The St. Louis Rams are in horrible shape in not only the standings, but injured players. The personification of their injuries is Steven Jackson. Jackson was hailed as a perfect example of the new breed of running back when he was drafted in 2004. Big, brutal, but fast and smart, Jackson was to herald in a new era of rushing.
He’s failed.
The question that always swirls around Steven Jackson is his heart or commitment level. His toughness. If you look at his career statistics he hasn’t been the workhorse people thought he would.
The latest news is his quadriceps injury. When it originally happened it wasn’t a big deal, but then he wasn’t ready to play. Then he was ready to play. They he played and sucked. Then it was a horrible injury. Now it sounds like he should cut the damn leg off. We’re going on six weeks for an injury that should have taken a week to heal.
Is it fair to blame Steven Jackson? Under normal circumstances it wouldn’t be, but remember, this is the Steven Jackson that held out to get premiere running back money. It was a cluster of epic proportion at the time. He got paid, but now something is wrong.
It’s to consider if Steven Jackson is actually a tough, enduring running back or whether he is weak and frail. He’s been somewhat reliable as a player, but there are times a player needs to decide if they can take the pain or not. It’s a decision every football players. They balance their ability to perform versus likelihood of reinjuring their pain. Has Steven Jackson made this choice?
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I don’t know, but I do know that his new contract is begging him to come back and perform. At this point he needs to pull a Winslow and call out the organization. For if he is doing everything he can to come back the medical staff isn’t. Someone needs to find out what is really going on. Absent an answer, the only conclusion one can come to is that Steven Jackson is weak and frail.
How can he treat this? Shut up and get out on the field.