White says Falcons 'gave' victory to Saints

Roddy White and the Atlanta Falcons came up just short in their bid to stay unbeaten, but the receiver wasn't about to give the rival Saints too much credit after New Orleans pulled out a dramatic 31-27 upset of his team.

NEW ORLEANS -- Roddy White and the Atlanta Falcons came up just short in their bid to stay unbeaten, but the receiver wasn't about to give the rival Saints too much credit after New Orleans pulled out a dramatic 31-27 upset of his team.

"It's not like they came out here and won a game," said White, who finished Sunday's game with seven catches for 114 yards.

"I think we kind of gave it to them," said White, who made headlines last week when he said he believed the Falcons had the "pedigree" to finish 16-0. "We play them in three weeks, and we'll be ready."

White's comments weren't the only potential bulletin-board material for the rematch on Nov. 29 in Atlanta.

Saints linebacker Curtis Lofton, who left the Falcons after last season in free agency, dismissed the notion that New Orleans and Atlanta had a genuine "rivalry" because the Saints have won 11 of the past 13 meetings.

"The team out on the field today was the reason why I came to the Saints," said Lofton, who joined New Orleans only to see his former team get off to its best start in franchise history. "We're finally starting to come together."

Saints linebacker Scott Shanle told Yahoo! Sports that the Falcons' taunting of Lofton before the game helped to fire up the Saints.

"They were talking (expletive) to our guy Curtis Lofton," he told the website. "I couldn't even understand them. They were just walking all over our drills trying to mess with him. (Jonathan) Vilma went and told their coach it was classless, and they didn't even say anything. It set the tone for the day. It was classless, and they got what they deserved."

While the Saints (4-5) were celebrating their fourth victory in five games after an 0-4 start, the Falcons (8-1) walked out of the Superdome ruing their failure to get the 1 yard they needed to take a lead inside the last two minutes.

"It's very frustrating," said Falcons coach Mike Smith, who is 2-7 against the Saints and 49-15 against the rest of the NFL in his four-plus regular seasons as Atlanta coach.

"We were close. ... This will be something we will learn from."

Shanle, however, told Yahoo! Sports that Sunday's result was further proof that the Saints "own" the Falcons.

"They're like our little brothers. Deep down they know they can't mess with us even when we are having a down year," he told the website.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.