FLOWERY BRANCH — Roddy White, the Falcons' all-time leading receiver, met with head coach Dan Quinn about his role in the offense.
“It’s really not a controversy,” White said on Thursday. “My role is what it is. I’ve talked to DQ and we’ve gotten past that. It’s just certain things that just get out into the media and certain people just take it way too far. I’m on a positive note. We are 4-0 and that’s what it is right now.”
White said the meeting went well.
“We sat around and talked about what I wanted to do,” White said. “What I expected and want I wanted to come from it, from this point forward. It was really good. We had a good sit down.
“We just talked about football. My role in the offense and what it’s going to be. I walked out of there…it was much needed conversation. I walked out of there with my head up. It went well. It went really, really well.”
White has caught six passes for 92 yards this season.
He didn’t catch a pass in two games. He appeared to complain about his role in the offense in an ESPN.com report, but later contended he was taken out of context.
“Sometimes you have to just sit back and be patient,” White said. “I’m haven’t had to be very patient for the time that I’ve been around here for a very long time because I’ve been getting a lot of passes.”
White believes he’ll start getting more opportunities.
“How people are going to guard us is going to change from week to week,” White said. “You know that as a veteran player. I just have to be patient and wait my turn.”
White missed practice on Wednesday to be with his mother, who had surgery at Emory Hospital.
“She’s doing well,” White said. “The surgery went well. The doctor gave us the (thumbs)-up.”
White felt he had to be there for his mother, Joenethia.
“It was very positive from that aspect,” White said. “My mom is one of the most important people in my life at this point in my career. All of the things that she’s done for me are so important. She plays such a big role in me being where I am today. It was important for me to be there with her.”
Falcons wide receivers coach Terry Robiskie has talked to White about enjoying the winning and not let his pride get in the way of a possible Super Bowl run.
“We’ve all got pride,” Robiskie said. “But at the end of the day, (being) competitive wins the Super Bowl. We would all like to be the guy to say ‘I won it’ and ‘I’ve done it’ and ‘I carried this team’ and ‘I’m Jerry Rice.’
“There is a lot of guys that played with Jerry Rice and they’ve got a ring on their finger. They’ve got pride, but when they walk in the meeting room with ring on their finger, ain’t one guy asking how much pride did you have. It’s where did you get it, how did you get it, who were you with.”
Robiskie is a former player and won a Super Bowl ring with the Raiders as an assistant coach in Super Bowl XVIII.
“I’ve got a ring and those things are special,” Robiskie said. “They are hard to come by. We would all like to be the guy but sometimes you want to get on the train and ride with it.
“You want to be part of a group that’s doing something fantastic, doing something special. We all want that. We’ve all got pride, but even with pride we want to be part of something that is special. Twenty to 25 years from now when you have that diamond on your finger, they aren’t going to ask you how much pride you had back then. They are going to ask you where did you get it, who did you win it, man that’s beautiful. I’ve heard that a thousand times.”
Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones said that White hasn’t been disgruntled.
“Not one time has he been down,” Jones said. “He’s come to work every day.”
Robiskie said White hasn’t been a distraction for him.
“My room is good,” Robiskie said. “Everybody is good. Everybody is having fun. Rod is the same guy. He doesn’t catch his 12, 20 balls, but at the same time we score a touchdown he’s high-fiving we were up in the third quarter the starters were done.
“I saw him on the sideline high-fiving with Eric Weems, joking with Eric Weems. Winning is fun. No matter what a prideful guy you are, when getting you’re ass whipped, ain’t no pride in that. You are miserable.”
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