Falcons receiver Roddy White is the franchise’s career leader in receptions, yards and touchdowns, but his role in their offense has dwindled significantly this year. White finished without a catch in Week 2, which snapped a streak of 130 straight games with a reception. He also went catchless in Week 3 and was quiet again Sunday, grabbing two passes for just 8 yards in Atlanta’s 48-21 drubbing of the Texans. The 33-year-old isn’t upset about his nearly nonexistent production, however, as the Falcons are 4-0.
“No complaints from me. We are winning. We’ve just got to continue to do what we’ve been doing and try to get better every week,” White said, according to Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
More from the NFC South:
- Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who missed last Sunday’s loss to Carolina with rotator cuff and shoulder capsule injuries, will play tonight against Dallas and is close to full strength, head coach Sean Payton believes. “I’d say fairly close (to 100 percent) or we wouldn’t play him,” said Payton, per Evan Woodbery of NOLA.com. “He’s had a good week. I know he’s got a lot of confidence in what we’re doing and a lot of confidence in his ability to throw it down the field. It really was that simple.”
- Brees elaborated on his health issues (via ESPN’s Mike Triplett): “Basically what the doctor told me was the cuff muscles at times will just shut down if they’re inflamed. They’re basically telling the body, ‘I’m injured. I need time to heal, I’m not going to work until the inflammation goes away.’ It wasn’t a pain thing. I mean, it hurt, but that wasn’t the issue. It was just functionality. I did strength exercises all last week. The tough part was with the balance between resting it, getting the inflammation out of it and, at the same time, strengthening it.”
- Buccaneers rookie kicker Kyle Brindza has had back-to-back miserable weeks, going just 2 for 7 on field goal attempts and 2 of 4 on extra points. He hit 1 of 3 field goal tries and missed a PAT in Sunday’s 37-23 loss to Carolina. For what it’s worth, though, head coach Lovie Smith stuck by him after the game. “We’re not going to start kicking people off in the press conference after the game,” Smith said, according to Joe Person of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter link).