On the hot seat: Falcons wide receiver Roddy White
Falcons wide receiver Roddy White wants to put the pedal to the metal on offense.
He believes the Falcons can perform at an optimum level when they are in their up-tempo, no-huddle attack that they call “Texas.”
White, who’s expected to play against Tampa Bay after nursing a hamstring injury, is on the hot seat for this game.
Falcons coach Mike Smith said the plan was to attack more out of the no-huddle and go up-tempo against the Bengals, but the referees slowed things.
The Falcons ran 65 plays to the Bengals’ 69. Smith said the Falcons were in the no-huddle for 45 plays (69 percent).
“Each game has a completely different dynamic in terms of the tempo,” Smith said. “That was a game where both teams hardly ever huddled. When you watch the game, you could see that they had their no-huddle offense going as well. I think sometimes the officials can slow a tempo game down.”
Smith said that several times both units were at the line of scrimmage and ready to play, but the officials — perhaps for a TV timeout — were standing over the ball.
“I think if you look, there were plays where both teams wanted to get out there and play, but there was a stoppage by the officials,” Smith said. “They stood over the ball a lot more in this game than they had in other games.”
The Falcons are a rhythm offense and would like to stay in their up-tempo, no-huddle attack more often against the Bucs.
“That’s just part of the deal,” Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan said. “I think the key for us is continuing that tempo and being able to convert on third downs. We did not do a good enough job last week.”
About the Author
Honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his "long and distinguished reporting in the field of pro football," D. Orlando Ledbetter, Esq. has covered the NFL 28 seasons. A graduate of Howard University, he's a winner of Georgia Sportswriter of the Year and three Associated Press Sports Editor awards.
