Ordinarily, a 31-year-old running back grinding out 81 rushing yards for a 3-6 team wouldn’t be what you’d call news.
But in the NFC South, where everything is graded on a curve, the return of a somewhat-dynamic Steven Jackson gives the Falcons a measure of hope.
Jackson ran for a healthy 5.1 yards per carry average in yesterday’s win over the Buccaneers, the kind of balance they were hoping he’d bring but hasn’t often enough. So a 9-yard run to start the game was more than just a good start, it was a sign of something they had been missing.
“It’s really important to set a physical tone,” Jackson said, via Vaughn McClure of ESPN.com. “The game of football is a physical game. Whenever you’re going into a game, you’ve got to set the tempo. You’ve got to set your presence before anybody else. I take pride in that. And I think a lot of times, people are getting away from it because the game has turned into a passing game. The appreciation is being lost. But it’s still very important. You see that with the defending Super Bowl champions [Seattle].”
Of course, the Falcons are far from that level, and far from good. But they’re also only a game out of first place in their division, despite putting so many offensive linemen on IR that their offseason quest for toughness has been compromised.
They’ll have to beat tougher opponents than the Bucs to make it mean anything, but it’s something, anyway.
“It’s not relief,” Jackson said of breaking a five-game losing streak. “We still got a lot of hay to put away in the barn. We’ve got to take it one week at a time. We’ve got another tough divisional game. Carolina’s a tough, physical defense. So it’s going to be a great game. We’re just fortunate enough to know that we’re still in there — possibly.”
In the NFC South, practically everyone is, so the Falcons have as good a shot as anyone.