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49ers-Rams: RB Steven Jackson is O-U-T....Will it matter???
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The 49ers and Rams released their final injury reports earlier today. While there are no major surprises given the practice participation, it's still useful to know that Rams running back Steven Jackson will not be playing on Sunday. As discussed yesterday, the 49ers will be without Josh Morgan and Arnaz Battle.
As much as 49ers fans might be disappointed by those developments, one has to wonder how Rams fans feel about the absence of Jackson. On the one hand, Jackson has been one of their better offensive performers the last few years. On the other hand...well there are several on that hand: 1) The team sucks this year and is playing for a top draft pick. 2) Jackson has seen his performance decline this year and last following his monstrous 2006 season. 3) They need to figure out what 2nd year running back Antonio Pittman brings to the table.
While the 49ers defense hasn't been spectacular, they've actually been about middle of the road against the run. Given their record, 15th in the league against the rush isn't all that awful. It would've been fun to see how they handled Steven Jackson. Early last season, Patrick Willis first made his bones with 49ers fans on a phenomenal tackle of Jackson for a loss. Of course, Pittman is a talented back in his own right and will present his own challenges.
These issues bring one question to the forefront that I've been thinking about all week. What is there to get out of this game, as a fan? If they win, it's just the struggling Rams. What's more important is seeing specific units show some improvement. When you play a team that is worse than you (yes, the Rams are worse than the 49ers), you want to see your team step up, make plays and take care of business.
While the Rams still have Torry Holt and Marc Bulger, the team is pretty much finished. In spite of last Monday's late game shenanigans, the 49ers showed improvement in numerous areas of the game. A successful Sunday would involve continued improvement in these areas and others. For example, it would include Shaun Hill putting together a solid 4 quarters. Not necessarily a ton of yards, but preferably no turnovers. It would include a defense not giving up 300+ yards to whomever is running the Rams "offense." Walt Harris is struggling and could use a confidence boost...or a trip to the bench. The 49ers have some talented youngsters in their secondary depth chart and the time has come to roll some of them out. Reggie Smith and Tarell Brown are just two of them.
It comes down to seeing what the team has got. Can Shaun Hill consistently run the offense? Can guys like Jason Hill and Dominique Zeigler make plays? Zeigler has no more practice squad eligibility after this season, so it's time to see what he can do. He only had one catch last week, but it was rather nice. Although he's not moving into a starting role like Antonio Pittman, he'll still get a similar chance to show what he can do. Let's hope he takes full advantage of it.
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