The Atlanta Falcons' season is hanging by a thread as the team took another loss falling to the San Francisco 49ers. What is more concerning than the loss is the lack of consistency with the offense. Matt Ryan had another struggling performance while the receivers continued to drop passes and Devonta Freeman simply found no room to run. As they enter the bye week, Roddy White believes throwing him the ball more could fix the offense.
White has certainly not had an ideal season. The receiver has a few catchless games to his name while facing trade rumors at the deadline. While stressing his commitment to the team, White is not thrilled over Atlanta's recent struggles and his lack of involvement in the team. The receiver was targeted on two passes in Sunday's loss to San Francisco while catching one for 20 yards. He remains fifth on the team in targets and is not thrilled about. After already complaining once this season about his place in the offense, White is speaking up again.
"I would like to be more involved in the offense but it is what it is," White said, via Michael Cunningham of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "I'm going to go out there and run the plays that are called and block as hard as I can and help my team win. I feel like they will come eventually. It's a long season, man. We've got seven more games. Things could turn around instantly from week to week. I'm very optimistic that it will and I will continue to go at it and work as hard as I can."
The issue for White should be concern for Ryan who has not looked himself this season. The quarterback insisted he is healthy while he struggles with off-target throws and interceptions. White might not like his involvement in the offense, but Ryan is not helping with his lack of production. While Julio Jones was the only player to get much done on the field in Week 9, Ryan noted that he has to improve or the Falcons are going to have major issues.
"I really believe it's never as far off as people think," Ryan said, via the Atlanta Journal Constitution. It's never as far off as it looks. We've done a lot of really good things and made a lot of good plays. We're certainly capable of doing that. We just need to clean a few things up, and I think we'll be right back to where we want to be."
After starting the season 5-0, the Falcons are averaging just 16.8 points per game and most of those are field goals. They are 1-3 in their last four games while the one win came as a 10-7 score. Atlanta's offense is heading nowhere at the moment and the team needs to get issues ironed out while they sit second in the NFC South. Both White and Ryan were quick to defend the play calling of Kyle Shanahan and noted that it was more on the players to figure things out.
"I think it gets done during the bye week," Ryan said, via ESPN.com. "We have the opportunity to be critical and self-evaluate and find out what we're doing well because I think there are a lot of things we've done well. It's been nine weeks. We also need to find out what we're not doing well and either change what you're doing or just trying to get better at those things.
