By averaging more than 10 yards per carry, running back C.J. Spiller appears to be helping more than the Bills offense.
He might also be helping Fred Jackson heal more quickly. Mark Ludwiczak of CBSSports.com reports that Jackson has been doing light work with the team’s trainers during practice this week, less than two weeks after suffering a knee sprain that was thought to keep him out for three to eight weeks when he originally got hurt. Coach Chan Gailey said Thursday that Jackson is ahead of schedule in his return to action.
“Yeah he is,” Gailey said, via the team’s website. ”He must be a fast healer.”
The team isn’t ready to put a new timetable on Jackson’s return to action, although the fact that he’s back to work in any capacity suggests that it will wind up being on the lower end of the predicted absence. If Spiller remains as effective as he’s been in the last two games, Gailey and the Bills will have to make some tough decisions about how to split the workload in the backfield. Players don’t usually lose their starting jobs because of injury, but they also usually aren’t faced with players who have performed as well as Spiller when they make their returns.