Turner and Falcons' run game back on track

By D. Orlando Ledbetter

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

FLOWERY BRANCH -- The Falcons went back to the drawing board to perk up their rushing attack.

The coaches came up with some new plays and blocking schemes, and running back Michael Turner watched some old film of his runs and decided he needed to get back to his bruising running style.

In the aftermath of the 35-27 loss to the New Orleans Saints, the Falcons could at least contend that Turner has his groove back.

He rushed for 151 yards on 20 carries and scored one touchdown against the Saints.

"Michael ran extremely hard and was very decisive in his decision-making," Falcons coach Mike Smith said.

It was easily Turner's best game of the season. His previous best game was in the second week of the season against Carolina, when he had 105 yards on 28 carries.

"I haven't been satisfied with the way I've been playing," said Turner, who has eight rushing touchdowns. "I wanted to bounce back hard. This was the perfect game to bounce back."

The Falcons unleashed Turner from some new formations. In one, he would flank out to the right and then go in motion back into the backfield.

The Falcons had to come up with some new ways to attack defenses with Turner. The stretch plays that worked last season were being taken away by the opposition. They were also shutting off Turner's cutback lanes.

"We ran some different stuff," Turner admitted. "We have to mix it up. We have to do some different things. I've got to break tackles, too, sometimes."

When one run got clogged up, Turner put on a spin move and found some daylight to run through.

"The line played great and opened up some holes for me," said Turner, who rushed for 1,699 yards and scored a franchise-record 17 rushing touchdowns last season. "We just had to get some things that the o-line liked to do, and we executed it well in the run game."

It also helped that fullback Ovie Mughelli returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games.

"It was big getting Ovie back," Turner said. "We need all of our weapons."

Turner had averaged over 4 yards a carry in only one game this season, but he didn't seem to dwell on the failed rushing attempts.

"You have to put all of them behind you and keep moving forward," Turner said. "I wasn't satisfied with the way I've been playing, but you have to get better every week. I still have room for improvement right now."

Now the Falcons will have to see if they can sustain this kind of performance in the rushing attack.

"We have to put our heads down and keep working," Turner said, who has 554 yards rushing on 138 carries.

Smith was impressed with Turner's extra film study.

"Michael, I thought did a nice job over the last couple of weeks of going back and evaluating his play by watching tapes from last year," Smith said. "Michael evaluated just like we evaluated it, tweaking it and we got our running game going."