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Steven Jackson started Sunday's Week 3 game against the Bears, but was not a factor after dealing with a groin injury all week in practice.
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Though he could only churn out a measly 29 rushing yards on 11 carries, St. Louis Rams tailback Steven Jackson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he feels good physically following Sunday's 23-6 loss to the Bears.
Jackson, who was curiously benched in Week 2 and then forced to sit out the entire week of practice with a groin injury, opened the Chicago game as the team's unquestioned starter at running back despite concerns to the contrary. "I gave them confidence that I could go and lead this team emotionally and be the starter at running back," Jackson said late Sunday.
"I felt that I wasn't going to further injure myself and make myself more susceptible to missing games," he said. "Came out of this clean. I just wish that I could've been more productive and helped my team win."
There may only be a handful of running backs in the NFL these days who can shoulder the same type of offensive load that Jackson can, but it's starting to become evident that his 29-year-old body is catching up to him. Injuries aside, Jackson has toted the rock 20 times over his last two games compared to 21 attempts in Week 1, which is quite telling.
And with the emergence of rookie Daryl Richardson as a change-of-pace back in the team's offense, Jackson's days as a 350-carry workhorse might be dwindling rather quickly. Even though it's obvious that Jackson is still the No. 1 guy for the time being, it will be interesting to see how often he practices heading into Week 4.
Be sure to stay with this StoryStream for more on Jackson's groin injury, and head over to Turf Show Times for more Rams coverage. Also visit SB Nation's NFL hub for more news from around the league.
St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson did not practice Friday and remains questionable for Sunday's game against the Chicago Bears with a groin injury, Dan O'Neill of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
O'Neill's story on the matter focuses more on the unknown quantities that are the three backs behind Jackson on the Rams' roster. All three are rookies: Daryl Richardson, Isaiah Pead and Terrance Ganaway.
Only Richardson has yet to receive an NFL handoff; he had 15 carries for 83 yards in Week 2 against the Washington Redskins, the game in which Jackson suffered the groin injury. Richardson was a seventh-round draft pick out of Abilene Christian.
Pead, a second-round draftee from the Cincinnati Bearcats, has two kickoff returns but has not touched the ball from scrimmage. Ganaway was drafted in the sixth round by the New York Jets, but the Jets waived him on Aug. 31, and the Rams claimed him off waivers the next day.
Bears running back Matt Forte was ruled out for Sunday's game with an ankle injury. The Bears will look to backup veteran Michael Bush to carry the load Sunday.
The Rams kick off against Chicago on Sunday at noon CT on Fox.
For all the latest Rams news, check out Turf Show Times, and for your Bears updates, head to Windy City Gridiron. And be sure to get all your football updates at our NFL hub.
St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson will be listed as questionable for Sunday's game against the Chicago Bears, according to the team. Jackson will be a game-time decision as he continues to work through an injured groin.
Jackson suffered the injury during the team's 31-28 win over the Redskins, not practicing on Wednesday or Thursday. Jackson stated that he is hopeful to play against the Bears in Week 3.
The injury created a fair amount of speculation this past week when Jackson did not re-enter the game following an unsportsmanlike penalty, which occurred following a touchdown in the first half. The veteran was apparently pulled from the game following the penalty, although head coach Jeff Fisher stated he came out because of the injury and not because of the player being benched.
If Jackson cannot play, expect Daryl Richardson to get the majority of the snaps at running back.
For more on the St. Louis Rams, join the discussion at Turf Show Times. For all of your NFL needs, keep an eye on SB Nation's dedicated NFL hub.
St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson missed his second straight practice on Thursday after he suffered a groin injury during the team's 31-28 win against the Redskins on Sunday. Despite the injury, Jackson remains hopeful that he'll be ready to play in the Rams' Week 3 matchup with the Chicago Bears, according to a report from the team.
There was speculation earlier this week that the oft-injured Jackson might have been benched rather than injured last Sunday. The ninth-year veteran back was pulled from the game in the first half after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Head coach Jeff Fisher said Jackson was pulled because of a groin injury, not because of the penalty. Cue: benching speculation.
Should Jackson be unable to play against the Bears, it's likely that Daryl Richardson would see most of the action at running back for the Rams.
Kickoff for Sunday's game is slated for noon CT and will be televised on FOX.
