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November 19, 2008
Which Michael Turner will show up?
Falcons running back Michael Turner is the NFL's third-leading rusher, with 971 yards, but he has been inconsistent.
Which Michael Turner will the Panthers see on Sunday?
Turner, the Atlanta Falcons' tailback, is the NFL's third-leading rusher with 971 yards. But he's not shown a lot of consistency in his first season as a team's featured back (he came to Atlanta after serving as LaDainian Tomlinson's understudy in San Diego).
Turner rushed for 220 yards in the Falcons' season-opening victory against Detroit. But he has yet to post back-to-back 100-yard games and has six games in which his average yards-per carry has been less than 4.0.
Turner is a workhorse: He averages 22.8 carries per game. And he also has a solid backup in Jerious Norwood, who's got 383 yards. The Falcons are the league's No. 2 rushing team, averaging 153.4 yards per game.
The Panthers held down Turner in the team's previous meeting, when he rushed for just 56 yards in a 24-9 Carolna victory.
-- David Scott
Posted by Observer Sports on November 19, 2008 at 09:44 AM | Permalink
Comments
Yeah and Turner can expect the same treatment this week. Stop the run and sick Julius on Matt Ryan. Panthers need to go into Atlanta and dominate. Time to put our stamp on the NFC South! Anyone think Detroit will be 1-10 after playing at home against Tampa Bay??? Someone has to lose to the Lions, I just hope its the Bucs!
Posted by: TrueFan | Nov 19, 2008 11:05:30 AM
Which top defenses has Turner run well against? None. I expect him to get shut down again this week.
Posted by: John | Nov 19, 2008 11:56:39 AM
John....Panthers are 17th against the run....thats mediocre, not "top"
Posted by: matt | Nov 19, 2008 12:21:53 PM
"Yeah and Turner can expect the same treatment this week. Stop the run and sick Julius on Matt Ryan. Panthers need to go into Atlanta and dominate"....And they will
Tampa will lose to the Lions....
Posted by: jack Bower | Nov 19, 2008 5:05:16 PM
If Tampa Bay loses against the Lions, I cry myself to sleep out of joy.
It's time for Turner to turn back into the mediocre back we saw earlier this year. The only time he's had a great game is when he's facing a team with horrible run defences.
At the same time, we allowed 120+ yard against the Lions in rushing. That cannot happen against the Falcons. We need to bring 5 and 6 man blitzes on first and second down and force the rookie to throw the ball. That's how we'll win this game.
-Revshawn
Posted by: Revshawn | Nov 19, 2008 8:58:50 PM
Matt- 17th in yards allowed, however we've only allowed two 100 yard rushers in a game and considering who we've played, I'd say that's quite good. However, we're third in points allow- which is the only stat that really matters. It seems the Panthers still struggle with cutback style runners like Warrick Dunn and Kevin Smith, but guys like Turner we're pretty good at shutting down. Too much is put into stats- how many teams' rushing attacks have been the difference in the game? Since we've only lost two games you can see the answer is "not many."
No arguing we have one of the best defenses in the league. The game is about points, not yards. Drew Brees is on record pace to break the single season passing yardage mark, yet leads a 5-5 team. Points are what matter.
Posted by: John | Nov 20, 2008 12:08:29 PM
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