of their guys came over and hit him. So I just teed off on him. It was kind of like in this league they always catch the second guy. They never catch the first guy doing the thing they do, taking cheap shots and things like that.