Michael Turner has appeared slow and ineffective this season for the Atlanta Falcons.

Mike Smith became defensive on Monday when asked if Turner was being phased out in order to give more carries to Jacquizz Rodgers.

"No, it doesn’t,’’ Smith said. “Guys, again, I think we’ve been very transparent from the very beginning. I’ve been saying this since April that you’re not going to look up at the end of the season and see Michael Turner having 300 carries. That’s not the type of football team we are. We may have been that type of team when we first got here, but we’re a completely different football team and I think our statistics and our ratios define that. We’re going to be an offense that we are going to move the ball around to our different assets and we’ve got a lot of assets. Michael Turner is an asset as well as Jacquizz Rodgers and as well as Jason Snelling in our backfield.’’