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After further review, Atlanta Falcons running back Michael Turner gained a season's worth of yards-after-contact in his team's 35-27 loss Monday night to the usually sure-tackling New Orleans SaintsTurner muscled and motored his way to 151 yards on 20 carries and one touchdown, becoming the first running back to pass 100 yards rushing against the undefeated Saints this season.

Consequently, New Orleans tumbled from fourth overall (92.3 yards per game) in rushing defense to 11th in the latest NFL rankings (102.1 yards per game), a fact that is sure to be emphasized Sunday by the run-oriented Carolina Panthers.

The Carolina Panthers (3-4) boast the one-two punch of running backs DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, who combined for 245 of their team's 270 yards rushing in a 34-21 road victory Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals. What makes that more impressive is the Cardinals entered the game yielding an NFL-low 67.5 yards rushing per game.
Williams ranks seventh in the NFL in rushing with 619 yards (five touchdowns); Stewart 25th with 360 (four touchdowns). Carolina has rushed for 267, 116 and 270 yards in its past three games.
In last season's finale between the Saints and Panthers, Williams (178) and Stewart (56) combined for 234 yards rushing in a 33-31 victory at the Superdome.

"Turner is a great runner, but we made him look even better than he was, " Saints strong safety Roman Harper said Wednesday. "I'm not trying to take anything away from him. He breaks a lot of tackles, but he broke more than normal against us.

"Carolina tore us up last year, so we had better be able to match their physical toughness and try to jump on them early."
The Saints defense was guilty of "shoddy tackling" against the Falcons, according to veteran free safety Darren Sharper, a major reason why the nationally televised game came down to the final seconds at the Superdome.
"(Turner) ran for 151, so it was definitely pretty bad, " said Sharper, whose league-high seventh interception at the Saints 5-yard line sealed the victory with three seconds remaining. "It probably wasn't our best performance as far as getting guys on the ground.

"It's good we got away with a victory after a performance like we had with our tackling. This week, with the backs that they have, we can't allow them to break tackles and have the big runs, because they have the ability to hurt you all game long. There's two of them; there's not just one guy, so that's going to make it even tougher."

How many tackles did the Saints miss against the Falcons? Sharper winked and replied: "I'll do the tally and get back to you on that."
Turner did most of his damage between the tackles, rushing 16 times for 84 yards. He gained 8 yards on a toss sweep and 59 yards on three carries after bouncing outside, including a 13-yard touchdown with 11:03 remaining the first quarter.

He averaged 7.6 yards per carry, nearly double his average of 3.4 yards through the Falcons' first six games.
"The NFL is a lot harder when you don't set the edge to a defense, and you allow a running back to get out in space, then it becomes team tackling, " Saints linebacker Scott Shanle said.

"It's hard to make a one-on-one tackle in space, and Turner is a hard guy to wrap up just because his body is so thick.
"On a lot of his runs, if we had set the defense or forced him back inside instead of letting him get outside, they might have been 4- or 5-yard gains instead of 20- or 30-yard gains. Those were the obvious problems we had the other night."

Defensive end Will Smith said the Saints took "bad pursuit angles" trying to bring Turner down, mistakes that need to be corrected Sunday if they are to remain undefeated.

"The result was a lot of big-yardage plays, " Smith said.
On several occasions, the Saints tried to wrest the ball from Turner, a tactic preached throughout the offseason and training camp by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. That risk/reward approach had served the Saints well this season, but not Monday night.

"The person who is stripping has to understand that if you're the first guy, the primary tackler, you have to make the tackle, " Shanle said. "The second guy has to try to strip the ball, so that's where you can get in trouble sometimes.

"If you're the only guy there, you have to get the guy down and not so much try to get the ball out."

The Saints and Philadelphia Eagles share the NFL lead in forced turnovers with 21. Of those 21, the Saints have a league-high 16 interceptions and five fumble recoveries.

"We are not taught to strip the ball first, " Smith said. "We've been taught that pursuit to the ball, or population to the ball, causes turnovers, not just ripping at the ball. The more guys we have around the ball opens up more opportunities to get a turnover or to get a rip out. The first thing is always securing the tackle. But if you can rip it out at the same time, that's even better."

Harper said the art of tacking comes down to sound techniques and a fearless attitude, the latter of which the Saints were not lacking Monday night against the Falcons.

"You can have all the 'attitude' in the world, but if you don't take the proper angle, you're going to miss the tackle, " Saints defensive tackle Tony Hargrove said. "We play with great attitude on defense. But the other night showed that when you don't play with the right leverage or guys aren't fitting where they're supposed to be, then that's when big plays are made.
"Monday night showed us that we still have room for improvement."

Saints rushing defense seeking redemption after spotty play against Falcons | New Orleans Saints Central - - NOLA.com

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