Ed Barkowitz: Falcons' Turner improves after slow start

The Falcons also are 5-3, but they are feeling good about themselves.

So what if they haven't beaten a team with a winning record? Their star running back has shaken off his slump, which also has been a boon for fantasy fans.

"I'm just going out there trying to be productive," Michael Turner said. "I can't give myself a grade right now."

Well, we can.

Turner was a consensus top-5 fantasy pick this year and was in the mix of running backs being considered after the Vikings' Adrian Peterson. After his first six games, Turner's effort was worth a C. He was still getting into the end zone, but averaging only 67.2 yards per game. But after his last two, he has moved up to B.

"I wasn't getting breaks," he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Some of it was situational. Some of it was runs I'd just been missing, the one tackle I didn't break . . . We needed a better effort on my part."

A peek at the Falcons schedule suggests he's not done moving up the grade scale.

Five of Atlanta's remaining eight games are against teams in the bottom half of the NFL in rushing defense. Sunday, the Falcons are at Carolina, which is 23rd against the run and gave up 105 yards to Turner in Week 2.

What is sweetest for Turner owners is that Atlanta's games in Weeks 16 and 17 are against Buffalo (32nd in run defense) and at Tampa Bay (30th), respectively.

Turner endured a league-high 376 carries last season, which probably contributed to his slow start. Falcons coach Mike Smith has made good on his pledge to lighten Turner's workload, but only slightly. Turner is averaging about two fewer carries per game, compared with this time a year ago.

"I felt I had to step up my game," he told the AJC. Thirty yards here, 50 yards there . . . that wasn't what I wanted. The numbers needed to improve."

Winner of the week

 

Miles Austin's game-winning touchdown Sunday did come with a silver lining for one Daily News reader.

The Dallas wide receiver's 49-yard catch and run through the Eagles' secondary was his only grab of the game. Last week, we asked readers to predict Austin's receiving yards, and Al Braun, of South Philadelphia, nailed it exactly.

Braun will receive a Daily News fantasy football T-shirt for his impressive prognostication.

Three up (plus one)