Turner and Norwood back to power the running game

By D. Orlando Ledbetter

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Running backs Michael Turner and Jerious Norwood don’t have a cool nickname.

That was all the rage last season when Tennessee and Carolina used “Smash and Dash” and the New York Giants came up with “Earth, Wind and Fire.”

“The Burner and J-Rock” just doesn’t have that nice ring.

But Thunder and Lightning, Smash and Dash, Frick and Frack, whatever; the end result is that they combined to rush for 2,188 yards rushing and made the Falcons the No. 2 rushing team in the league.

“They are two different-styled runners,” running backs coach Gerald Brown said. “Michael runs with power, but he has speed as well. He can be a big bruising back.”

Turner has the speed to break long runs. He had a 66-yard touchdown in the season opener and got loose for a 70-yard gain in the season finale. He led the league with 45 rushes of 10 yards or more.

Turner was instrumental to last season’s playoff run. When the team needed to run out the clock, he came through.

He was second in the league in fourth-quarter rushing with 74 carries for 389 yards and five touchdowns.

Norwood was used as a third-down back last season.

“When you go with Jerious, he’s just a different style of runner,” Brown said. “He has some more speed and some more moves.”

The Falcons try not to be predictable as to how they blend Turner and Norwood in to a game plan.

Turner led the league with 376 carries while rushing for 1,699 yards and a franchise-record 17 touchdowns.

Traditionally, running backs have not fared as well in subsequent seasons after carrying the ball 370 times or more, but Turner isn’t counting his carries or monitoring his workload.

“I don’t pay any attention to that because I’m the one that has to go out there and run the football,” Turner said. “I believe the coaches are going to put me in the best situations to be successful again this year.”

It was a breakout season for Turner, who made his first trip to the Pro Bowl. While last year it was matter of if he could carry a full-time load after being a backup in San Diego. Now the issue is if he can follow that with another stellar campaign.

“I don’t want to say it’s pressure, but we want to build on what we did last year,” Turner said.

Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez, who was on strong rushing teams in Kansas City with running backs Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson, saw Turner twice a year when Turner was with San Diego.

“I think he’s going to pick up where he left off,” Gonzalez said.

Norwood has been right around 100 carries in each of his three seasons, under three different coaching staffs. Last season he gained 489 yards on 95 carries.

Turner and Norwood are backed by Jason Snelling.

Fullback Ovie Mughelli returns as the lead blocker to usher the running backs through holes. Also, fullback Verron Haynes made the team after being out of football for a year.

“Ovie did a pretty good job for us last year,” Brown said. “He’s a big part of what we do. He is certainly a true fullback.”

The unit appears strong.

“We’ve got a pretty solid group,” Turner said. “We had a tough competition in camp between some of those guys. Each one of them brings something different to the table and give us some variety.”

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Falcons running backs

No. Player Ht. Wt.

Running backs

32 Jerious Norwood 5-11 209

33 Michael Turner 5-10 244

44 Jason Snelling 5-11 223

Fullbacks

34 Ovie Mughelli 6-1 255

36 Verron Haynes 5-9 233

What they are saying

“It will be pretty similar to last year. We’ll go on first and second down with Michael [Turner]. Jerious [Norwood] has his moments when we get him in there for that. Jerious was our third-down back last year. It will start out that way this year. But they all will have a role to play.”

Mike Mularkey, Falcons offensive coordinator

“It’s something that you can’t really measure. Each one of us are going to get to carry the ball. It’s something that you can’t predict. It just matters how the game goes.”

Michael Turner, running back