Injury: suffered an ankle injury in the 2nd quarter of the Falcons’ eventual 28-19 loss to Carolina. His MRI Monday confirmed a high-ankle sprain.
Good news: he got busy for 111 yards before going to the sidelines.
Bad news: he carried the ball only 9 times, and the potential for a monster stat day was already realized vs. a depleted Panthers D (that wasn’t very good at stopping the run to begin with). Also, he was coming off of 21 and 29 pt. hauls in his previous 2 games, so this was really a bad time for him to go down. There’s really NEVER a good time for a consensus top-5 fantasy pick to go down like this.
Non-fantasy impact: As a Panthers fan, you had to breathe a sigh of relief seeing Turner leave the field. You may have said out loud, “Man, you hate to see that”, but then remembered how that he’s went for 222 yards and 5 TDs combined over last 2 meetings with your team. Most importantly, as I already mentioned: Carolina won the game.
What to do: Hold your breath and roll with the belief that MT is a tough enough cookie to shrug off a high-ankle sprain quicker than most players (he’s 27 and has no history of injuries). He will miss at least ONE game, but possibly more. The Falcons are tentatively looking at Jason Snelling to split reps with Jerious Norwood for the short-term future. This plan is contingent on Norwood being ready to go after various setbacks have kept him from making a significant contribution all year (preseason knee injury, concussion, wife’s childbirth, and nagging hip flexor). Snelling is the immediate add for your fantasy league, if you don’t already have a decent replacement for Turner. Keep tabs on Jerious, and expect the likelihood of him being weaned in slowly for week 11 vs. the Giants (IF he can go). I’m not the only one who likes his skill set more than Snelling’s: before the season, the Atlanta coaches were committed to getting him more involved in the offense to the point of anointing him with “Wildcat” duties under center. With or without Norwood, Snelling is healthier and more likely to get the ball near the goal-line.
Desperado file: Aaron Stecker. Stecker has shown flashes of brilliance at various points in his career, most notably the 5 TDs in spot-duty with the 2007 Saints. Atlanta released him on November 14th, only to re-sign him 49 hours later (break-ups to make-ups). The current conventional wisdom is that he will merely be an “insurance policy” for the Falcons and your super-deep PPR fantasy squad, as well.
Next, I’ll get to the Dolphins situation with Ronnie Brown. He’ll miss at least one game, and now some are speculating he may be done for the season. They play the Panthers on the Thursday night game this week, and we’ll know more about it tomorrow.
