"Falcons wide receiver Roddy White drew the ire of the city of New Orleans with some messages on twitter.com account last week.

Even though he apologized for those messages ripping the team and the city, he was clearly on the Saints' minds during the game and got into a couple of shouting matches with New Orleans defenders.

He was on the coaches' mind's too. White entered the game leading the league with 33 catches for 465 yards on third downs.

In the first half, the Falcons had six third-down calls and never threw once toward White. White did score on a 7-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter to make it 10-7.

On third down throughout the first half, the Falcons bent over backwards to go against their tendencies. They threw passes to Harry Douglas, Michael Jenkins, Brian Finneran, Jason Snelling and Ovie Mughelli. Todd McClure had a botched shotgun snap on the other third down, leading to a critical turnover."