What's Eating Michael Turner?

They lost to the Saints by 3, the Packers by 7, and they were killing us until we turned it around to beat them by 8. Plus they just got a huge W at Houston.

Not saying it’s gonna happen, but it’s not that big of a stretch to see them beat the Saints.

I mapped this out in a previous post. SF has to lose the next 2 games and we have to win out and the Aint’s have to lose out. This gives us the division crown via better division record over NO and the No. 2 seed by the same reason over SF.

Unless there is a flaw in the way I am seeing how the tie breakers work…which orang3b will now point out…lol

because of the “bagged on” comment.

despite his size, he seems to have decent yards after first contact.

Other times it just looks like he’s fighting it. It’s not like the guy has forgotten how to catch the ball, he hasn’t gotten thrown the ball his entire career. While I agree it would be great if we implemented him in the passing game more often, I think Quizz is a much more fluid receiver giving him better catch and run ability compared to MT’s catch(?), make sure it’s in my hands, now run! technique.

I think we can agree that our backfield is completely underused one way and completely overused another.

The answer, you guessed it is zero. We have the talent at RB. Wether It’s a bulldozer(Turner), smaller bulldozer with hands(Snelling), or a guy who looks like a little kid out there but is agile and has shown he can run people over like a bulldozer(Quizz) we can hit you from different angles w/different looks…if we wanted to. But it seems like we don’t. Until we see a change at the OC spot we won’t see the full potential of this team. We could have all three of them out there at once and it wouldn’t be a bad thing. It’d be a possible bonanza of mismatches! Not to mention they’re all decent blockers if needed.

I still refuse to believe that we have an Oline that isn’t athletic enough to run a simple screen. I think it’s the fact that we don’t spend a lot of time practicing it, or at least that’s what it looks like come gameday. It’s not like the screen play is some off type play that’s only used in high school and college like the option. It’s a standard play! I’m sure our D could use some time against it too being that we can really embarrass ourselves against it.

A truly elite back should outperform his line’s numbers by turning nothing into something with some regularity. Best example of this in my lifetime would be Barry Sanders.

Let me remind you of this thread.

As far as Snelling goes, that’s a completely and utterly misguided argument. Snelling’s ypa in the last 3 years: 4.3, 3.7, and currently 2.9. Turner’s over the same time: 4.9, 4.1, 4.1.

This past week, Quizz had 8 carries and only produced 10 yards behind this OLine.

mwalex, you can put up all the stats, numbers, clips, videos, and whatever type of hard evidence you want, but AuxHusky has his mind made up about this.

except without the personal bias. I have a filter for that on my television. I also agree that I cannot believe we are watching the same games, except for other reasons.

Why do you think MT has led the league in negative yardage? Do you sit there and actually believe that it is 100% his responsibility? Based on your posts that would seem to be the case. Do you pay attention to the play calling at all? ATL’s most consistent play is MT up the middle. That is so predictable and easy to defense and that is what happens more often than not. I also guess that is MT’s fault? When ATL is ahead in the 3rd Q it’s MT up the gut and has been for four years. That is a function of his size, MM and a crappy OL. If MT was a smaller RB that play would not be called as often.

I think it’s funny that you sing the praises of Snelling while he has not done anything to convince the coached otherwise. Your comment about Snelling making something out of nothing behind this line is so inaccurate it’s unbelieveable. Using DVOA, Snellings rushing DVOA is -31.5% and his DYAR is -32, which pale in comparion to MT. It might be due to his few carriers but it shows that your comment is not accurate. Again, what games are you watching? Snelling is also averaging 2.9 yards per carry. How is that continuously making something out of nothing? If it is due to his lack of carries then you cannot make accurately say that he is making something out of nothing.

I also think it’s funny how you also preach about your vindication and thinking that the coached see what you do. If that was the case the offensive schemes would have changed already. Good luck with that one.

You do see the problem (I knew you did…lol). Your right, the run blocking sucks!!

As I have stated several discussion threads back on this subject, when MT (or most RB’s for that matter) get blown up in the backfield for a loss it is almost always a missed tackle or a missed assignment by the OL (or TE’s if they are assigned to block on a given play). Turner has ZERO responsibility in stopping the opposing DL or DB’s from penetrating.

So, since I know you’re about to fault MT for not being able to “cut” or adjust…MT has more “outside” rushing yards this year than he usually gets…because the OL is not giving him the lanes he has had in previous seasons.

does reduce his offensive potential. He can catch the ball but not as frequently as he should. That being said he could still be thrown to more often than he is now. He averages more than 10 yards per reception for this season and if nothing else he can be a decoy. This gets back to the driver being a bad offensive scheme. Throw to MT on first downs and if he drops it then there are two more downs to make up the yardage AND it loosens up the D.

Is he violent at point of contact? Not really. Is that necessary for a good or great back. No. Don’t make something out of nothing.