For more on the St. Louis Rams, join the discussion at Turf Show Times. For all of your NFL needs, keep an eye on SB Nation's dedicated NFL hub.
St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson missed practice on Wednesday to continue to heal from a groin injury. Jackson was hurt in the Rams' 31-28 win over the Washington Redskins on Sunday.
Although Jackson's MRI earlier in the week yielded positive results, the Rams seem to be taking a cautious approach, as Jackson has dealt with groin problems in the past. He is listed as day-to-day on the team's injury report.
Jackson ran for 58 yards on nine carries, including a long of 20 yards, before being replaced by Daryl Richardson during the second quarter. Richardson had 15 carries for 83 yards in his stint at running back.
In addition to Jackson, fullback Brit Miller was also missing from practice as he deals with quad soreness.
For more on the Rams, be sure to visit Turf Show Times. And, for additional pro football coverage, head over to SB Nation's NFL hub.
After being benched in the second half of the St. Louis Rams' win over the Washington Redskins, people assumed that Steven Jackson was being punished for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Later, it turned out that he had been pulled from the game because of a hamstring injury, which kept him out for the entire rest of the game.
Fortunately for the Rams, Jackson appears to be fine. At least, he is according to an MRI that he had on his groin. Jackson seemed to indicate in an interview that everything should be OK when Week 3 rolls around.
"Got an MRI this morning," Jackson said. "Everything came back as positive as it can be."
It's not clear whether he will be starting in Week 3, but at the very least we can probably expect to see him on the field for the Rams.
For more on the St. Louis Rams, check out Turf Show Times. More on the NFL can be found over at SB Nation's NFL hub.
Saying the words "Steven Jackson injury" on the St. Louis Rams internet, here on Tuesday, is a good way of getting laughed at by more jaded fans, if nothing else. Most of them are already convinced he was benched, and that the groin injury he's supposed to have had was a pleasant, public-facing smokescreen deployed by Jeff Fisher after the Rams came back and won and Jackson, presumably, learned his lesson. The good news about this injury, whether it's real or fake: It seems unlikely that it will hinder him in Week 3 against the Chicago Bears.
Fisher, in fact, said in Tuesday's presser that he would have brought Steven Jackson back out if the team hadn't been getting such good play out of seventh-rounder Daryl Richardson, who was having a great night until his fourth quarter fumble nearly cost the Rams the game.
We probably won't ever know what had Steven Jackson on the sidelines last Sunday, at least to the benchgate fans' satisfaction. But whether he was injured or benched in Week 2, he probably won't be in Week 3. And unless you're even more enthusiastic about Daryl Richardson than Jeff Fisher must have been, that's good news.
In the continued "benched or injured" saga over St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson's departure against the Washington Redskins on Sunday, Rams coach Jeff Fisher said today that Jackson might have re-entered the game if his replacement, Daryl Richardson, wasn't playing so well.
Fisher affirmed the Jackson had a tight groin, and apparently was not benched due to conduct, but felt Richardson was playing well enough to keep Jackson on the bench.
Jackson was removed from the game shortly after picking up an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for spiking the ball after thinking he scored a touchdown when he hadn't. Having rushed for 58 yards on the game, he was replaced by rookie Daryl Richardson. The first-year pro out of Abilene Christian ran 15 times for 83 yards for the Rams.
Richardson did commit a turnover in the last minutes of the game, but St. Louis was able to recover and win -- with help of a Washington unsportsmanlike conduct call.
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It's not hard to believe in a Steven Jackson injury; it is a little hard to believe that Steven Jackson, a little injured, would stick around in pads on the sideline without trying to get himself back into a 31-28 game in the final minutes, when backup Daryl Richardson's fumble almost cost the St. Louis Rams their first win of the season. Enter the Steven Jackson benching rumors. Jeff Fisher's going to have a hard time convincing a certain subset of Rams fans Jackson wasn't benched, no matter what he says.
And there's a vaguely reasonable ground for questioning it; Jackson just didn't look, to everyone watching in-stadium and on TV, like they imagined he would if he were injured in a close game. I have no particular reason to personally disbelieve Jeff Fisher's explanation--that Jackson injured his groin and missed every Rams drive after his unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
But I'm not the kind of person he'd have to convince. The explanation that he was benched as a lesson that no one player is bigger than the team is going to maintain a lot of currency with people, and I'm not sure there's any way around that.
