It goes without saying that Steven Jackson is the Rams best playmaker on offense. He finally cracked the 100 yard mark in his last outing against the Bills, and the Rams will need to create opportunities for him to work his magic against the Redskins this week to have a chance at the upset.
That's not going to be an easy task. Last week, the Redskins held the Brian Westbrook-led Eagles to just 58 yards rushing. The week before, the Cowboys manged just 44 total yards on the ground. In week 2, they managed to hold the Saints to just 55 yards rushing. Only Arizona in week 3 (James had 93 yards) and the Giants in week 1 (Brandon Jacobs had 116 yards) have topped 100 yards rushing against the Redskins. Much of their success against the run has come with DL Demetric Evans filling in for DE Jason Taylor and DT Cornelius Griffin.
Intimidating as those numbers are, the fact is Buffalo has a better run defense than the Redskins...for now. The Bills' rush defense has a DVOA of 0.2%, 16th in the league. The Redskins rank 22nd with a DVOA of 6.4%, meaning that if the Rams line was able to move aside Bills' DT Marcus Stroud enough to help Steven Jackson run for 110 yards on 24 carries, then there's hope to move the ball against the Redskins.
There's always hope. Now we just have to see if these whispers of rejuvenation and boundless energy at Rams Park translate to better play.