Steven Jackson “looks explosive at half-speed”
By Mike Dyce
The Atlanta Falcons have tried to bolster their running game this offseason. They let the underacheiving and aging Michael Turner walk away, they then signed former St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson. ESPN ranks the Atlanta running game as the 29th overall with 87.3 yards per game.
Michael Turner was averaging 3.6 yards per carry, and had an even 800 yards rushing on the season. Steven Jackson has never had a season yards per carry average that low, in fact he has only dipped below the 4 yard mark once in his career, and that was while playing for the St. Louis Rams.
Steven Jackson is coming off his 8th straight 1,000 yard season and averaged 4.1 yards per carry last season.
D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has made a list of his 5 observations from morning walk through, and number 1 is something the Falcons were looking forward to.
“Running back Steven Jackson still has a good jump-cut step. He even looks explosive at half speed.”
Jackson being a threat out of the backfield not only as a ball carrier but as a receiver has the Atlanta Falcons offense looking unstoppable on paper. They have two solid receivers in Julio Jones and Roddy White not to mention a dependable tight end in Tony Gonzalez.
Add in Jacquizz Rodgers and this offense could break records potentially.