Jerious Norwood Finally Getting Some Carries
by Dave Choate on Sep 10, 2008 8:00 AM EDT
in Falcons News
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PrintYou can forgive Jerious Norwood for feeling like a man wandering the desert.
Over the last two years, the third round draft pick had done nothing but impress in his very limited chances. He got few carries under Jim Mora Jr., and Bobby Petrino further suppressed him. When you're a guy averaging well over five yards a carry, you have to ask why anybody would keep you on the bench when the guys in front of you aren't nearly as effective. Norwood should've spent the first two years as an effective complement getting 10-15 touches a game, as he's also quite a talented pass-catching back. Instead, his season high last year was 11 carries, with Warrick Dunn managing less than three yards a carry on the ground.
Now it appears that Norwood is finally getting his due, and it's come with a more talented guy still getting the bulk of the load. According to the AJC, the coaching staff has recognized Norwood's potential and are rolling out plays to use him in:
“We anticipate Jerious to be a very integral part of our offense,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said. “We feel like we have to have two guys who can carry the load. Jerious and Michael created quite a tandem in terms of what they create for defensive coordinators.”
For some perspective here, realize that Norwood had 14 carries in his first game of this season, caught a couple passes, returned a couple kicks and even made a couple of tackles on special teams. The kid is an incredibly talented backup and forms a perfect complement for Turner, so to see the coaching staff exercising some, um, common sense is a bit refreshing. WIth any luck, they'll keep this promise for the rest of the season.
Thoughts on Norwood?
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Money Shot
"It was a good mix … without purposely forcing the ball on him and the issue of who’s getting the number of carries," Mularkey said. "It just worked out for this game. I can’t say it’s going to do this every game, but this game it just seemed to flow real well."
It always felt like, under Petrino anyways, that getting Norwood involved was a chore. Like he was going to somehow have to be forced into the gameplan. Like sex, you should never have to “be persuaded” to do it, it should just come natural if at all.
It’s nice to finally have a scheme and philosophy in Atlanta that can get Norwood in the game not because it has to or because it knows it needs to, but because it drew up a gameplan and there was a perfect spot for a speedy, elusive, homerun hitting, pass catching RB in it.
It’s nice to finally have a team. Not just one that encompasses 53 players on the field, but the coaching staff, the front office, and the administration. If ATL keeps this up, it’s going to encompass an entire city, and there’s not one damn thing wrong with that.
Dear Matt Ryan: Don't eff this up. Love, iRonin.
Falcons 27 Bucs13
I think as long as the team stays healthy this is gonna get better and better. Most teams will believe it a fluke at this point but for now thats ok. If the first 4 or 5 teams underestimate how the Falcons will show up to play then this team has the potential to find themselves in a fight for a division title later in the season. I predict division title will be easier than a wild card at this point. Even if they dont make the playoffs{i know its still a longshot} This team has all the building blocks needed to bring fear to teams when they see Falcons listed on their schedule. If we can be patient this team will be a powerhouse in the not to distant future.
Oh Yes!
It has been extremely confusing to me why Jerious had not run the ball more often particuarly when Dunn was only averaging 3 yards a pop. Jerious is a fantastic back and thats why he would be effective on 3rd downs. Spread the field with 4 WR’s and you can give him the Draw, Play action, Hand it off directly or throw to him on a screen the thing is he would be effective where he can create and by the sounds of things hes getting those oppurtunities as evident in last week’s game against Detroit.
RB Duo
Maybe I am too much of an optimist, but I will throw throw this out there:
Norwood/Turner combo is among the better RB tandem’s in the NFL. What a great 1-2 punch. Here are my top RB duo’s
!) Taylor/Peterson: Vikings
2) Taylor/Jones-Drew: Jaguars
3) Turner/Norwood: Falcons
4) Barber/Jones: Cowboys
5) The13 Patriots RB’s
In a way, each of us has an El Guapo to face.
Top 5 tandems...
runningback, I was having this exact conversation on tuesday (top 5 rb tandems in the nfl). I started to say that turner & norwood were top 3, then I remembered that (1) its only been 1 game, (2) Whomever is paired with LDT, (whether it be sproles or that new guy) that duo has to be in the top 2, (3) you have to put Jacobs & Bradshaw up there (they got to the superbowl on the strength of their ground game).
I am as pumped as anyone about the success of our two headed running beast. It makes me even happier to think that our beloved birds could be one of the best running teams without a fleet footed quarterback accounting for a large chunk of the yards.
Look, we all know its early, and things could go horribly wrong, but the Tennesse Titans made the playoffs last year with HORRIBLE QUARTERBACKING (FAR WORSE THEN ANYTHING WE HAD EVER SEEN FROM MIKE).
With Colstons injury, and the brewing controversey in Tampa, it is completely possible for the Falcons to be the best Team in the NFC south for the first chunk of the season…
Norwood is the man
That’s why I didn’t understand the Turner signing to begin with. I never questioned Turner’s talent or ability, but to me it seemed like we already had a guy in Norwood who could do everything Turner could and we didn’t have to spend an additional 30+ mil to get it. And I don’t get the “he can’t carry the load” argument either since he was the main back at Miss St for three years. That’s all he did was run the ball. In fact, the only thing giving that argument any weight is the fact that he had not been a number one back in the NFL yet, and that could be applied to Turner.
Honestly though, I think we all know that both of these guys can handle anything that the coaches give them. They are both big, strong, and explosive backs and having them both on our team is definitely a good problem to have. I’ll always be rooting for Norwood though.
Norwood is a very good back but he can not run through hand tacklers consistently like Turner. With our rebuilding line this is more important than just the speed and shiftiness that Norwood posses,
Agree
Norwood doesn’t have the raw power to run inside, and isn’t well suited to be a #1 back for that reason. He’s much more the outside type guy. IMO he accelerates even quicker than Turner.
The coaches did a great job last week getting him the ball in situations that fit his abilities. Hope they can continue to develop our Dynamic Duo. Tampa will be a tougher test of our offense than Detroit.
"There's no such word as 'quit' in swamp buggy racing, Marigold"
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