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Falcons Running Back Michael Turner Still Shoulders the Load

“I’m from Chicago,” Turner said with a grin. “I’ve played in some weather before. Finesse? Give me a break.”

The Falcons (10-6) have been nothing close to a finesse team in the four years Turner has played in Atlanta, including this season when the team mixed into its scheme the fascinating and fast rookie wide receiver Julio Jones. There were assumptions that the Falcons were going to change their identity as a one-cut, downhill-run team when they acquired Jones, an all-American from Alabama, but Turner is still the 247-pound billboard of the Falcons’ offense.

Turner carried the ball 301 times this season, second in the league to Jacksonville’s Maurice Jones-Drew (343), and that was with Turner dealing with a groin strain. Because of Turner, who rushed for 1,340 yards this season, the Falcons are a complementary offense that does not have to put every game in the hands of quarterback Matt Ryan.

“To me that has been the most misrepresented statement about us, that we lost our identity,” said Thomas Dimitroff, the Atlanta general manager, who signed Turner to a six-year contract in 2008. “I started hearing that earlier in the season. We never lost our identity. We are based around a strong running game. We have always talked about working down the middle of the field. When we acquired Julio we never had plans to go away from having Michael run the rock.”

Turner, who averaged 4.5 yards per carry this season, has run the ball more than 300 times in three of the four seasons he has been in Atlanta. Only Tennessee’s Chris Johnson (5,645) and Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson (5,411) have more rushing yards in the last four seasons than Turner (5,281).

When Turner went five consecutive games without a 100-yard game in the second half of this season, there was some theorizing that he was wearing down and maybe the Falcons needed to become a more fanciful offense. Turner is 29 years old and had spent four years in San Diego (2004 to 2007) as a backup to LaDainian Tomlinson. There is an understanding that punishing blows make a short shelf life for an running back, and this is Turner’s eighth season.

“I’m not wearing down,” he said. “We just lost some of our chemistry there for a few games. It fell off a little bit; hopefully we have our consistency back.”

Ovie Mughelli, a Pro Bowl fullback in 2010, was placed on injured reserve Oct. 25 with a knee injury and the Falcons lost some traction in their run game. They seemed to convalesce and reconstituted the running game last Sunday against Tampa Bay, when Turner ran for 172 yards, albeit against a team that lost its last 10 games of the season.

“It was great to see Michael Turner get back on track,” Coach Mike Smith said. “We knew that our run game had been trending down over the last four or five weeks. It was something that we looked at very closely.”

The Falcons put Turner on a routine where he was not practicing Wednesdays and Thursdays, and he looked fresh against the Bucs. He dashed 81 yards for a score, and defenders tried to avoid head-on collisions on his way down the field.

Turner is the essence of the Falcons because they are designed to be a fourth-quarter team. They want to run the ball and limit possessions, keeping the score down, and grind on a defense. Atlanta has a veteran field goal kicker, Matt Bryant, so it can win those low-scoring, fourth-quarter games.

The running game is so effective that the Falcons are not afraid to use play-action on first down where they fake a run and pass. They patiently poke around with the run, and while other teams might want to show off their playbook, the Falcons will come back to successful run plays.

The opponents who have been successful against the Atlanta run game, like Jacksonville, stay in a base front on defense and do not move around. They set a vertical edge to make Turner cut back abruptly and know how to fit against the Falcons’ run plays so they have two tacklers coming downhill at the point of attack. Turner is the antidote to the Giants’ pass rush because his early-down runs can keep the Falcons out of bad situations, like third-and-7s.

“Things have always worked out for me,” Turner said. “I was never worried this season about being that piece, not being that piece. I’m a guy who waits his turn and tries to be part of the team.”

Panthers Blow Another Lead, Lose to Falcons 31-23

Instead, they’re 4-9.

In what has been an all too familiar refrain this season, the Panthers blew yet another fourth quarter lead Sunday in a 31-23 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. The Panthers led by 16 at halftime and by 6 entering the final quarter, but their offense bogged down, and they were outscored 24-0 in the second half at home.

It’s the sixth time this season the Panthers have led or been tied in the fourth quarter only to lose.

“We still have a long ways to go as a football team,” coach Ron Rivera said. “We are a young team that has to understand you have to keep going and put the foot down on the accelerator, which we didn’t do.”

Cam Newton started strong, completing 9 of 14 passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns in the first half as the Panthers built a 23-7 lead. But Newton was intercepted twice in the second half, one of them on a poor decision when he tried to shovel the ball ahead with his non-throwing left hand as he was falling to the ground.

“Both interceptions were my fault and you can’t do that,” Newton said. “If you expect to win in this league, you have to protect the football. I did a poor job in doing that today. Without those two picks, the team would have had a better chance of winning today.”

Matt Ryan seems to have Carolina’s number. He’s won six of his last seven starts against the Panthers.

Ryan threw for 320 yards, and his four TD passes matched a career high. He threw two of them in the fourth quarter to rookie Julio Jones to lead the Falcons (8-5) back.

The first time the teams met, the Falcons trailed by three points in the fourth quarter but rallied for a 31-17 win Oct. 16.

Jones, who finished with 104 yards receiving, was quiet for most of the game but caught a 17-yard touchdown pass to give the Falcons a 24-23 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Despite their struggles in the second half, the Panthers looked poised to regain the lead, but Newton couldn’t hook up with Greg Olsen in the back of the end zone, and the Panthers had to settle for a 36-yard field goal attempt.

