Roddy White's Super Bowl 2013 Or Bust Comments: A Breakdown

Roddy White has a reputation, even among the Falcons fans who clearly adore him, for being mouthy. He's talkative on his Twitter account, he's talkative with the media at times and he's almost never without something to say.

i come today not to bury Roddy White for his appearance on First Take—yeah, the one Andrew Hirsh mentioned earlier today in his Flyover—but to praise him. If you're a fan of any other team, I'm sure that appearance was insufferable and you rolled your eyes at the thought that the Falcons were the best team in the NFL. If you're a Falcons fan, though, this was music to your ears.

I want the athletes on my favorite football team to believe strongly in their talent. I want them to be willing to talk about the talent of a team that came within a few plays of heading to its first Super Bowl in more than 15 years. I want one of the best receivers in the NFL to be willing to go on a ridiculously combative, contrarian show like First Take and actually fight for that perspective.

Here's a quick look at a few things Roddy said, in case you missed them.

"... Every year I see growth all over our team. Thats the biggest thing when youre dealing with football players. If they're growing every year, you're getting better," he said.

"I think that the first three [playoff appearances under coach Mike Smith] we were getting there and were just having fun being there. And then we turned a curb, and we said we have to stop just getting there and we have to win games," White said.

"We're ready to take that next step. We know how good our football team is and the players we got, so it's either Super Bowl or nothing for us right now."

"I think [Jackson's] an upgrade because he's a three-down back," White said, saying Jackson's presence helps the Falcons mix up the play calling.

"When you have a guy like that, nothing changes. You just go out there and play. The defense has to guess and try to make a guess at what you're doing ... is it run? ... is it pass? It will be a whole lot different."

Sorry for the blocks of text there, but they're all kind of awesome. I don't get "oh, look at Roddy White mouthing off" from any of those. I get thoughtful analysis from a player who is clearly thinking about great things this season and has reasons why we should expect that. The fact that he flatly calls S-Jax an upgrade is kind of awesome.

So let the man talk. I enjoy what he's got to say.