The surprise wasn’t that Roddy White voiced his displeasure. The surprise was that it took so long. If we’d learned nothing else about the man over his decade-plus with the Falcons, it’s that he’s never in danger of being dubbed Reticent Roddy.
On Tuesday, White told Vaughn McClure of ESPN: “I’m not out here just (fooling) around just to sit around to just block (football-playing) people all day. It’s not what I want to do.”
On Tuesday night, White hedged a bit, telling The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s D. Orlando Ledbetter: “This is nothing to get mad over. I can’t control no plays that are being called in the huddle. All I can do is run the routes I’m supposed to run on the play and do my job.”
Cold numbers: White has caught two passes for eight yards in the past three games. He saw a streak of 130 games with a reception end against the Giants on Sept. 20. A week later, he was sitting on a two-game run of no catches. He has been targeted 13 times — one-fourth as many as Julio Jones and less than half as many as Leonard Hankerson, who’s a household name only in domiciles that have “Hankerson” on the mailbox.
Speaking before practice Wednesday, Dan Quinn said of White: “He’s somebody we think the world of.” Asked if his team would make it a point of emphasis to target White, the coach said: “I wouldn’t say a point of emphasis … We don’t generally go into this or that to make it happen.”
The Falcons, see, are trying to win games. To date, they’ve won them all. They’re 4-0 getting next to nothing from the man who was once their No. 1 receiver, and the key words there are “was once.” He’s a useful player but no longer a difference-maker.
White will turn 34 on Nov. 2. He’s not the player who, from 2007 through 2012, had six consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. He was then a Pro Bowler, one of the very best in the business. He ceased being the focal point of the Falcons’ passing attack a while back, and today he’s getting fewer looks than Hankerson, who has 17 fewer catches over his five-year NFL career than White had in 2010 alone.
There’s never an easy way of going from Main Man to Bit Player. When you’re accustomed to getting the ball and drawing media attention, the sight of you not getting the ball draws more media attention. For two weeks, White resisted the urge to blurt. When I talked with him after the Giants game, he spoke not of getting shut out but of his resurgent team, which had rallied from a 10-point deficit to win.
That day in the Meadowlands, he seemed perfectly happy with winning. But big-time pro athletes don’t get that way without developing a deep reservoir of pride. Inevitably, pride will seek an outlet. White was a big deal for a long time; suddenly he isn’t. It happens, and it’s never pretty.
When White’s venting went public, the Internet responded with trade scenarios. I’d be surprised if he goes anywhere. For one thing, a team needs four competent receivers, and Devin Hester was just placed on injured reserve. For another, White can still run the underneath routes, which clear the way for Jones. For yet another, Jones has a history of getting nicked. What if he misses a game? Do you want your wideouts to be Hankerson and Nick Williams?
There’s also this: For all his gabbing, White is a good guy with a good heart. Matt Ryan said as much Wednesday, calling him one of the best teammates he’d had. The guess is that White will recalibrate his expectations and fit his declining skills into a team that’s loving life. It might be different if the Falcons were 0-4 and splintering, but sometimes pride must yield to pragmatics.
White wasn’t at practice Wednesday — he was excused due to a medical issue with his mother — but I doubt this will be more than a two-day tempest. Quinn will say the right things; White will respond in kind. “I’m here for one thing,” he told Ledbetter, “and that’s to win.”
These Falcons have done nothing but. Can’t imagine any player, even a chastened one, wouldn’t want to ride this wave for all it’s worth.
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