CLEVELAND – Falcons coaches were alert when Cleveland's veteran cornerback Sheldon Brown left the game.
Offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey didn't waste any time in attacking him upon his return to the game.
The blitz-happy Browns left the veteran in one-on-one coverage against Roddy White, a two-time Pro Bowler. White ran a post route and caught a 45-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Matt Ryan to pump some life into the offense.
Falcons coach Mike Smith called it "due diligence" by the coaching staff.
"We saw the guy leave the field, there is no doubt about that," Smith said.
The touchdown put the Falcons ahead for good, 13-10 with 7:57 left in the third quarter.
"Matt did a good job of throwing the ball," White said. "I did a good job of tracking it and getting it in the end zone."
The offense needed that jolt from a big scoring play after being stymied in the red-zone. They had three drives stopped and had to settle for short field goal attempts.
"It was a real (disjointed) game," White said. "We were going back and forth. Early in the game we couldn't get the ball moving... .We kept getting the ball with great field position, but we didn't move it."
The touchdown and an injury to quarterback Seneca Wallace seemed to zap the life out of the Browns.
"Finally, we got that spark that we needed," White said. "Then we finally started punching it down their throats."
White finished with five catches for 101 yards. He now has 37 receptions for 463 yards and three touchdowns on the season.
"Roddy did a fantastic job of setting up the route, of selling his route to the outside," Ryan said. "I just put it up there and let Roddy run underneath it."
The Falcons had missed on deep throws to Harry Douglas against Arizona and New Orleans.
"That's how it goes on the deep ball," Ryan said. "You've got to keep throwing them. You're going to miss some, but when you do hit them, they are game-changing plays."
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