Olindo Mare, just as he’d done against Minnesota, pushed a potential go-ahead kick wide left.

“You can’t do that; you really can’t,” Rivera said.

Rivera said he planned to sit down with Mare — who was given a four-year, $12 million contract this offseason — to talk about what’s wrong.

“It’s the second one he’s hooked left, pretty much from almost the same area (on the field),” Rivera said.

The Falcons seized the momentum.

Two plays later, on second-and-11, Jones caught a pass over the middle, broke a tackle and raced 75 yards to the end zone.

Ryan was particularly sharp in the second half, throwing for 232 yards and three scores.

Looking to increase the tempo, the Falcons went to a no-huddle offense quite a bit in the second half and tried to take advantage of a matchup with reserve cornerback Darius Butler on Jones

Both of Jones’ touchdown catches came against Butler.

“You know, they were coming at me a few times with Julio,” Butler said. “They like that matchup. I made some plays early, and he made some big plays late. You’ve got to hold up. That’s the name of the game. You got to finish it out.”

The Panthers were officially eliminated from playoff contention.

A glum Newton called his decision to try a shovel pass to Jonathan Stewart as he was being tackled “terrible.”

“I tried to get the ball to Stew and tried to avoid the sack,” he said. “I should have just ate the ball and taken the sack.”

Earlier this week, Rivera said this was a statement game for his young team. The statement was that their youth still shows.

And the Falcons took advantage.

“This game is about playing 60 minutes,” Falcons coach Mike Smith. “They’re not 30-minute ballgames, and I think that’s what our guys did good today.”

NOTES: The Falcons are 21-0 when Ryan has a quarterback rating of 100 or more. … Carolina’s Steve Smith became the 35th player in NFL history to reach 10,000 yards receiving for his career on a 16-yard catch in the second quarter. … Travelle Wharton moved from left guard to left tackle for the Panthers to replace Jordan Gross, who sat out with a right ankle injury. Mackenzy Bernadeau started at Wharton’s regular spot at left guard. … With starting defensive tackles Sione Fua and Terrell McClain going on injured reserve earlier this week, Frank Kearse and Andre Neblett got the start for the Panthers.

White Looks to Be More Than a Decoy for Falcons

“This is not my forte,” he said Wednesday, breaking into that familiar smile. “This is not something I like or desire.”

Mind you, White isn’t complaining.

The Falcons (1-1) are coming off an emotional win over Philadelphia, and he did catch a short pass in the back of the end zone for their first score of the game. But his final numbers — three catches, 23 yards — were definitely not in White’s normal range.

He’s had four straight seasons with more than 1,000 yards. He’s coming off the best year for a receiver in franchise history, putting up 1,389 yards with an NFL-leading 115 receptions.

Through two games this year: 11 catches for 84 yards, his longest reception covering just 17 yards.

“You’ve just got to take what they give you,” White insisted. “We haven’t hit any deep ones yet, but they’ll come. And when they come, they’ll come in bunches.”

Maybe they’ll come on Sunday. Or maybe he’ll have to wait a little longer.

The Falcons are heading to Tampa Bay for their first division game in the rugged NFC South. Last year, the Buccaneers (1-1) did a good job shutting down White, holding him to just four catches for 49 yards in their first meeting — his least-productive game of the season.

That’s OK with White, as long as the results are the same. The Falcons won both matchups a year ago, with White doing a little better in the second game (seven catches, 74 yards).

“I can’t complain. We’re winning,” White said. “As long as we keep winning, then everything will be fine, man. Obviously, that’s what we’re here for. We want to win games and get back to the playoffs.”

Coming into the season, there was plenty of speculation that White might have to accept a bit of a lesser role after the Falcons traded up in the draft to nab Alabama star Julio Jones.

While Atlanta is intent on taking advantage of Jones’ immense talent, this isn’t a case where White’s numbers have dropped off because of the rookie.

Rather, the first two opponents, Chicago and Philadelphia, have doubled up on the wideouts and dropped safeties into coverage, intent of preventing the Falcons from hitting the big play.

It worked for the Bears, who blew out Atlanta 30-12 in the opener and didn’t allow an offensive touchdown. But the Falcons had more success against the Eagles, even though the league’s best trio of cornerbacks again clamped down on the receivers. Jones had only two catches for 29 yards.

With all the attention on White and Jones, the Falcons turned to their other offensive weapons. Namely, tight end Tony Gonzalez (seven catches, 83 yards, two TDs) and running back Michael Turner (21 carries for 114 yards, plus a 32-yard reception).

“That’s the beauty of it,” Gonzalez said. “In the ideal offense, you want to be a good, balanced team where the defense doesn’t know who’s going to get the ball.”

Considering the way the offense played against the Eagles, Gonzalez said it’s only natural to expect Tampa Bay will put more defenders in the box to slow the running game and slant its coverages toward the middle of the field, where the tight end was able to do so much damage.

If that happens, look for White and Jones to finally break loose.

“I’m sure Tampa will have something ready for me,” Gonzalez said. “I would guess they’ll want to take me out of the game, which is fine. Julio is going to have some plays, and Roddy is one of the best receivers in the league. It’s just a matter of time before he explodes like he always does.”

White is ready to shine.

“I hope this is the one where I go out there and catch eight or nine balls for over 100 yards,” he said “That would be a good game for me. I expect to go out there and do a little something.”

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