Haslett's decision ruined our season

[RockinRam]

His decision to keep Jackson in when we had like a 20 point lead in the Cowboy's game cost us this whole season.

I know Jackson is an injury prone machine, and he needs to work on his conditioning, but why would you keep your best offensive playmaker in when you're up THAT MUCH?!

We have already observed that without Jackson, our offense cannot move down the field. We have no running game to open up our passing game.

We really need to draft a SPEEDY rookie in the draft. I would like to see us run outside of the tackles effectively, seeing as our guards and center gets no push off the line of scrimmage, and our back up back Darby, Pittman and Gado have no burst to the outside.

We should try putting Avery at running back, and see how he does.

[RamsInfiniti]

His decision to keep Jackson in when we had like a 20 point lead in the Cowboy's game cost us this whole season.

I know Jackson is an injury prone machine, and he needs to work on his conditioning, but why would you keep your best offensive playmaker in when you're up THAT MUCH?!

We have already observed that without Jackson, our offense cannot move down the field. We have no running game to open up our passing game.

We really need to draft a SPEEDY rookie in the draft. I would like to see us run outside of the tackles effectively, seeing as our guards and center gets no push off the line of scrimmage, and our back up back Darby, Pittman and Gado have no burst to the outside.

We should try putting Avery at running back, and see how he does.

Please take off the blinders. NO single player could have saved this season, not with this debacle of players being fielded every week ...

He doesn't play defense does he?

[ramsanddodgers]

Please take off the blinders. NO single player could have saved this season, not with this debacle of players being fielded every week ...

He doesn't play defense does he?

Right now, and for the foreseeable future, he isn't playing ANYWHERE.

[rammiser]

Please take off the blinders. NO single player could have saved this season, not with this debacle of players being fielded every week ...

He doesn't play defense does he?

I disagree, I think if he plays in the Patriot game we would have won. We lost by a td without him. Then the team would have been on a 3 game win streak going into the Cards game. Instead they were down on themselves and still issing our best player. You can keep calling him soft but even Tony Saragusa and the guys calling the game talked about how difficult it is for a running back to play with that type of injury because of the cuts and stuff they have to do. The guy is hurt, if he could play he'd be playing. He tried to rush back early against the Cards and no one said, wow look at Jax trying to play through the pain. Instead everyone said he shouldnt be out there. Now your saying he's soft and its just a thigh bruise. Have you ever had a deep tissue bruise like the one Jax has? I doubt it, so I doubt you know what type of pain the guy is in. He tried to come back and probably made it worse. So quit blaming the guy because he's injured. I'm posting this in the other thread about Jax too.

[RockinRam]

Please take off the blinders. NO single player could have saved this season, not with this debacle of players being fielded every week ...

He doesn't play defense does he?

Blinders? What blinders? I am simply stating that he is the engine to our offense. Without him, our offense has no power and has no chance of moving forward.

Of course he doesn't play defense, but without an offense, or we going to win a game? The answer is no.

Now I know how important it is to have a defense, and right here I am admitting our defense is stinking it up especially last week, but our offense has no production whatsoever. The only times we have even glimmer of production is when Jackson is in full health and carrying his load, or on some rare day that the o-line actually has a decent day and gives Bulger time to throw.

[Chris58]

Actually, it is not that unusual to see the starters in a game even when their up by 20 points in the fourth quarter. To put this on Haslett makes no sense to me. Jackson injured himself on a run. Haslett didn't hit him and neither did any Cowboys. Jackson could have just as easily hurt him quad in warm ups or the first carry. Let's face it Jackson is the equivalent of a glass jawed boxer who has the skills of a Sugar Ray Leonard but can't avoid a left hook.

[general counsel]

i have been making this same point for three weeks. It is HIGHLY unusual for a superstar running back who is the single critical component to your offense to by running with the ball in a 30 point game with five minutes left. other starters in the game? Sure. But not the superstar running back who is the key to your offense.

There is no guarantee that the rams wouldnt have collapsed again even with a healthy jackson. Its a great point that jackson doesnt play defense.

The point i have been making is that any CHANCE the rams had of having a successful season when down the tubes on this decision by haslett. The rams defense sure looked good against both dallas and washington. Part of the reason? Our ability to run the ball and keep the defense off the field. Why could we running the ball? Mainly because of jackson.

