It has taken a while, but Falcons wide receiver Roddy White says he has made football peace with Saints fans.
“Absolutely, I love those people, man,” said White, who has bashed the “Who Dat” crowd in the past. “I can’t wait to have some fun with those guys.”
He gets his chance Thursday when the undefeated Falcons (5-0) face the Saints (1-4) at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
While White is fine with the Saints fans, he’s not so cool with NFL scheduling.
“I don’t know who decided to make football on Thursday, but I don’t think that was a wise decision,” White said.
It’s been a thin line between love and hate between the Falcons all-time leading receiver and the Saints’ fan base. They have gone back-and-forth over the years dating back to his 2005 rookie season.
Here’s the usual pattern: White rips them on a twitter tirade. They react in kind. White later apologizes after a consultation with public relations staff and former coach Mike Smith.
His last Saints’ digital fight was over the “food” rant back in 2012.
“I don’t like nothing about the Saints,” White said at the time. “The colors. The city. Nothing. But they’ve got some good food, though. Other than the food, nothing.”
Not sure where White may be dining during his visit, but he contends that he’s fine with the New Orleans fans. For now.
“They are a rowdy crowd and they love their football team,” he said. “They’ll be excited with us in town and we’ll have some fun playing football.”
The last time the Falcons came to town undefeated (8-0 in 2012), the Saints beat them 31-27. But with the Falcons’ improving defense and the offense trending upward, the Saints, with a shaky defense and an aging Drew Brees, may be in trouble. The Saints are a three-point underdog.
White credits the defense for carrying the team to a strong start.
“We are winning because our defense is playing lights out,” White said. “They are getting turnovers. They are keeping the score down. They have a bunch of energy over there. They are causing chaos and scoring on defense.
“They are giving us opportunity after opportunity. Coach (Dan Quinn) put up a stat that we turned the ball over three times (on Sunday vs. Washington) and they gave up three points. The other two were three-and-outs. Those guys are making a difference. If they keep playing like that, we’ll always have a chance to win.”
White has a plan for restarting the offense, which torched Houston 49-21 in the game preceding a flat performance against the Redskins.
“Holding onto the ball; that would be start,” White said. “We had a chance for some big plays. We just watched some film on them. We missed a couple (passes) to (Leonard) Hankerson and (Nick) Williams. We missed one to Julio (Jones), too. It could have been 6. Just little things like that. We’ve got to get better. We are just off a little bit.”
White believes the Falcons can improve from a poor red-zone outing. The offense scored touchdowns twice on five trips inside Washington’s 20-yard line.
“We have to do some things differently down there,” White said. “We had some opportunities. Our depth on routes could have been better. We could have helped (quarterback) Matt (Ryan) out a little bit. We had some opportunities to score some touchdowns. It was just an off day for us on offense. You have those days and you just have to find a way to win.”
And even even though he may not particularly like the day of the week, White still gets stoked to play in prime time on nationally televised games.
“Every time that we get an opportunity to go out there and the lights are on as the only game on that day, it’s pretty exciting for me,” White said. “The more televised game we get, the more excited I get.”
About the Author
