DEL.ICIO.USFalcons get back to running the football
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Oakland — In Michael Turner’s world, the Falcons were dealing with a potentially severe identity crisis.
Their rushing attack had been stopped in games against Philadelphia and Chicago.
Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com
Jerious Norwood leaps over teammate Tyson Clabo for a 12-yard skip into the end zone.
They wanted to unleash it’s fury against Oakland and re-establish that they can run the football.
During pre-game talks, offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey described to the linemen how pretty it is when they are ripping of gains of 4, 5 and 6 yards. Sort of a big guy ballet of smashing helmets and shoulder pads.
“We had to get back to what this team is built around and that’s running the football,” said Turner who rushed for more than 100 yards for the fourth time this season. “We have to keep improving on that and hopefully with the development of Matt Ryan, we’ll be able to run and pass.”
Turner finished with 139 yards on 31 carries. But this wasn’t a one-man show.
Jerious Norwood and Jason Snelling got in on the act. Norwood rushed for 63 yards on 13 carries and scored on a 12-yard run in the first quarter.
The hard-charging Snelling played in the second half and finished with 47 yards on just eight carries (5.9 per carry).
“Actually, it was awesome,” tackle Tyson Clabo said. “There is nothing better than running the football. Coach Mularkey was talking before the game and he said it was fun to watch. I said, “It’s fun to do.’ ” It just seemed like 4 and 5 yards. It didn’t matter who it was because Jerious had yards. … Snelling runs hard too.”
Turner was held to 58 yards against Philadelphia and 54 yards against Chicago. The Falcons failed to rush for 100 yards in both of those games after averaging 180.6 yards over the first five games.
They rushed for 252 yards on 57 carries (4.4 per carry) Sunday.
“My favorite part was finishing on the field and being able to take a knee, that was the highlight for me,” Clabo said.
There was plenty of credit to go around.
“I thought that the offensive line along with the tight ends and wide receivers did a nice job blocking,” Falcons head coach Mike Smith said. “They were very well prepared.”
The Falcons came out determined to run the ball on the Raiders, who entered the game ranked 27th (of 32 teams) against he run.
“I got some carries early, everybody was getting the ball early and making big plays,” Turner said. “We were taking our time with it.”
On Norwood’s touchdown, Turner was actually the up-back in the I-formation. He went to his right and the ball was tossed to Norwood on the left.
“It was good to get our confidence back as far as running the football,” Turner said. “We were working hard all week to get that back “
Norwood had some powerful runs, running over Oakland linebacker Kirk Morrison to finish off one run.
“I felt the offense did what we set out to do, that was impose our will on Oakland,” Norwood said. “That’s something that we are going to do the rest of the season.”
Clabo led Norwood around the corner on his touchdown run.
“If they judged us on style points, I don’t know,” Clabo said. “The back could make a cut. I didn’t see it. … I wasn’t trying to get in the way, apparently I was. But we got in the end zone.”
Services »
