Dirk Koetter: Michael Turner didn’t have a chance on majority of runs
 

After Sunday’s 31-27 loss to the Saints, Falcons center Todd McClure took issue with the idea that poor blocking was the sole place to point blame for the team’s lackluster showing in short yardage near the New Orleans end zone.

“It is in every aspect of it,” McClure said. “But we get the ball on the one, we are expected to get it in. I just get frustrated sometimes the past couple years. There’s more to it than just lining up and blocking the guys wherever they line up. And that’s it. I can’t talk about it anymore.”

One imagines that two of the things that McClure refers to when he says “there’s more to it” are the running back and the play calling. Offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter is the guy calling the plays and he doesn’t think that Michael Turner was to blame for the team’s inability to punch the ball into the end zone. He also doesn’t think that it would have made any difference if the team went with Jacquizz Rodgers in those situations because whoever was running the ball wouldn’t have had a chance.

“We only ran the ball 18 times. We need to run the ball more efficiently as a team. It doesn’t matter who the runner is,” Koetter said, via D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “When you look at the tape on the majority of Mike Turner’s runs in the game the other day, he had no chance. We had free runners at the point of attack.”

Koetter wasn’t pointing the finger solely at the offensive line as he cited multiple reasons, including coaching, for the team’s failure to produce in short yardage. He didn’t mention Turner specifically, although it isn’t hard to notice that he isn’t the same back that he was a few years ago.

Pointing fingers isn’t going to fix the problem all by itself, though, especially when there seem to be no shortage of places to point them in Atlanta.

Dirk Koetter: Michael Turner didn’t have a chance on majority of runs | ProFootballTalk

Re: Dirk Koetter: Michael Turner didn’t have a chance on majority of runs
 

And so begins the implosion that is the Falcons.

Re: Dirk Koetter: Michael Turner didn’t have a chance on majority of runs
 

Re: Dirk Koetter: Michael Turner didn’t have a chance on majority of runs
 

If I was to point fingers, I'd have to start with the defense... They're going absolutely no where in the playoffs with a defense like they have.

Re: Dirk Koetter: Michael Turner didn’t have a chance on majority of runs
 

Falcon fans have commented that though Turner puts up good stats, it's misleading. He gets some huge runs mixed in with a lot of short to no gainers. He's a big bowling ball, easy to stop in very short yardage when defenses know it's coming. McClure is right, it has failed time and time again yet they keep doing it. They do the same thing in the playoffs, same game plan, no diversions, no decoys. Very predictable.

Re: Dirk Koetter: Michael Turner didn’t have a chance on majority of runs
 

8-0 to start, 0-8 to finish? Too much to hope for probably.

Re: Dirk Koetter: Michael Turner didn’t have a chance on majority of runs
 

Not Turner's fault the entire Saints D met him 2 yards inside his backfield.

Re: Dirk Koetter: Michael Turner didn’t have a chance on majority of runs
 

As a guy who has been watching him for a few years, in this last game my seatmates and I REALLY noticed "in person" that with the naked eye, you can really see that Turner has lost a step,lost his push, lost his surge. He just looked "slow" out there, and sorta falls down with no punch or push whatsoever. Very noticeable in person, compared to past years.

Re: Dirk Koetter: Michael Turner didn’t have a chance on majority of runs
 

We aren't going to go 8-8. We're too discipline to implode like that.

Re: Dirk Koetter: Michael Turner didn’t have a chance on majority of runs
 

Was Turner this chunky the last couple seasons? Hes a dead ringer for the Bus, in dire need of a rear end alignment and new timing chain. That's just me though..