Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Roddy White enjoyed his first playoff victory last week against the Seattle Seahawks. But he's also taking a lesson from the team's near-collapse.
"I felt like in the first half we did a heck of a job, just coming out with attitude and executing at a high level," White told Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports. "We got a little lazy in the second half. We kind of got too complacent, too relaxed. You can't do that in the playoffs. Every series matters. You can't have lulls, man."
It's refreshing to hear a member of the Falcons say this. It's terrific that Matt Ryan and Matt Bryant helped save the game in the final 31 seconds, but otherwise the No. 1 seeded team seemed to do everything possible to lose the game late. White and Silver pin the issue on getting complacent, but I'd lean more towards execution. Especially by the Falcons' defense.
Consider: Atlanta's offense started the second half with a long touchdown drive. Their next possession was a Matt Ryan interception, but that came from pushing the ball with a lead in the fourth quarter. It was Atlanta's defense that gave up four touchdowns in five possessions in the second half, not the offense.
White's accusation of complacency makes sense when it comes to the Falcons' execution, but not their play-calling. They started the next possession after Ryan's interception with a throw to White, and then two more passes.
"We've got to play a complete game," White said. "If we don't mind our P's and Q's, the whole team, we'll be in trouble."
We liked the aggression shown by Ryan and the Falcons coaching staff against Seattle. They knew they had to score a lot to win. White just knows they have to be even better in Sunday's NFC Championship Game against the San Francisco 49ers.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
