Nice little writeup on Jerious Norwood by Steve Wyche of the AJC, wherein he examines Norwood's slowly increasing role in the offense. I was especially interested to see that Norwood ranks first in the NFL in fourth quarter rushing yards and YPC, which bodes well for an increased role in the offense. It's more difficult to plan to stop a big play running back, and with his incredible speed, that's exactly what Norwood serves as.
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out, considering that Dunn clearly is breaking down a little. I'd rotate both backs as much as possible, and let McCrary and Griffith pound the ball a little in order to lift some weight off of Dunn. This also leaves Norwood with a little of his trademark element of surprise, which certainly can't hurt the run game in the slightest. A speedy back that gets 10 carries a game is more effective than a speedy, winded back after 20 carries, at least for now. And how amazing is Norwood? He'll tell you himself.
"It happened so fast. It was like an outside zone stretch play. The corner was thinking I was going outside, but I set him up like I was going outside and made a cut inside. When I made him miss, it was off to the races then. The last line of defense, I just got him all turned around. Before I knew it, I was in the end zone.
"When I'm out there on Sunday, I'm out there playing ball, having fun doing my thing. Some of the stuff I do, I don't realize I'm doing it until the day after. Some of it is pretty amazing."
I like that he has confidence, and I also like Wyche's characterization of his "down-home delivery". I picture a 70 year old Norwood sitting on his porch, telling his grandkids about the time he rans by Vernon Fox with such speed that he burned his jersey off.