Jackson running into the record books

by Ryan Van Bibber on Nov 19, 2009 6:00 AM CST

St. Louis Rams RB Steven Jackson was his usual dominant self in the team's near upset of the undefeated New Orleans Saints last week, rushing for 131 yards on 26 carries and scoring his second touchdown in two weeks. It was Jackson's third 100+ yard performance in a row and fifth of the season, giving him 915 yards rushing on the season, third best in the NFL.

He also ran his way into the history books, passing Lawrence McCutcheon for third on the Rams all-time leaders in rushing yards. To date, SJ39 has a 6,206 rushing yards for his career, spent entirely with the Rams. He trails legends Marshall Faulk who 6,959 yards rushing and Eric Dickerson with 7,245 yards rushing.

Jackson needs just 753 more yards to pass Faulk and 1,039 to pass Dickerson. Can he pass those Rams icons this season and engrave his name into the team's history?

Right now, Jackson is averaging 101.7 yards rushing per game. At that pace, he'll pick up another 711 through the Rams' last seven games. Of course, the schedule will have something to say about that. Below is a chart with the Rams next seven opponents and their average yards rushing allowed per game (note: The Rams have two more games against Arizona, so I've only included them once in this list).

Team	Avg Rush YPG
ARI	101
SEA	105
CHI	118.4
TEN	109.3
HOU	108.7
SF	87.7

That's not the best predictor for Jackson's chances in the weeks ahead, but give you some idea of the kind of rushing defenses he'll face. At his current pace, Jackson will finish the season with 1,626 rushing yards, his best total ever. That will leave him just 42 yards short of Faulk's total with the Rams. However, if the line continues its strong play and the team stays inspired from their recent run an extra 42 yards might be well within reach.

Sometime early next season, Jackson should be the Rams all-time leader in rushing yards.

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Comments

Let's just hope

it’s not a Barry Sanders deal…. also, he’s starting to peak, hope by the time our TEAM starts to peak he isn’t heading downhill

"The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall." - Vince Lombardi

by VTramsFan on Nov 19, 2009 8:05 AM CST reply actions

IMO SJ is still a couple of years away from his peak.

by Knoxfan on Nov 19, 2009 10:13 AM CST reply actions

if that's true, it's gonna be something to watch

hide the women and children

by brackenthebox on Nov 19, 2009 2:47 PM CST up reply actions

I disagree

I think this is the first year of a 3-year peak for him. The hope is that he stays healthy so that when he declines, he can give us another 3 productive years after that.

You don't seem to want to accept the fact you're dealing with an expert in guerrilla warfare, with a man who's the best, with guns, with knives, with his bare hands. A man who's been trained to ignore pain, ignore weather, to live off the land, to eat things that would make a billy goat puke. In *St. Louis* his job was to dispose of enemy personnel. To kill! Period! Win by attrition. Well, *Steven Jackson* was the best.

by 3k on Nov 19, 2009 5:52 PM CST up reply actions

Jacksons blockers will have a lot to do with it

Ronnie Brown just hit the Injured Reserve (done for the year) for what is reportedly a lisfranc injury. I think I read somewhere that Jacob Bell had a similiar injury, although it was also referred to somewhere else generically as a mid-foot sprain, and he hasn’t practiced since Oct. 25. In the last 3 games including the one where Bell got hurt, Jackson has blown up for 134, 149 and 131 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Yes, I know he bulled his way into the scecondary with hapless would-be tacklers on his back, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that his best games come with Bell on the sideline. Bell is more technique and less power and I think Jakcson’s power running benefits from having more physical linemen in front of him.

I sorta wish we’d leave the Guards alone for a while and ride the hot hand. Its not like our offense suffered with Bell out.

by CoachConnors on Nov 19, 2009 1:25 PM CST reply actions