Michael Turner: Assessing the Week 4 Fantasy Status of Falcons RB

Running back Michael Turner and the Atlanta Falcons travel west to face to face the Seattle Seahawks today in an attempt to right their season, and Turner's fantasy football owners are hopeful that the eighth year veteran will get back on track after a statistical stinker last week.

Turner has rushed for a respectable 234 yards through three games, averaging a robust 5.6 yards a carry, and had hit the century mark in his first two games before managing only 20 yards on 11 carries in the loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a week ago.

However, Turner hasn't found the end zone nearly as much as his fantasy owners would like, scoring only once through three weeks, and combined with with his relative invisibility in the passing game (he has only four receptions on the season) Turner ranks a so-so, although decent 17th among fantasy running backs to this point.

The Falcons opponent today, the Seattle Seahawks, have been fairly solid so far this season defensively, ranking tenth in total defense and 13th against the run, and that added to the fact that Seattle has allowed the tenth fewest fantasy points to opposing running backs would seem to indicate that the sledding won't be overly easy for Michael Turner today.

However, Mother Nature may lend Turner's fantasy owners a hand this week, as the weather forecast in Seattle today calls for rain that may leave both teams more reliant on the ground game than they might usually be.

Michael Turner is much more "Turner the Churner" than the "Turner the Burner" he was in his days backing up LaDainian Tomlinson in San Diego, but in a road game the 1-2 Falcons desperately need to win Atlanta will likely try to pound away with Turner on the ground, so while the matchup isn't overly favorable Michael Turner should still have enough success on the ground today to make him a viable fantasy RB2.