Steven Jackson benched-gate appears to have been a non-issue--or an injury issue, to be more specific. Like the rest of the internet we were convinced, by the end of the St. Louis Rams' 31-28 win over the Washington Redskins, that Jeff Fisher had benched Steven Jackson after the Rams' starting running back picked up an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty during one of the replacement refs' many touchdown-ruining mistakes. But it looks like we were wrong--St. Louis media is now reporting that Jeff Fisher denies Jackson was benched an insists, instead, that he's been dealing with a hamstring injury.
Jeff Fisher was even aware of the rumors floating around that SJ39 was being punished. Jackson spiked ball b/c he scored, not anger w/ ref
— Willie Springer (@WillieKMOX) September 16, 2012
That's... well, either good or bad news for Rams fans, who now know that Jeff Fisher isn't pissed off at the franchise running back but now don't know whether the franchise running back is healthy. We'll update here at SB Nation St. Louis as we know more.
For now, though, I guess we can all continue to wonder where the heck Isaiah Pead is.
If the St. Louis Rams benching Steven Jackson--more here--weren't enough of a wake-up call to their Hall of Fame running back, his replacement's performance should be pretty jarring. Since coming into the Rams vs. Redskins game after Steven Jackson was benched for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, seventh-round pick Daryl Richardson has come right after the Washington Redskins defense, rushing the ball eight times for 70 yards and picking up the all-important two-point-conversion in the fourth quarter that has the Rams up by a field goal.
If that's not the rookie you were expecting from the Rams behind Steven Jackson--well, your guess about Isaiah Pead is as good as ours. Pead continues to play on special teams, but the second rounder (and Jackson's official heir apparent) has still yet to take an NFL carry in the regular season.
Steven Jackson has done too much for the Rams--and even did too much Sunday--to be Wally Pipped in an afternoon. But Daryl Richardson's strong performance, and Jeff Fisher's stern response to the penalty, mean he's not quite as secure in his position as the Rams' official offensive focal point as we thought.
Jeff Fisher has officially put his mark on the St. Louis Rams, and in a big way. We now know that Steven Jackson has been benched, after some question as to whether he was injured. He was removed from the game after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty following a goal-line run that appeared to be mistakenly no-called. He spiked the ball after the non-touchdown, and the referees pushed the Rams back 15 yards for another Greg Zuerlein field goal, and Daryl Richardson has been the Rams' running back ever since, and here in the fourth quarter there's still no word about a Jackson injury.
He's had a pretty good day, too, which leaves Steven Jackson and Isaiah Pead in the doghouse as the Rams try to maintain a 31-28 lead against the Washington Redskins in Week 2. Jackson--who may or may not return today--has nine carries for 58 yards. Daryl Richardson is at seven carries for 70. Pead still hasn't made his first NFL carry.
We'll keep you updated all day on Steven Jackson's increasingly odd bench situation with the Rams on this very storystream. Stay tuned at this link for up-to-the-minute updates on Jackson, Sam Bradford, and the Rams' attempt to win their first game of the season in the midst of a full-on replacement-referee meltdown.
A Steven Jackson injury would be just another strange storyline in the St. Louis Rams' weird ref-hindered dogfight with the Washington Redskins Sunday afternoon. A Steven Jackson phantom injury, though? That's more like it.
Jackson left immediately after earning an unsportsmanlike conduct call in the wake of a goal-line run that was incorrectly called as a non-touchdown, and some wore worried that Jeff Fisher had benched him for spiking the ball. (Bernie Miklasz has more about that on Sulia.) But there might be more pragmatic--and more worrying--reasons for the Rams to bring in Daryl Richardson for most of their rush attempts since, especially since Jackson began the afternoon with nine rushes for 58 yards.
That, of course, is another weird factor in the Rams' opaque running back situation: What's going on with Isaiah Pead, who's still yet to make his first regular-season carry? It looks like he's lost his backup running back job to the seventh-rounder Richardson, whether Jeff Fisher would characterize it that way or not.
No word yet on Steven Jackson's injury status for Week 3, of course. For more information, stay tuned to SB Nation St. Louis's Rams vs. Redskins storystream; we'll update there as soon as we know more.