Who to face?: Atlanta Falcons' Roddy White prefers Seattle Seahawks over New Orleans Saints
The rest of Atlanta Falcons might put on a brave face but Roddy White speaks what is on his mind. The Falcons have repeatedly said that to them it doesn’t matter which team wins this Saturday’s game between the Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints. The
winner could face Atlanta in the divisional round of the playoffs.
Roddy White is the only exception. The wide receiver said that he would much rather go against Seattle than New Orleans and understandably so. Seahawks are the only team in NFL history to make it to the playoffs with a losing record. At 7-9, Seattle make
for a less challenging opponents than New Orleans.
“You really don't want to play a really consistent quarterback or anything like that,” White told reporters on Friday. “Does that answer your question?”
Yes, it does. We can safely assume that he didn’t mean New Orleans' quarterback Drew Brees. At 33 touchdowns, 22 interceptions and 4,620 passing yards this season, Brees is exactly who Roddy White does not want to face. The other possibility for the 13-3
Falcons could be to face the Green Bay Packers. If the Philadelphia Eagles are defeated by the Packers this week that would mean Atlanta would host the Packers next week. With 28 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and almost 4,000 passing yards, Is Aaron Rodgers
a consistent quarterback? You bet he is. His passer ratings, at 101.2, are even higher than Brees'.
On the other hand, if you look up ‘inconsistent quarterback’ in NFL dictionary you might just find a picture of Seattle’s quarterback Matt Hasselbeck with a caption that reads ‘This guy.’ Without actually saying it, White has made it clear which quarterback
he wants his team to go up against next week.
Hasselbeck has had success in the NFL. He has staked the Seahawks to 9 playoff appearances. Four of those games were played at home and Hasselbeck won them all. But the regular season, possibly the last for Hasselbeck in Seattle and maybe even in his career,
turned out to be terrible for the quarterback. His average passer ratings over the season come out to be 73.2 but they could be all over the place. In Seattle’s first game of the season against the San Francisco 49ers, Hasselbeck’s ratings were at 108.3. In
the very next game against Denver Broncos, that number fell to 51.3. Against Atlanta, his ratings were a dismal 28.9. Clearly it would be the best thing if Falcons faced the Seahawks in their first playoff game.
The only reason the Seahawks are in the playoffs is because every other team in the NFC West did even worse as compared to them. Their offence ranks below all the other teams in the playoffs this year. Their rush ranks 31st in the league. Their
passing is slightly better but still an unimpressive 19th in the league. On average, they scored just 19.4 points per game in this regular season. For a defence like that of the Falcons, those numbers don’t present much of a challenge. Falcons'
defence ranks fifth in the league and has allowed just 18.0 points per game.
The last time Seattle faced the Falcons defence, they were snubbed for just 18 points. Although, Seahawks had to play that game without their starting quarterback, but the results still did not bode well for them.
Atlanta’s quarterback Matt Ryan was able to throw three touchdown passes out of a total of 174 yards. Although, he was intercepted once, Ryan was in complete control of the game. Even with Hasselbeck, the Seahawks wouldn’t be as tough an opponent as the
Saints or the Packers.
But, the Falcons and Seahawks would meet only if Saints lose this Saturday. If Seattle can defeat the Saints then maybe they have more to offer than the analysts and commentators give them credit for.
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