Steven Jackson

[laram0]

I thought Steven Jackson was going to carry the load?

16 rushing attempts?

ZERO....ZERO receptions....only thrown at once I think?

[DistantRam]

Spags may be a newcomer to the role of head coach but do you think that he's naive enough to let our opponents know our gameplan in advance? When it was reported that Jackson would be the focus of our offence, I always suspected that it was a smokescreen: SJax is our most high-profile player these days and most in the NFL would consider it logical to give our best player the ball as often as possible. I think that Spags is a bit more canny than that, however, and fully expect to see him develop an all-round attack in which the run and the pass are given equal footing.

[ScottD413]

Spags may be a newcomer to the role of head coach but do you think that he's naive enough to let our opponents know our gameplan in advance? When it was reported that Jackson would be the focus of our offence, I always suspected that it was a smokescreen: SJax is our most high-profile player these days and most in the NFL would consider it logical to give our best player the ball as often as possible. I think that Spags is a bit more canny than that, however, and fully expect to see him develop an all-round attack in which the run and the pass are given equal footing.

I understand where you're coming from, but Jax has got to get the ball more for us to be successful. There's no 2 ways about it. How successful we are on offense this year is going to be directly related to how well Jax is doing.

Stats can be deceiving. I understand why we didn't run it more. If you look at the stats Jax had 4.5 ypa. But in reality he was getting stuffed all day long. He had one nice run towards the end of the game that inflated his stats a little. The fact is we need to play better up front.

Did it look like he was dancing too much to anyone else? It looked to me like he was doing the old Barry Sanders instead of just putting his head down and hitting the hole hard. It looked like he was taking a stutter step right after receiving each hand-off. On his one big run he didn't dance at all, he just charged the line. He needs to get back to doing that.

[kegger56]

IMO you need to get him the rock, no matter how! SJ is a stud of studs who plays with heart and fire. Spread the field even if it means putting kickers out there as WR's and let SJ do his thing. I think the play calling left a bit to be desired.

[TekeRam]

For the time being at least, Jackson IS our offense. Whether it's by running the ball, or throwing him the all, he needs to be the core of our offense. I liken him to Matt Forte of the Bears last year where he was their leading rusher and receiver. And, just like us, the Bears lost because they got away from the run and didn't throw the ball to Forte.

Yes, teams are going to load up against us with 8 in the box, daring us to throw, and at times we should, but that doesn't mean we can get away from getting the ball to our best playmaker in Jackson. We need to get him 20+ touches a game at least until our receiving corps grows up and into a credible threat. That day is coming, but until then, we need to depend upon Jax and the offensive line to create some space for him.

[AvengerRam]

Given that:

(a) Jackson averaged 4.2 yards per carry; and

(b) He would have averaged more had his longest run of the game not been nullified by penalty,

I'd say he should get the ball more.

A lot more.

[TekeRam]

Bingo Av. You nailed it on the head. And when we get down in the second half and we have to pass, pass him the darn ball! The man is killer in open space.

[Milan]

Given that:

(a) Jackson averaged 4.2 yards per carry; and

(b) He would have averaged more had his longest run of the game not been nullified by penalty,

I'd say he should get the ball more.

A lot more.

We can't really say that. His longest run of the game was made possible by the penalty.

[hawaiianpunch]

We can't really say that. His longest run of the game was made possible by the penalty.

holding happens on almost every play though. Patriots are famous for getting away with bloody murder on this penalty. Depends if it gets called or not.

i think the offensive line has to gel. then maybe we will start being a great football team. But a passing attacks best friend is a good running game. SJ all day.