ATLANTA -- The Falcons wasted little time bringing Michael Turner to town at the start of free agency. Saturday night, Turner wasted little time introducing himself to fans at a renovated Georgia Dome.
"The Burner" recorded a 52-yard run on the second snap of the game to set up an early field goal. In the blink of an eye Turner found a hole over the right side of the offensive line and exploited a swift Colts defense with his own speed.
On the next series, Turner got reacquainted with the Colts secondary, heading up the middle for a 63-yard gain. The play set up another Falcons field goal and put the running back on track for a brief, four-carry, 113-yard night.
"The offensive line did a great job opening up the holes and they made my job easy," a modest Turner revealed at halftime.
Coaches will dissect film from the first quarter and cringe at the lack of touchdowns in a 16-9 defeat. But the power of Turner's runs won't be lost.
“Honestly, it was probably one of the easiest quarters of football I have ever played," said Joey Harrington, who started the game at quarterback. "The way we ran the ball made my job as a quarterback easy. There were a couple of times when I handed the ball off, looked back inside and saw the offensive line had created a pretty big hole. The offensive line did a great job up front and Michael did a great job running the ball.”
"The most impressive was that I thought Michael Turner ran the ball extremely well on his four carries for 113 yards," Head Coach Mike Smith said. "The offensive line opened up some very nice holes. He was able to get into the secondary and you can see that Michael has speed. That was very impressive. It’s the second straight week that we have rushed for over 100 yards."
Indianapolis played without starters Peyton Manning, Bob Sanders and Dwight Freeney but offered a healthy dose of the schemes that helped produce a Super Bowl title two seasons ago.
The Falcons defense held a Manning-less offense to 149 yards and three points in the first half. The Colts took a 10-6 lead into the locker room with a 67-yard interception return by Kelvin Hayden.
The pick came off the hot hand of rookie quarterback Matt Ryan, who came into the game with 11:20 remaining in the first half. He finished 8-of-16 for 62 yards in his second professional game. That ended a promising drive inside the two-minute warning that Ryan kept alive with a 15-yard completion to Roddy White on third down. The quarterback found the receiver open over the middle as he rolled out of the pocket and threw on the run.
“I thought we did some good things as an offense, but I thought we made a couple of mistakes," Ryan said. "All and all, I think we got some good things on tape. I’m disappointed with the outcome of the game, but hopefully we can learn from it and get better heading into the regular season.”
Atlanta closed out the game by allowing two more field goals. The team also got a red zone stop in the game as athletic cornerback Brent Grimes nearly came away with a one-handed interception on fourth-and-1 at the Falcons 6-yard line. The Falcons also recorded two sacks in the game (Kroy Biermann and Curtis Lofton).
On offense, tipped interceptions by Chris Redman and D.J. Shockley ended second-half scoring chances for the Birds. A late sack and fumble by Shockley ended a last-minute scoring threat. The Falcons had five turnovers of the game.
Kicker Jason Elam rebounded from a a 1-of-3 outing last week in Jacksonville and provided all the Falcons points Saturday evening. The veteran converted on kicks of 25, 35 and 40 yards in his first game at the Georgia Dome as a Falcon.
“We weren’t pleased with the outcome of the game," Smith said. "When you turn the ball over five times in any football game, you’re going to have a hard time winning. The other thing that our staff was disappointed about was that we had two unsportsmanlike penalties. That’s not the way we are going to do business. Our players understand that. You cannot give people free yards especially when it is silly penalties.
"We’ll get on the tape, get back together as a team on Monday, watch that tape, make the corrections and keep moving forward. This is a process that we’re going through as a football team.”
MORE FROM THE COLTS-FALCONS GAME:
- GAMEDAY LIVE: Complete game coverage from AF.com
- GAME RECAP: Turner's runs christen new-look Georgia Dome
- GAME BLOG: Live notes on the Colts-Falcons game
- J. MIKE'S BLOG: Additional thoughts on the preseason home opener
- QUOTABLE: Players | Mike Smith | Opponents
- GAME NOTES: News and injury updates from the press box
- FALCONS LIFE: Discuss the game on the message boards
- VIDEO: Head Coach Mike Smith | Matt Ryan | Michael Turner
- NFL NETWORK HIGHLIGHTS: Matt Ryan | Michael Turner | Colts-Falcons
