Planes more dangerous for Steven Jackson than the gridiron

by Ryan Van Bibber on Jul 15, 2010 2:09 PM CDT in 2010 St. Louis Rams season

It's no secret that the health of running back Steven Jackson will go a long way toward determining the final outcome of the St. Louis Rams 2010 season. Besides being the only established playmaker on the Rams' offense, Sam Bradford's health is partially riding on Jackson's legs, and his healing back, to help keep defenses from sending all available pass rushers at the rookie QB.

Jackson's health is of particular concern because he's dealt with injuries the last few seasons, nothing career threatening thankfully, but it's enough to make fans nervous, especially after he underwent surgery on his back for a bulging disc. And how likely is it for Jackson to hurt his back again?

Fortunately, he's more likely to get hurt on a trip to the Azores than on the football field, according to ESPN injury consultant Stephania Bell. From Sando:

Jackson would be more apt to aggravate the disk injury through non-football activities such as traveling or heavy squat lifting than through getting tackled during games or practices, she thought. Bell pointed to Matt Hasselbeck's 2008 disk problem as one example. Hasselbeck's back flared up during a plane flight, not while playing. For Jackson, twisting as he fights for extra yardage could be more problematic than even taking a helmet hit to the back.

Steven Jackson, stay away from airplanes.

Tweet Comment 8 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

He should have been traded during his contract hold out.

That year there were plenty of highly rated running backs in the draft ,and what did S. J. do for our winning in the last three years? you guys all put way too much emphasis on Jackson .How much money did we pay him and how many games did he help us win ? I prefer to put my money on Bradford to get us some wins and Jackson just another roll player like every one else.This is a quarterback era for the NFL not a running back era,the Rams will go as Bradford goes,look at the Vikings with Peterson,with out Bret F. there sucking wind

by rams210 on Jul 15, 2010 4:02 PM CDT reply actions

This may be a quarterback league, but you need a good running back.

A running back will help with everything you need on offense. He can help protect your quarterback, he can get you good yardage and set your team up for a short third-down, and a good running back forces the defense to give up pass defense in order to stop the run. Steven Jackson didn’t help win games last year because we didn’t have a quarterback or wide receivers to get the air game going. Big Steve was going up against 8 or 9 men committed to stopping the run, yet the air attack was so pitiful that it didn’t matter.

There aren’t good teams who don’t have a good running back. If you have a good passing game, but no running game, you won’t win. Same if you have good running game but can’t pass.

If you give a man a fish, they say, he'll stink up the whole town. However, give a man a fishing rod and he'll poke your eye out.

by StopSpe on Jul 15, 2010 5:48 PM CDT up reply actions

Assuming we would still take chris long #2,

The selection would most likely have been forte in the at the 33rd pick. Unless we had amazing scouting and selected chris johnson by trading up into the bottom of the 1st,

Stephen Jackson is far more talented than matt forte, especially now and in forte’s first year in the league.

You can see SJ literally carrying the team and trying to win games for us when he’s running through tacklers.

We would be even worse than we are right now without SJ.

Keith Null won't accept my friend requests.

by loyal2therams on Jul 15, 2010 5:58 PM CDT up reply actions

I was thinking of Cris Johnson

When I saw his 40 times in the combine I was salivating lol

by rams210 on Jul 15, 2010 11:15 PM CDT up reply actions

I'm not sure that citing Matt Hasselbeck...

…when it comes to defense of injuries on the football field is such a good idea. I mean, at one point or another, Steven Jackson will have to be hit by Patrick Willis.

And then God created Saturn... and he liked it, so he put a ring on it.
Twitter me and what not.

by James Brady on Jul 15, 2010 7:41 PM CDT reply actions