Will Michael Turner bust loose against Carolina?
By D. ORLANDO LEDBETTER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Flowery Branch — Every team knows the Falcons are going to run the football.
Every team is going to put eight — and sometimes nine — players at the line of scrimmage to stop them.
“Our mentality is we’re going to run the football,” right tackle Tyson Clabo said. “They know we’re going to run the football, and we expect to have success in that area.”
The Falcons were disappointed they didn’t run better in Sunday’s loss to Denver, which was ranked 27th in run defense.
“We should be able to run the football no matter what,” Clabo said. “We just didn’t get it done.”
So how do the Falcons counter the opposition’s strategy? Especially in this week’s rematch with Carolina, who limited the Falcons earlier this season.
“You’ve got to be able to block that eighth element,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said. “Some times [last week] we were able to get him, and some times we didn’t. Any time you load the box there is a chance for an explosive [play]. Michael [Turner] had a nice run on that [28]-yard touchdown run.”
In that first game, Carolina won and held Turner to 56 yards on 18 carries. If Jerious Norwood hadn’t burst loose for a 40-yard run, the Falcons would not have rushed for more than 100 yards. With the running game faltering, quarterback Matt Ryan was forced to throw 41 times against the Panthers on Sept. 28.
“People do not want us to be able to run the football,” Smith said. “They are going to do every thing they can to stop the run and force us to be one-dimensional and throw the football. When teams have really done that, we’ve been able to pass the ball well.”
Things get complicated for the Falcons’ blocking schemes when the opposition puts eight players up front. At the snap of the ball, they can stunt and go in unexpected directions.
Carolina and Denver used heavy stunting tactics to slow the Falcons’ run game. However, they can stunt themselves out of a play, like Denver did on Turner’s 28-yard touchdown run last week.
Fullback Ovie Mughelli remembers the first Carolina game well.
“They had some great stunts and twists,” Mughelli said. “Their defensive line is big, but what I give them credit for is that they are fast. They move really well. Julius Peppers, as big as he is, he moves like a big linebacker.
“So they disrupted our flow and didn’t allow us to get the push that we wanted.”
Turner, who’s closing in on 1,000 yards rushing, remembers the first Carolina game, too.
“They had a good scheme against us,” Turner said. “It was still early in the season. It was a couple of things we hadn’t seen yet. Hopefully we can do better.”
There are other ways to counter the eight- and nine-man fronts.
“There a lot of different ways to do it, but the more that people bring players into the box, you have to be solid with your protections,” Ryan said. “You have to make some plays in the passing game to get them out of there and make them honor the fact that you’re going to throw the ball.”
Philadelphia also loaded the front, and they held Turner to 58 yards on 17 carries. Ryan was forced to throw a season-high 44 times against the Eagles.
Carolina likely will stay with what worked so well the first time.
“We’ll have to make some plays in the passing game to try and get some of their guys out of the box because they have done a great job against the run this year,” Ryan said.
The Falcons are confident that they can solve whatever Carolina throws their way.
“Whatever it takes,” Ryan said. “If it’s 10 passes or 60 runs, that’s the way it will go. Even if it’s 10 runs and 60 passes, either way this offense can do whatever it takes to get the job done.”
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