Thus, its true we might have been awful anyway, but there is no denying that the rams had a lot of momentum and played two great games in a row when haslett took over and jackson was a critical component in those games. Without him, we are nowhere. I think we win the patriots game with a healthy jackson and who knows about arizona. The key to our offense is controlling the ball. Its obvious we cant throw without establishing the run first and we cant run without jackson.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

[Fat Pang]

With all due respect, our season was a long way to ruin before the Dallas game and if we're counting on a single player to the extent that his absence costs us a decent season we're in trouble anyway.

Good teams get around such obstacles.

We're not a good team.

[MoonJoe]

His decision to keep Jackson in when we had like a 20 point lead in the Cowboy's game cost us this whole season.

I know Jackson is an injury prone machine, and he needs to work on his conditioning, but why would you keep your best offensive playmaker in when you're up THAT MUCH?!

Point one: Yes and if a frog had wings, he wouldn't hit his butt on the ground when he jumped.

Point two: Injury prone machine??? The dude is a freight train rolling down the tracks, sometimes taking 3 defenders with him. Do you think that tickles?



That's all I have to say about that.

[ManofGod]

His decision to keep Jackson in when we had like a 20 point lead in the Cowboy's game cost us this whole season.

I know Jackson is an injury prone machine, and he needs to work on his conditioning, but why would you keep your best offensive playmaker in when you're up THAT MUCH?!

We have already observed that without Jackson, our offense cannot move down the field. We have no running game to open up our passing game.

We really need to draft a SPEEDY rookie in the draft. I would like to see us run outside of the tackles effectively, seeing as our guards and center gets no push off the line of scrimmage, and our back up back Darby, Pittman and Gado have no burst to the outside.

We should try putting Avery at running back, and see how he does.

Oh no, now we can do that on occassion, but he's to small to play RB on the regular, but I would also like for us to get a speedy Chris Johnson type RB in the draft. We need some "lighting" to go with our "thunder" so to speak. But that decision did not ruin our season, our defense would have messed it up sooner or later. Look at the effort they give and then look at the effort put out by the KC Chiefs....TOTALLY DIFFERENT AND THE RESULTS SHOW!

Please take off the blinders. NO single player could have saved this season, not with this debacle of players being fielded every week ...

He doesn't play defense does he?

Infiniti man you've been in a bad mood lately, see what losing does to us(lol), but you know I agree with you on the defense; even with Mr. Jackson alot would not have changed.

I disagree, I think if he plays in the Patriot game we would have won. We lost by a td without him. Then the team would have been on a 3 game win streak going into the Cards game. Instead they were down on themselves and still issing our best player. You can keep calling him soft but even Tony Saragusa and the guys calling the game talked about how difficult it is for a running back to play with that type of injury because of the cuts and stuff they have to do. The guy is hurt, if he could play he'd be playing. He tried to rush back early against the Cards and no one said, wow look at Jax trying to play through the pain. Instead everyone said he shouldnt be out there. Now your saying he's soft and its just a thigh bruise. Have you ever had a deep tissue bruise like the one Jax has? I doubt it, so I doubt you know what type of pain the guy is in. He tried to come back and probably made it worse. So quit blaming the guy because he's injured. I'm posting this in the other thread about Jax too.

Had the same injury and let me tell you that crap hurts like nobody's business, you can't run, you can't plant, you can't accelerate & it's very slow to heal because of it's location & not to mention he's so big that pust more stress on the muscle. Sad to say sure they can give him a shot, but he's gonna need some time to heal from this.

Point one: Yes and if a frog had wings, he wouldn't hit his butt on the ground when he jumped.

Point two: Injury prone machine??? The dude is a freight train rolling down the tracks, sometimes taking 3 defenders with him. Do you think that tickles?



That's all I have to say about that.

LOL....moon you are too funny, but that's a good point his running style is going to lead to him continuing to rack up the injuries which is why we need to add a "lighting" type back in the offseason (unless Pittman improves).

[Nick]

Wasn't Thomas Jones still in against us late in the game last weekend? Not really trying to make a point here, except perhaps that Haslett isn't the only one making this error. But it does seem rather bizarre.

[ManofGod]

Wasn't Thomas Jones still in against us late in the game last weekend? Not really trying to make a point here, except perhaps that Haslett isn't the only one making this error. But it does seem rather bizarre.

