Running Game | Atlanta Falcons Tickets

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.”

Falcons Can’t Keep Up With Brees, Saints

Now the gap seems much wider.

Drew Brees set the NFL record for yards passing in a season, breaking a mark that Dan Marino had held for nearly three decades, and New Orleans clinched the NFC South title with a 45-16 victory over the Falcons on Monday night.

Brees threw for 307 yards and four touchdowns, the last a 9-yard strike to Darren Sproles that set the record with 2:51 to go.

Falcons coach Mike Smith was quick to congratulate Brees and also to criticize his own squad, which came in hoping to remain in the hunt to repeat as division champions.

“We didn’t really play well enough in any phase of the game to give ourselves a chance to win,” Smith said. “There were some opportunities early on, and then it kind of got out of hand there at the end. … It’s not the type of effort that you want to have with so much on the line with what the outcome could have meant to our team.”

Matt Ryan had 373 yards passing and one TD, including a 21-yard scoring strike to Julio Jones that gave the Falcons (9-6) a 10-7 lead late in the first quarter. But that turned out to be Atlanta’s only touchdown and the Saints (12-3) took the lead for good on their next drive when Brees hit Marques Colston for an 8-yard score.

“We have to get a lot better in the red zone,” Ryan said. “We needed a lot more touchdowns than the field goals we got out there.”

Atlanta finished with 469 total yards, six more yards than New Orleans, only to lose by more than four touchdowns. However, a lot of the Falcons’ yards came through the air after they were behind and had to abandon the running game, which accounted for only 35 yards.

Jones had eight catches for 128 yards and Roddy White had 11 catches for 127 yards.

Brees broke Marino’s record on his final throw of the game and it gave him 5,087 yards passing — with one game still to play. Marino finished with 5,084 yards for the Miami Dolphins in 1984.

Minutes after Brees broke the record, Marino offered congratulations on his Twitter account.

“Great job by such a special player,” Marino wrote.

As Sproles spiked the ball, Brees thrust his fist triumphantly in the air and started walking toward midfield while the Superdome crowd went wild and his teammates chased him down. Offensive guard Carl Nicks was the first one to get there and tried to lift Brees onto his shoulder, but couldn’t do it as teammates swarmed around.

“If I could have put him on my shoulders and paraded him around the whole stadium I would have done that. He deserves it,” Nicks said. “It’s like a movie, man. Just a movie ending. It’s beautiful. … You could tell by everyone’s reaction after he did it how much people care about that guy. We all love him.”

Brees’ four touchdown passes gave him 276 for his career, moving him ahead of Joe Montana (273) and Vinny Testaverde (275) for ninth all-time. He is the first quarterback in NFL history to pass for more than 5,000 yards twice — he had 5,069 in 2008.

“Honestly, I was really trying not to think about the record or anything,” Brees said. “I knew we were close. A couple guys mentioned stuff to me on the sideline. I didn’t want to hear it. It’s like a pitcher with a no-hitter, I guess.”

Brees’ second scoring pass went for 9 yards to Jimmy Graham. In the third quarter, Brees hit Robert Meachem for a score from 24 yards out, which made it 28-10.

Brees might have broken Marino’s record in the third quarter if not for Sproles’ 92-yard kickoff return, which set up John Kasay’s 29-yard field goal. Brees also was intercepted twice, once in the Falcons end zone, but New Orleans was still dominant enough to take a big lead.

The game became a romp when Jones was stripped by Scott Shanle and Malcolm Jenkins returned it 30 yards for a score to make it 38-16 in the fourth quarter. The Superdome crowd was in full celebration by then, but the play also meant fans would have to wait until later in the fourth quarter before Brees finally got his chance to break the passing record.

Atlanta is headed to the playoffs as a wild card and could potentially be back in New Orleans again in two weeks.

“We don’t care which team we have to play. We are in the playoffs,” running back Michael Turner said.

Both teams scored on all their possessions in the opening quarter, with the Saints briefly pulling in front 7-3 on Pierre Thomas’ 4-yard touchdown run, after which he pulled a bow from his uniform pants, put it on the football and offered it as a gift to a woman with a parasol in the front row behind the end zone.

