Steven Jackson Needs The St. Louis Rams' Bye Week As Much As The Rams

Just about everyone on the St. Louis Rams could use a week off after starting off 0-4, both mentally (Greg Salas and Lance Kendricks are probably not enjoying their rookie seasons as much as they'd like) and physically (Sam Bradford has been sacked 18 times in four games, which leads the NFL and is more than half of his 2010 total.) But nobody could use it as much as Steven Jackson, who came back early from his Week 1 quad injury and hasn't looked quite right in his two games back.

The thing about Jackson is that the only way to get him to voluntarily not sacrifice his body to even more carries is to just not schedule a game that week, and even then it's an open question as to whether he'll actually believe you. But Jackson needs the time off—in his first full game since returning to the offense he made 17 carries for just 45 yards and was, along with the rest of the offense, unable to make any headway against the Washington Redskins.

With the wide receivers catatonic, a healthy Jackson could make a major difference in the passing game as well as on the ground; he'll have to play the Danny Amendola/Lance Kendricks role if Sam Bradford is to have any stability in the short game that might set up the long.