FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Fresh off a season-high 155 rushing yards against the 49ers the Falcons want to carry momentum into Sunday's game at Carolina. That drive -- coupled with the Panthers' love of the run game -- could make for quite the turf-chewing display at Bank of America Stadium.
"Offensively, we'd like to build on running the football and see if we can get better this week at running the ball, take off from last week's performance and then be a little more efficient in the passing game," Head Coach Bobby Petrino said.
The Falcons got 100 rushing yards and a touchdown out of Warrick Dunn last week against San Francisco and saw a peak in overall offensive production. The Panthers lost 20-7 at Tennessee last week and didn't get much opportunity to establish running backs DeShaun Foster and DeAngelo Williams.
Foster ran for 122 yards and a touchdown when these two teams met earlier in the season and has had success against the Falcons.
"DeShaun has run the ball effectively against a lot of people," Panthers head coach John Fox said. "He's run the ball well this season. Offensively, I think we're (11th) in the league in rushing. That's something that we've been consistent with."
The Falcons know to consistently watch Carolina's run game.
"Foster has had a lot of success against us on the ground so I think they'll try to pound it," defensive end John Abraham said. "It's kind of like common sense to me. You're going through a lot of quarterbacks and you want something positive to happen right now. You want to get the ball to (wide receiver Steve Smith) but you also want to win the game. That, to them, might be getting Foster 20 to 30 carries."
Atlanta could look to counter with its revived running game.
"A lot of times you have success when you keep pounding," quarterback Joey Harrington said of the Falcons run game. "It's almost the theory of, if you keep beating on the door, pretty soon it's going to fall over. When you keep running the ball you may get stuffed once or twice early but, after a while, you're going to wear them down and that's when you're going to break those big runs. We need to continue to run the ball well to be successful the rest of this year."
BABINEAUX CHARGES DROPPED: Wednesday the Falcons and defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux learned that the Gwinnett County district attorney decided to drop felony charges against the three-year veteran.
"I'd like to thank Mr. Blank, Rich (McKay), Coach Petrino and the fans for all of their support through this ordeal," Babineaux said. "I'm happy the whole situation is over. It's been a long process, but I've been waiting it out and it’s finally over."
"(It's) a great relief to Jonathan," added Petrino. "He's a first-class young man that has been great since I've been here and I'm just really happy for him."
QUARTERBACK CONUNDRUM: So just who will line up at quarterback for the Panthers this weekend? That remains unclear.
Perhaps no team in the NFL has had more injury headaches at the quarterback position than the Panthers, who started the season with Jake Delhomme (injured reserve), replaced him with David Carr (injured), brought in Vinny Testaverde (started one game, now injured) and have had a healthy dose of third-stringer Matt Moore in the lineup.
Carr missed practice Wednesday leaving Moore and Testaverde, at least for the moment, working at quarterback.
Petrino said Wednesday he thinks Carr (concussion) will start the game. But the Falcons are familiar with Moore, who was brought to Flowery Branch for a pre-draft workout.
"You always want to start with the same quarterback throughout but, for us, it's going in and doing our job a little better and protecting those guys so we don't have that problem," Panthers offensive tackle Travelle Wharton said Wednesday.
INJURY REPORT: Running back Jerious Norwood, who twice tweaked his ankle against the 49ers, did not practice Wednesday. The head coach did not go into detail about the extent of the injury but confirmed Artose Pinner would backup Dunn if Norwood isn't ready for Sunday's game.
Petrino expressed confidence in Pinner's ability. The 232-pound running back has had several weeks to learn the team's offense and already made an impact on special teams with a 49-yard run on a fake punt against Tennessee.
Dunn was also limited in practice Wednesday. Petrino said Dunn's 27 carries (55 plays) in Sunday's game factored into the decision to rest the 11-year veteran. Dunn is expected to return to practice on Thursday.
"I felt like this was a good day to rest him and then he'll work real hard tomorrow," the coach said.
For the first time in nearly two weeks tight end Alge Crumpler (knee/ankle) worked out with the team, although in a limited role. The Pro Bowler would be a welcome sight on offense Sunday if he's able to play.
"Alge is a guy I look for on every play," Harrington said. "He's the type guy you can throw the ball to in traffic and he'll go make a play for you. He's proven he's a Pro Bowl tight end and, in the moments he's been healthy this year, he's shown that again."
'FALCAN' DRIVE RECAP: The Atlanta Falcons would like to thank all the fans that contributed to the 2007 Atlanta FalCan Food Drive. This year the team collected 2,243 pounds of food and $4,353 for the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Each dollar donated equals $8 worth of groceries for the food bank and, as a result, fans provided an additional $34,824 worth of groceries to those in need.
HIT THE POLLS: Falcons safety Lawyer Milloy was nominated for Defensive Player of the Week honors Tuesday afternoon.
Milloy recorded eight tackles (six solo) and one interception in the teams 20-16 win over the San Francisco 49ers. Twice Milloy made tackles on third down that resulted in a loss of yards, forcing San Francisco to kick field goals instead of getting into the end zone. His interception was his first since joining the team prior to last season.
Click here to vote Milloy Defensive Player of the Week (polls close Thursday afternoon).
PRACTICE SQUAD SHUFFLE: Also Wednesday, the Falcons waived defensive end Derrick Jones from the practice squad and re-signed cornerback Brent Grimes. Grimes was waived from the active roster Nov. 1.
