Roddy White and Julio Jones better duo than Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks?

The Falcons segment on NFL Network’s Gameday featured an outspoken wide receiver with a proven track record of leading his team to greatness.

Roddy White was part of it, too.

Michael Irvin, Hall of Fame playmaker, visited Flowery Branch last week and interviewed White and teammate Julio Jones. Irvin asked White if Atlanta’s duo is better than Cowboys wide receiver tandem Dez Bryant and Miles Austin.

“You serious?” White said, an appropriate response to that question.

Are they better than the Giants’ pair, Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz?

“We are a better group than them,” White said, a less obvious answer to that question. “I’m not taking shots at people. Victor Cruz is a lot more of a slot receiver. The big boys play on the outside.”

Not sure where Cruz lined up when he shredded the 49ers in the NFC championship game last year. At least White didn’t mention Nicks, who dominated the Falcons in the playoffs last year while White was part of that infamous scoreless effort.

White shored up his Pro Bowl credentials by making game-winning plays against the Panthers Sunday. Still, he has to ask Cruz and Hicks what it feels like to win a playoff game.

Irvin brought up Atlanta’s offensive flatlining against the Giants in the playoffs and wanted to know why the unit is humming now. White cited confidence and the influence of offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter.

“Everything is set up exactly like we thought it was going to be and now it’s time to go get it,” White said. “So if we don’t win a playoff game, Roddy is going to be upset!”

He’s not the only one.

Newton’s ‘sulking situation’ dissected

Not surprisingly, Cam Newton’s “sulking situation,”as Fox play-by-play man Dick Stockton called it, was a big topic for today’s TV talkers.

Newton, the former Westlake High star, pouted on the bench late in Carolina’s blowout defeat to the Giants last week. Irvin set up White with a lob by asking if Matt Ryan would ever do such a thing, and White obliged by dunking it.

“He would never do that,” White said of Ryan. “We’ve taken some beatings around here my past eight years of being here. I’ve just never seen that type of behavior. No, that’s not acceptable.”

Newton also took some heat for his touchdown dance late in Carolina’s loss to the Giants. Surely that had to perturb Fox color analyst John Lynch, the former hard-hitting NFL safety on his way to the Hall of Fame.

No, it didn’t. Lynch said he likes Newton’s enthusiasm.

“If you are a defense and you don’t want him dancing, you’ve got to stop him,” he said after Netwon broke out in a dance following a touchdown run against the Falcons.

Short takes

• Watching a replay of Carolina’s Charles Johnson bull rush Atlanta’s Tyson Clabo and grab Ryan in like two seconds, Lynch said: “That’s really a coverage sack.” Got to get open faster, Falcons receivers.
• In the latest sign that the replacement refs debacle made everyone pro-union, Fox NFL Sunday’s Howie Long characterized the lockout as “31 owners trying to squeeze the last quarter out of negotiations.” You know it’s bad for the owners when they get ripped by a guy who’s used his Fox forum to take off-topic shots at Al Gore and President Obama.
• Fox reporter Jay Glazer asked Eagles coach Andy Reid about his comments last week that Michael Vick is his starting quarterback “for now.” “[Reid] said, ‘You know what, semantics, that’s what got me,’” Glazer reported, and by “semantics” Reid must mean “honesty.”
• Steve Mariucci’s “bold prediction” during the NFL Network studio show: “Matt Ryan of the Falcons will have three 100-yard receivers. . . . ‘Matty Ice’ will have four ‘bills’ passing.”