Yeah, good point Nick someone else pointed this out this week. In some cases the players simply want to play/be a warrior and the coaches let them. Either way its not as cut & dry as people make it appearantly, now if you as me personally the guy wouldn't have played the 4th quarter at all, but I guess that's why I'm a grad school student and not a NFL head football coach.

[RamsInfiniti]

I disagree, I think if he plays in the Patriot game we would have won. We lost by a td without him. Then the team would have been on a 3 game win streak going into the Cards game. Instead they were down on themselves and still issing our best player. You can keep calling him soft but even Tony Saragusa and the guys calling the game talked about how difficult it is for a running back to play with that type of injury because of the cuts and stuff they have to do. The guy is hurt, if he could play he'd be playing. He tried to rush back early against the Cards and no one said, wow look at Jax trying to play through the pain. Instead everyone said he shouldnt be out there. Now your saying he's soft and its just a thigh bruise. Have you ever had a deep tissue bruise like the one Jax has? I doubt it, so I doubt you know what type of pain the guy is in. He tried to come back and probably made it worse. So quit blaming the guy because he's injured. I'm posting this in the other thread about Jax too.

IT'S AMAZING THAT EVERYONE KEEPS TALKING ABOUT HOW BULGER IS STEALING FROM THE ORGANIZATION. YET, HE GOES OUT THERE EVERY WEEK, GETS BEATEN TO DEATH, KEEPS GETTING UP, AND KEEPS ON GIVING IT HIS ALL WHILE HIS PRETTY BOY RUNNING BACK, WITH AN EQUALLY BIG CONTACT, IS TWIDLING HIS THUMBS ON THE SIDELINE. BULGER WAS PLAYING QB LAST YEAR WITH BROKEN RIBS. YES, BROKEN RIBS. SO, AT LEAST BULGER IS COMING TO WORK EVERYDAY AND PUTTING IN HIS HOURS AND THEN SOME. JACKSON IS DRAWING GLORIFIED WELFARE ....

So, the pinnacle staple of our offense is likely only going to be available 12-14 games out of the year, and we are SOL without him? And that is ok to some of you? We better win 80% of the games he plays in, otherwise we are done. It's just not ok to me. Athletes are babies these days. What happened to sucking it up and playing? What happened against Arizona says volumes about Jackson. He's apparently ready to play, gets in the huddle, the play is called, and he says he is "not ready" for the play? Are you serious?

I doubt BRM would have let a quad bruise keep him from fighting for his dream. But I guess once you get where you need to be, it's all gravy right? You are getting paid regardless ...

I played football from my very young years and two years in college. I've had a wide variety of injuries, including deep tissue bruises in my lower back, cracked ribs, pulled hamstring, cracked right heel, broken fingers, tendonitis in both knees, partially torn MCL, and many more. It was amazing how when the adrenaline was pumping, the pain would go away....

I missed one game my entire playing career - ONE - and I was a free safety, I had to run, cut, and shift as much as anybody. And that was the week after I torn the MCL ...

No leg muscle/tendon injury is worse on a running back/wide receiver than a pulled/torn hamstring. How often have you seen a position player such as one of these being out for many weeks with a hamstring issue? Frequently ...

How many times have you heard of a player being out a month with a quad bruise? Never ...

Either the injury is more serious, or the guy is just soft. I am sorry, I don't expect everyone to agree, but truth hurts. But if I am going to have to wonder if Jackson is going to play each week he gets a bruise, we wasted a serious amount of money. Listen to Haslett talk about Jackson, even he thinks he is packing it in - he frequently throws indirect shots as him here and there ....

As for me being "in a bad mood" ... Well, this place will do that to you ...

As for a back who can burst it outside, did the original poster not watch Darby last week? He took two runs off tackle for 13+ yard gain. He may not have blazing speed, but he can shift gears and is very, very quick. He should stick as our third down back. I watched him for four years at Bama. He IS NOT a fumbler ...

[Truth]

Whether or not Jackson should have or shouldn't have been in the game is a fine point to debate. However, saying that this one decision cost us the season is beyond ridiculous.

[RamsInfiniti]

Whether or not Jackson should have or shouldn't have been in the game is a fine point to debate. However, saying that this one decision cost us the season is beyond ridiculous.

Watch out! I got accused of being in a bad mood for making a similar statement ...