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Home > Mark Bradley > Archives > 2008 > August > 05
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Turner restores power to Falcons
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Flowery Branch — The big man is thinking of a big number. “I know it’s going to be somewhere around 300 carries,” Michael Turner said. “The average back [gets] that.”
Actually, no. Only six NFL backs carried more than 300 times last season, and you’d know their names. Lots more folks should know Michael Turner’s name after this season. If these Falcons are to have any chance, the big man must shoulder a big load.
Turner spent four seasons with San Diego as LaDainian Tomlinson’s understudy, carrying the ball 228 times total but gaining a reputation as the league’s best No. 2 back. He signed with the Falcons because he’s ready to be a No. 1.
“I know I’m getting my touches, guaranteed,” he said, speaking of his new environs. “It wasn’t guaranteed in San Diego.”
Turner’s nickname is “The Burner,” but at 244 pounds he’s more of a blunt instrument. For all the attention that will be paid to quarterback Matt Ryan, Turner was the offseason’s key short-term acquisition. The Falcons haven’t had a power back of his eminence since Jamal Anderson, and in Mike Mularkey’s low-risk offense, power will be paramount.
To which we say: Hooray. There’s a brutal beauty in watching a big back exert his inexorable influence. “It’s old-school football,” Turner said, and he’s an old-school guy. Ask which backs he enjoyed watching, and he’ll mention Jim Brown and Earl Campbell and Jerome Bettis and Mike Allstott and the late Craig “Ironhead” Heyward — earth-movers all.
Such backs tend to do the most damage in the fourth quarter. Even though Turner isn’t accustomed to playing an entire game — L.T. was the main attraction in S.D. — he sees himself as cut from the same hunk of scrap iron. “I’m a rhythm-type back. … You don’t want to be one of those guys who burn out at the end of games. You want to get stronger.”
Said Falcons coach Mike Smith: “You want to have a guy who can take the punishment and dish some out. You want a back who can lower his shoulder and get the hidden yards — 2 yards in the second quarter can become 4 yards in the fourth quarter.”
For the Falcons, Turner stands to be that guy. Jerious Norwood will be the change of pace, but the big man will be the pace itself. He has primed himself for this moment. From Tomlinson, Turner said he learned “how to prepare, how to condition, how to take care of your body. The mental aspect of the game — that’s the part that gives you the edge.”
As a free agent, Turner could have gone a lot of places. He landed here because he liked Mularkey’s unadorned scheme and Mularkey himself.
“I felt the attitude and the passion he brought to his system,” he said. “He really believes in it, and when a coach really believes in something, that gets transferred to the players.”
A power offense, duh, is nothing without a power back, but even the mightiest runner cannot create his own holes. Conventional wisdom holds that this offensive line isn’t forceful enough to clear its collective throat. Turner, you should know, believes differently.
“They’re out here working hard,” he said. “They’re fighting for jobs, and everybody’s level goes up when that happens. They might get a bad rap, but I don’t see it at all. They’ve got great potential.”
One final thing about the big man’s big number: Only once in the past 21 seasons has a Falcon — Anderson in 1998 — carried 300 times. Not saying these Falcons will likewise wind up in the Super Bowl, but could there be a more promising parallel?
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