By: T. Love
For all the hate and criticism that he receives, it is time to give some credit where credit is due. Roddy White caught four balls for 81 yards with a long of 35 versus the Jacksonville Jaguars last Sunday. Now that he has once again proved that the physical ability (which nobody has ever denied) is there, lets work on the consistency.
So far, good start to the season considering all the other shortcomings of the offense. The third-year man out of UAB snagged four catches in the season opener for 29 yards. Not really impressive and Petrino is wearing out the curl route, but at least he is involved with the offense.
Since being selected 27th overall in the 2005 NFL draft, White has yet to live up to his first-round billing. In his rookie season, he caught 29 balls for 446 yards and three touchdowns. He shattered those marks his second year with 30 catches for 506 yards and no touches. Currently, No. 84 is on pace to catch 64 balls and rack up 880 yards.
Those numbers aren’t great, but in an offense that features four- and five-wide sets (that has only been witnessed in the preseason) these numbers would make for a solid contribution and might put my buddy Robert’s conspiracy theories to rest.
Atlanta has not had a 1,000 yard receiver since… when did Terrence Mathis leave? And has not had a 100-yard game since… still trying to figure out when Terrence left. Obviously the team has not had a lot of luck with receivers lately, but maybe this could be Roddy’s breakout year.
It’s only two games, but at this time last year Roddy only had two receptions and he did not catch his eighth pass until Week 5.
Last week, the Carolina defense gave up 227 yards through the air while failing to register a sack. Sounds like a good week for Roddy to work on consistency.
Make it happen, 84.
6 comments ↓
Actually, Roddy had games with 99 and 104 receiving yards last season.
Week 10 vs Cleveland: 5 catches for 99 yards
Week 15 vs Dallas: 3 catches for 104 yards
In his rookie season he had 108 yards on 4 catches versus Tampa Bay in week 11.
While he has made his fair share of mistakes, Roddy never had a real quarterback throwing the ball to him in a consistent manner. It’s very hard for a young WR to develop their skills w/ a horrible passing QB like Vick.
Judging by your email address, you have a little bias towards Roddy. Thanks for the information. Roddy did catch two bombs in the Tampa game.
As for horrible passing, Derrick Hackney ring a bell?
Darrell Hackney was a fantastic QB in college, throwing for almost 10,000 yards for his career. No, he wasn’t drafted, but neither was Heisman-winner Jason White, and I doubt anyone would question his collegiate exploits.
Consistency has to come from all angles for a player to develop. The heavy emphasis on the running game didn’t help in the previous years and probably is one reason why he’s seemed to lack focus at times.
Roddy led the nation in receiving yards his senior year at UAB so he must have had a pretty damn good QB throwing him the ball.
Wow, looks like Roddy has had a career game today. Funny how he’s having a career year with a new QB. Coincidence?
No coincidence. How about a passing offense and a new coach. Petrino is doing a good job of getting Roddy involved early and that curl route is getting worn into the ground. He still had two drops as well, but he had a phenomenal game. It’s about time, that’s two in a row.
I’ll give you the passing offense and new coach combined with a new QB.
Unfortunately, his numbers don’t mean anything if they aren’t winning games.
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