Atlanta Falcons’ Michael Turner runs during an NFC divisional playoff NFL game against the Seattle Seahawks in Atlanta.FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – It’s not as if Atlanta Falcons running back Michael Turner’s numbers were awful during the team’s 16 regular-season games.
He averaged exactly 50 yards a contest on the ground, scored 11 total touchdowns and turned in four games of 80 or more rushing yards and two 100-yarders.
But when you’re making close to $6 million a year, when your first game for the ATL back in 2008 produced 220 rushing yards and two touchdowns, 50 yards a game doesn’t really cut it with Sports Radio Nation.
Especially when you also found yourself charged with a DUI a few hours after the Falcons’ Monday Night Football victory over Denver and Peyton Manning on Sept. 17.
“You hear some things, but it’s all been good in here,” Turner said inside the Falcons’ training complex Thursday morning, three days from Sunday’s NFC title game against the San Francisco 49ers in the Georgia Dome.