No Michael Turner. No Jerious Norwood. No problem.
Jason Snelling filled in for the pair of injured running backs and erupted for 186 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns as the Falcons crushed Arizona 41-7. Snelling rushed 24 times for career-high 129 yards and three touchdowns, and caught five passes for 59 yards and another TD.
“An unbelievable performance today by Jason Snelling,” Ryan said in his post-game press conference. “But that’s something that we’ve come to expect out of him. He did a great job for us last year stepping in and filling in for a number of different games and different situations for us.”
In the 2009 season finale, Snelling had 25 carries 147 yards against the Tampa Bay Bucs. The University of Virginia grad also ran the ball 25 times in a Week 11 overtime loss to the Giants, amassing 76 yards and two touchdowns.
Snelling had just two carries for four yards last weekend against Pittsburgh, but it’s clear all he needed was a chance. He got in on Sunday.
“You never like to see Mike and Jerious go down,” Ryan continued. “But when they do, we’ve got confidence in Jason and we can run our entire gameplan. Hats off to him. He ran the ball really well. He was superb in pass protection and catching the ball out of the backfield. He did a great job.”
The Cardinals, on the other hand, were not buying the Snelling hype. They were only blaming themselves for allowing 444 yards of offense–221 of which came on the round–to a team that did not find the endzone a single time in Week 1.
“Anybody can fill in like that if the tackling isn’t there,” ESPN.com reported defensive tackle Darnell Dockett as saying to a reporter in the locker room. “Even you could.”
Falcons head coach Mike Smith would have none of that talk.
“I mean what can you say about this guy,” Smith said of Snelling. “He had over 180 total yards and three touchdowns. Just says a lot about the depth of this team that our personnel staff has put together over three years. He’s just a darned good football player. Not only running the football, but catching the football.”
Turner sustained a minor groin injury late in the second quarter. Smith said the starting running back was eager to get back in the game but was held out due to the lopsided score. Norwood was carted off the field in the first quarter with a knee injury and his status is unknown.
“You have to a be person of opportunity,” Snelling said afterward.
He was just that on Sunday, and you can bet he will be getting more and more opportunities in the future. Even when Turner and Norwood are healthy.
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