Post-Dispatch: Installing Jackson now sets stage

[1niksder]

Installing Jackson now sets stage for more changes
By Bryan Burwell

Of the Post-Dispatch
02/17/2005

Sports Columnist Bryan Burwell

Washington Irving once wrote that there was a certain relief in change, even if from bad to worse. In the dog days of pro football's long off-season, old Mr. Irving's words always are put to a stern test whenever NFL coaches and general managers begin "spring cleaning" with the not-so-gentle art of salary-cap massaging and depth chart restructuring.

All over the NFL, the vicious cycle of easing out the old and ushering in the new has begun. In some dramatic cases, we are seeing some old (Drew Bledsoe) and familiar (Jeff Garcia), and high-salaried names being shown to the exit ramp.

On Wednesday, a mighty wind of change blew out of Rams Park. It wasn't exactly a surprise that Mike Martz has decided that 21-year-old rookie tailback Steven Jackson will displace 31-year-old future Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk in the starting lineup next season. The only surprise is that he chose to announce it in the middle of February.

When you make a move like this so early in the offseason, it is usually done for any number of understated reasons. Most likely, it could be because the Rams are preparing to set the groundwork for reworking Faulk's contract to a more cap-friendly number befitting his new status. The Rams probably are looking to trim his salary to the $2 million-a-year range, in much the same manner that the Pittsburgh Steelers reworked Jerome Bettis' deal last year.

But they also could be doing this now to give Faulk (and maybe themselves) time to think about the direction their relationship will go.

Is Marshall really willing to play out the last year (years?) of his marvelous career in a limited role behind Jackson? It certainly worked out well for Bettis last season. He took a huge pay cut to stay with the Steelers, yet by the end of the season, he had returned to the starting lineup, rushed for over 100 yards in seven consecutive contests. Now, the 12-year veteran is pondering whether to retire or seek a lucrative free-agent deal after proving there was still some gas left in his tank.

Or maybe Faulk would prefer to finish his career on another team like Emmitt Smith did, and be a featured back for someone looking for a living legend and a strong locker room presence.

Somehow, I think we'll probably get the answer to this riddle rather soon, because in his first offseason flurry of interviews, Martz is letting us know that this offseason promises to be as eventful as we've seen in recent years. And considering what has happened around here during the past few winters and springs, that's saying a mouthful.

By making this announcement about his running backs in February (even though it lacks the impact of making it in the last week of August), Martz is making a strong statement. Here we are on February 18, more than two months from the college draft - and five months before training camp - and Martz is sending out signals that he's going to shake things up in the aftermath of last season's inconsistent 9-9 season.

He's letting us know that there won't be any offseason controversy with his running backs like he had a few years ago with his quarterbacks. But he also is letting us know how he's going to shake up that highly ineffective - and dramatically undersized - defense. I think it's a stroke of genius to shift Pisa Tinoisamoa from linebacker to strong safety. At 6-1, 230, he might be undersized as a linebacker, but this is the first step in letting us know that Martz wants his defense to big bigger and more physical.

The next liberating changes ought to come in two weeks (March 2) with the start of free agency and the trading period, when Martz ought to be shopping for some bigger, meaner veteran help on the offensive line, linebacker and free safety. But because we are on the subject of the winds of change, let me remind you of the certain imperfections and uncertainty of this change. In his "Tales of a Traveller," Washington Irving once compared change's emancipating, but flawed qualities to a ride in a bumpy stagecoach. Sometimes the only comfort change provides is "to shift one's position and be bruised in a new place."

Let's hope that's not what's going on with the Rams.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports ... re+changes

[Scooter]

Jackson is the best back on the team - and that's saying something with Hall of Famer being moved to the bench. Faulk is a solid player - still, but Jackson is bigger, faster, has better hands and doesn't drop the ball... the Pokes lost out on a good one - thank goodness!

[Clinton Portis]

Marshall Faulk to Cardinals?

[Texas Hog]

Jackson is the best back on the team - and that's saying something with Hall of Famer being moved to the bench. Faulk is a solid player - still, but Jackson is bigger, faster, has better hands and doesn't drop the ball... the Pokes lost out on a good one - thank goodness!

I was going to say just that. It'll be interesting to watch the Jackson vs. Jones career comparisons.

[tcwest10]

Wow. Another mature athlete getting the boot in a very public and unceremonious way.
While he was here, I never knew Martz to be the jackalope he is now. I guess that's what winning a bunch and then losing a bunch will do to a man.
I've never forgiven him for swiping Trent Green. Can you tell ?

[Texas Hog]

Rams fans I know have been calling for Martz' head for some time. They can't stand him....strange.

[General Failure]

Whatever happend to the idea that Marshall had that he would retire before this happened to him?