Falcons wide receiver Roddy White hears the whispers, and some believe that he’s hearing the footsteps.
The greatest receiver in team history is off to a slow start and has reverted to his early-career form of dropping passes.
But the Falcons, who have four of their six games, need White to rebound quickly against the Baltimore Ravens at 1 p.m. Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium.
White, 32, who holds every major team record, has played 326 snaps this season and is the 95th-rated wide receiver in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus.
White, who didn’t practice much during training camp, has caught 19 of 37 targeted passes (51.4 percent) for 253 yards, which include 47 yards after the catch. He has two touchdowns and three dropped passes.
“Guys sometimes come out with slow starts,” assistant head coach/wide receivers Terry Robiskie said. “My thing to Rod is that he has got to re-focus. He has to get back out there on that practice field and go to work.”
White, a four-time Pro Bowler, is on pace to catch 50 passes, which would be his lowest total for a season since he caught 30 in 2006, his second season in the league.
“I’ve gotten off to a really slow start,” White said. “It’s not one of my (favorite) years that I’m having. I’ve got to turn my game around for my team to start playing better.”
White averaged 98 catches per season from 2008-12, including a league-leading 115 in 2010, when he was named All-Pro. He had 63 catches last season, which was marred by a high ankle sprain and hamstring injuries.
“I’m a leader on this team, and I haven’t been going out there and playing Roddy White football,” he said. “I (must) get back to just being myself and cutting it loose. Whatever happens, happens.”
White has been plagued by drops periodically over his career. He led the league with 15 in 2011, when he caught 100 passes and made the last of four consecutive Pro Bowl appearances from 2008-11.
But the Falcons have a plausible answer for White’s periodic drops.
“Roddy White has always been one of those guys who at that last split second before the ball gets to his hands, he looks away,” Robiskie said. “He’s always had what I call a bad habit. But what I’ve told Roddy is, good players sometimes have bad habits, but they have so much talent and ability that they get away with it.”
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is standing behind his favorite target during this rough stretch.
“Physical mistakes, they are going to happen at times,” Ryan said. “We’re all professional, but we’re also all human. Mistakes are going to happen.”
White’s running mate, Julio Jones, also had two drops against Chicago. The two wide receivers have not dodged their woes.
“We are taking it upon ourselves, me and Roddy, we hold ourselves accountable for those dropped passes,” Jones said. “The defenders didn’t have anything to do with it. It was just lack of focus and concentration by us.”
White, who was nursing a hamstring injury, missed some practice time during training camp. Once the season started, he was allowed not to practice Wednesday.
But as the missed targets and dropped passes started to mount when White returned to practice full-time three weeks ago.
“When you are playing at a point where you are dropping balls and you’re hurting your team and you’re not helping them, it’s rough and you really feel that weight on your shoulders,” Robiskie said. “The only way that I know how to get through it is to go to work and get back to doing those things that you used to do.”
White hopes the extra work will lead to him returning to Pro Bowl form.
“I’ve just been concentrating this week on looking every ball in,” White said. “That’s been my focus throughout the whole week.”
The Falcons have known about the glitch in White’s mechanics for years.
His original wide receivers coach, George Stewart, worked extensively on it. White got moving under his second position coach, Paul Petrino and continued to play at a high level under Robiskie.
As a reminder to White and the other receivers, Robiskie keeps two pictures in the wide receivers meeting room.
One has White snagging a touchdown pass against the Eagles in the back of the end zone. His hands are up in the air catching the pass, while his eyes are looking down at his feet.
The other is of former tight end Tony Gonzalez catching a pass while staring at the ball as it arrives in his hands.
“It’s amazing how big his eyes are on the target,” Robiskie said. “I put them two pictures on my wall. I tell the young guys, this is how you do it (Gonzalez’s picture) and this is how not to do (White’s picture). I’ve told Roddy that all of his life.”
Robiskie believes that White does that in order to get ready for his next move.
“That’s the big thing that happened to him (against the Bears),” Robiskie said. “He took his eyes off the ball. People say he took his eyes off the ball because he thought that safety was going to hit him. No, he knew that catch was so easy coming right to him. His eyes were off the ball looking at that safety to see how he could beat this dude for a touchdown.”
White knows about the glitch, too.
“That’s been my primary focus, just going in there and executing the plays that are called,” White said. “Don’t worry about scoring touchdowns or hitting home runs … going out there and trying to hit 80-yard plays. Just be who I am, catch the balls and move the chains.”
The Falcons are hopeful that a simple and steady approach will help White pull out of his slump.
“I think that’s all that it comes down to for him,” Robiskie said. “Is going back to focusing and relaxing. Somehow in the middle of this slump that he’s in, find energy. Find life. Find fun in what you do, and let’s go back to work.”
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