Roddy White Says Falcons Used To Be Scared Of Facing Certain Teams
The following is a surprising thing to hear from an NFL player. It’s not that there’s something wrong with thinking it or saying that your team used to not want to face certain teams and it’s not that there’s something wrong with admitting it. What’s surprising is hearing an NFL player talk about doubt. From USA Today:
Roddy White knows what you’re thinking: Here the Atlanta Falcons go again, toward a No. 1 seed and an ultimately disappointing showing in the postseason. Not this year. Not according to White, who appreciated the way his teammates embraced the challenge of facing the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants and spanking them 34-0 on Sunday instead of cowering in fear of playing such a good team. ”I told them early in the locker room, ‘We can’t keep ducking people and say, “We don’t want to play these guys, we don’t want to play those guys,” ‘ ” the Falcons’ wide receiver told USA TODAY Sports after the game. “We have to go out there and execute our game plan, whatever Smitty (coach Mike Smith) brings to us, and we’ve got to go out there and play Falcon football. Stop saying, ‘I hope we don’t get these guys.’ ”We’re a good football team. We have to go out there and play like a good football team.” … The Falcons have made the postseason three times under coach Mike Smith and have quickly exited, with losses to the Arizona Cardinals in 2008, the Green Bay Packers two years later in an upset at home and the Giants this past January. All three teams made the Super Bowl, with the Packers and Giants winning it. While he didn’t get into specifics, White obviously didn’t appreciate the way the Falcons approached some of those games. ”Absolutely. I could say, two, three years ago, that was the attitude, trying to escape guys and not do this and say, ‘I hope we don’t get these guys,’” White said. “We’d be saying, ‘Oh, these guys can do this, they’re a good football team.’ We can’t say we don’t want to play them. We can’t say that. ”This year, it’s a totally different team.”
