Sake-Bombers
Footballguy
I didn't get a chance to see the game, but in looking at the game log, it looks to me like Norwood was built in the Falcons gameplan and got his yards throughout the game, not necessarily in mop-up duty for Turner. Then I saw this article in the AJC which seems to indicate that Norwood will continue to be a key part of the offense. Although on the shorter end of a committee situation, he seems to have a lot of trick type plays potentially, too. I've read a lot about Turner's big game, but do you think there's potential for two 1,000 yard rushers to come out of the backfield? Or should I slow my roll a bit remember they were playing the Lions...
“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.”
Full article:
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/f...us_norwood.html
Norwood earns his yards
By CARROLL ROGERS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Flowery Branch — For three seasons as a Falcon now, Jerious Norwood has heard coaches declare they’ve got to find a way to get him on the field, keep him involved in the offense, utilize his speed.
If Sunday’s game against Detroit was any indication, this coaching staff won’t have to talk about it anymore. They’ll be doing it.
Norwood rushed for nearly 100 yards against the Lions, while just working into the flow of the game plan. And that was with Michael Turner breaking out for 220 yards on 22 carries.
While spelling Turner, Norwood had 14 carries for 93 yards and a touchdown. He also caught two passes for six yards, returned two kickoffs for 65 yards — and would have had another 20 yards had he not stepped out of bounds — and made two tackles on special teams.
That’s 164 total yards and 18 touches. Another two passes were thrown his way that fell incomplete.
“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.”
Smith pointed out that but for one illegal block in the back penalty in the third quarter, which negated a 7-yard run by Norwood, the Falcons would have had two 100-plus yard rushers in the game.
The 14 carries from scrimmage were a career high for Norwood. The 6.64 yards per carry were right there with his 6.2 career average.
It’s all good by Norwood.
“I didn’t figure I was going to get the ball that many times,” said Norwood, the former third-round pick out of Mississippi State. “So far things are going great, just got to keep it going forward. Sky’s the limit.”
The beauty of it to offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey was that his staff didn’t have to go out of their way to make it happen. It just did.
Norwood was in the rotation about every third or fourth play, depending on the situation and when Turner needed a rest. At times, on some possessions, it was every other play.
Norwood had carries in seven of the Falcons’ 11 offensive possessions.
“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.”
From the looks of things Sunday, Mularkey has found himself a pet project in Norwood.
He had Norwood line up at quarterback for one play in the third quarter — ala Darren McFadden at Arkansas — though the play was thwarted by a false start penalty.
He also had Norwood run what was designed to be a flea flicker, where he pitches back to quarterback Matt Ryan for a deep pass. Norwood made a wise decision though and kept it after a linebacker broke free toward Ryan on a blitz.
By not pitching to Ryan, Norwood saved a potential fumble, possibly even a defensive touchdown, and some bodily harm to Ryan. Not only that, Norwood turned it up field and into a 17-yard gain.
That’s how he’ll earn the trust of his coaches. Already, they are earning his trust.
“He understands he’s got a role here, knows we know his potential and what he’s capable of doing and trusts that we’re going to handle it the right way,” Mularkey said. “[sunday] was a good start. We’ll see where it goes from there.”
“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.”
Full article:
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/f...us_norwood.html
Norwood earns his yards
By CARROLL ROGERS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Flowery Branch — For three seasons as a Falcon now, Jerious Norwood has heard coaches declare they’ve got to find a way to get him on the field, keep him involved in the offense, utilize his speed.
If Sunday’s game against Detroit was any indication, this coaching staff won’t have to talk about it anymore. They’ll be doing it.
Norwood rushed for nearly 100 yards against the Lions, while just working into the flow of the game plan. And that was with Michael Turner breaking out for 220 yards on 22 carries.
While spelling Turner, Norwood had 14 carries for 93 yards and a touchdown. He also caught two passes for six yards, returned two kickoffs for 65 yards — and would have had another 20 yards had he not stepped out of bounds — and made two tackles on special teams.
That’s 164 total yards and 18 touches. Another two passes were thrown his way that fell incomplete.
“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.”
Smith pointed out that but for one illegal block in the back penalty in the third quarter, which negated a 7-yard run by Norwood, the Falcons would have had two 100-plus yard rushers in the game.
The 14 carries from scrimmage were a career high for Norwood. The 6.64 yards per carry were right there with his 6.2 career average.
It’s all good by Norwood.
“I didn’t figure I was going to get the ball that many times,” said Norwood, the former third-round pick out of Mississippi State. “So far things are going great, just got to keep it going forward. Sky’s the limit.”
The beauty of it to offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey was that his staff didn’t have to go out of their way to make it happen. It just did.
Norwood was in the rotation about every third or fourth play, depending on the situation and when Turner needed a rest. At times, on some possessions, it was every other play.
Norwood had carries in seven of the Falcons’ 11 offensive possessions.
“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.”
From the looks of things Sunday, Mularkey has found himself a pet project in Norwood.
He had Norwood line up at quarterback for one play in the third quarter — ala Darren McFadden at Arkansas — though the play was thwarted by a false start penalty.
He also had Norwood run what was designed to be a flea flicker, where he pitches back to quarterback Matt Ryan for a deep pass. Norwood made a wise decision though and kept it after a linebacker broke free toward Ryan on a blitz.
By not pitching to Ryan, Norwood saved a potential fumble, possibly even a defensive touchdown, and some bodily harm to Ryan. Not only that, Norwood turned it up field and into a 17-yard gain.
That’s how he’ll earn the trust of his coaches. Already, they are earning his trust.
“He understands he’s got a role here, knows we know his potential and what he’s capable of doing and trusts that we’re going to handle it the right way,” Mularkey said. “[sunday] was a good start. We’ll see where it goes from there.”
As a Turner owner I snatched up Norwood off the WW this week, and I can see playing both of them when the matchup is right, but mainly I feel much better knowing my Handcuff can produce if needed.
You can't conclude anything about the split in a lopsided game like this. If you need an example close to home, look at how Turner himself started in 2006 in the first two weeks. In those two games, he had 23 carries for 175 yards to LT's 50 carries for 202 yards. People were predicting that Turner was going to get a solid share of the carries and SD was going to have two fantasy starters at running back because SD's rushing offense was so good. But both of those games were blowouts by SD. At the end of the year, Turner ended up with only 80 total carries and LT had 348. Turner got 15% of SD's total carries that year.