The referees weren’t cutting Thomas any slack on his Christmas-themed celebration, flagging him for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Notes: Atlanta’s defense allowed the Saints to convert 10 of 13 third downs. … Brees has passed for 300 yards or more an NFL-record 12 times this season. … New England quarterback Tom Brady could also pass Marino next week — and maybe Brees, too. Brady has thrown for 4,897 yards this season. … The Falcons were 0 for 3 on fourth-down attempts.

Meticulous Mularkey Focuses on Details for Falcons

ATLANTA. Mike Mularkey likes to keep his focus on the Falcons’ next game.

Receiver Michael Jenkins on Wednesday called Mularkey “meticulous.”

Atlanta’s offensive coordinator is all about the details. He’s all about the now. Thanks in part to Mularkey’s focus, the Falcons are all about winning.

Mularkey’s offense ranks fifth in the NFL in scoring and is a big reason the Falcons (11-2) have the NFC’s best record — and poised for a run.

“He’s just real meticulous with his work,” Jenkins said. “He likes to go over everything to the finest detail. If you’ve heard it 30 times, he wants to go over it 31 times. That’s just the way he is. He strives for perfection. And he does a great job of feeling the games, knowing when to put us in no-huddle, when we should continue to run the ball. He has a good sense of that.”

It’s as if Mularkey can make no bad calls.

His offense wears down defenses with a power running game led by 1,000-yard rusher Michael Turner and a dangerous passing attack. Matt Ryan, in his third season, is having his best year while throwing to Roddy White, who leads the NFL with 99 catches.

With Hall of Fame-bound tight end Tony Gonzalez and a line that has been together for three years, Mularkey has a variety of weapons at his disposal.

“I think he tries to be unpredictable,” Gonzalez said. “He tries to keep the defense on their heels with different formations. I think we go into games with like 15 different groupings. Not plays, I’m talking about literally sets, names of groups where like each group is different players in the game. Different sets.

“We never really run anything twice, and that keeps a defense on their heels. That comes from his preparation.”

Mularkey was the offensive coordinator for the and and the head coach at Buffalo before joining Mike Smith in Atlanta.

He said he’d like to be a head coach again but he insisted he isn’t thinking about his next possible career move. For now, he’s consumed with devising a plan for Sunday’s game at Seattle.

Mularkey, zoned in on the Seattle defense, was caught off guard this week with a question about his future: Was he aware that he was mentioned in a TV report as a possible candidate to be the next head coach in Denver, where Josh McDaniels was fired and Eric Studesville is the interim coach?

Mularkey seemed to be genuinely stumped by the question.

“I don’t know anything about it,” he said.

Mularkey’s success in three seasons with coach Mike Smith in Atlanta is likely to ensure his name continues to be included in speculation about head jobs.

“I’d like the opportunity again,” Mularkey said. “I would if it ever presents itself.”

He was 14-18 in two seasons with the , including a 9-7 record in 2004. In Atlanta, he has been part of a three-year run of winning seasons — especially impressive considering the Falcons had never before managed back-to-back winning records.

Ryan said he “absolutely” would not be surprised to see a team interview Mularkey for a head coaching position.

“That’s part of this industry,” said Ryan, who has thrown for 3,147 yards with 22 touchdown passes and only eight interceptions “That’s a great thing. He’s a great coach. He’s a great person. Obviously, I’d love to have him stick around here my entire career, but that’s not always the case.”

Ryan said his goal is to make the most of this season with Mularkey.

“One of the things I’m excited about is this year and not looking too far down the road, and knowing that Mike will make a good decision for himself and his family in the future,” Ryan said. “But I’m glad that we have him for this season.”

Mularkey said he has had no reason to consider how he would approach interest from another team.

“No, to be honest with you, it hasn’t even crossed my mind,” he said. “We’re trying to win this football game. I’m telling my players to focus on the now, don’t worry about anything else, don’t worry about what anybody else is doing. You have absolutely no control over what anybody else is doing, in regards to jobs or any of that.”