The Atlanta Falcons have had more than eight months to figure out how to limit James White. We’ll find out Sunday if they made any progress in solving the puzzle.
New England Patriots running back went off during the Patriots’ 34-28 Super Bowl LI win over the Falcons in February, tallying 14 catches on 16 targets for 110 yards and six carries for 29 yards with three touchdowns — including the game-winner — and a two-point conversion. It was sneakily one of the best Super Bowl performances of all time. White scored the most points by a non-quarterback in Super Bowl history in that game. He easily could have been named MVP, but instead those honors went to quarterback Tom Brady.
The Patriots undoubtedly will test the Falcons with White early Sunday night in the teams’ Super Bowl rematch at Gillette Stadium. And why wouldn’t they? Atlanta’s entire secondary and linebacker corps has returned from the Super Bowl, so those same players White beat over and over again in Houston will be covering him.
White still is capitalizing on the momentum of his Super Bowl performance: He has 33 catches on 42 targets for 252 yards and 23 carries for 99 yards this season. Though he’s still waiting for his first touchdown of the season, White is on pace to shatter career bests in receptions, receiving yards, carries and rushing yards. He’s also catching an incredible 78.6 percent of Brady’s passes thrown his way.
White actually is on pace to set a new record for receptions by a Patriots running back under Bill Belichick with 88. He would pass himself after catching 60 passes last season.
But how did White catch 14 passes in the Super Bowl?
He caught seven of nine targets for 60 yards with linebacker Deion Jones in coverage. He caught 2 of 2 targets for 16 yards with safety Keanu Neal in coverage. He caught one pass apiece off cornerback C.J. Goodwin (5 yards), cornerback Jalen Collins (5-yard touchdown), cornerback Robert Alford (9 yards) and linebacker De’Vondre Campbell (2 yards). He also caught one pass against a zone for 13 yards.
White hauled in nine of 11 passes out of the backfield for 82 yards. He caught 5 of 5 passes split out for 28 yards and snagged 2 of 2 passes while sent in motion for 17 yards.
White’s biggest chunk play came on a 28-yard reception over Jones, when the linebacker tried to cover the running back downfield on what became a scramble drill. Jones is among the most athletic linebackers in the NFL but still couldn’t stick with White.
It seems highly unlikely Brady will target White 16 games Sunday, so don’t expect another 14-catch, 100-yard, three-touchdown (and a two-point conversion) performance if you own White in fantasy. But New England would be crazy to not at least test to see if the Falcons figured out how to cover him since February.
Oh, and the Falcons blew a 28-3 lead. Anything written about the Super Bowl without this fact seems incomplete.
Thumbnail photo via John David Mercer/USA TODAY Sports Images
