Falcons receive scare when White hurts knee
By D. Orlando Ledbetter
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Falcons received a scare when wide receiver Roddy White went down with a mild knee injury in the first quarter on Sunday.
With the Falcons backed up to their 1-yard line, White caught a pass from Matt Ryan for an 11-yard gain, but he landed awkwardly after Tampa Bay's Quincy Black tackled him.
The Falcons medical staff had White try out a couple of different braces before he had his right knee taped.
"It was kind of tough, trying to get it back to where I wanted it to be at and not have it feel any different," White said. "But this is football, things like that happen." :scared
White entered the game leading the league with 54 receptions. He finished with a season-low four catches for 49 yards. In his previous outing, he had 11 catches for 201 yards and two touchdowns against Cincinnati.
He missed all of the second quarter, but returned in the second half.
"They kind of taped it up so I could really restrict it," White said. "It was tight enough."
White didn't consider the injury a serious setback.
"Yeah, I'm going to be playing on Thursday," White said.
Robinson back in lineup
Cornerback Dunta Robinson returned to the lineup after missing the previous game against Cincinnati. He sat out because of a concussion suffered after he put a violent hit on Philadelphia's DeSean Jackson on Oct. 17.
Robinson was rusty. He gave up a 58-yard touchdown pass to Tampa Bay's Mike Williams in the second quarter. :scared
"I can't slip and fall in that situation," Robinson said. "I just took a long step and I was on the ground. In that situation, when we didn't have a safety in the middle of the field, you can't fall down. I've got to get him down on the ground and I didn't. That was play was totally my fault."
Other than the long touchdown, Robinson felt his return went well. He finished with a tackle.
"I made some plays," Robinson said. "I was involved. I got thrown at more than I'm used to. I felt pretty good overall."
Specials teams up for scrutiny
Falcons coach Mike Smith was not happy with the play of the special teams. Namely Tampa Bay kickoff returner Michael Spurlock, who had four returns for 209 yards, including an 89-yard touchdown, gave them grief. :scared
"From my vantage point, there were a couple of missed tackles," Smith said. "That's something that we are going to have to look at."
The Bucs also caught the Falcons unprepared for an onside kick. However, Tampa Bay kicker Connor Barth touched the ball before it went 10 yards, negating the Bucs' recovery.
"It was not a good operation," Smith said. "We are very fortunate that there was an illegal touching."
Falcons center Todd McClure left the game briefly with a knee injury.
"It was nothing too bad," McClure said. "I just got rolled up a little bit. I'll be good to go next week."
:scared
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Todd McClure is the center for Ryan and when he is out the team can easily stumble. Just never know about his injury and if it will follow him in a short week to Thursday night.
Advantage Ravens.
Dunta Robinson has not looked worth the money to me . He was supposed to be a shut down corner and I just do not see it in his play week after week. He is a better tackler than I thought he would be , but he got the concussion sticking his head in on a taclke and he may be gun shy Thursday night with the tanks the Ravens running back bring to the table.
