Falcons running back Steven Jackson, who was returning from a hamstring injury, was held in check in the 27-13 loss to the Cardinals on Sunday.
Jackson, the leading active rusher in the NFL, was held to six yards on 11 carries.
“It was some tough sledding today,” Jackson said. “The Arizona defense came out there and did a really good job against the run. It was definitely not the production that I wanted to see out of myself.”
Jackson, who suffered a hamstring injury against St. Louis on Sept. 15 in the Falcons’ second game of the season, returned to practice on Wednesday. His work load was increased Thursday and Friday.
The offense struggled with the ground game with Jackson out of the lineup. Most recently, they rushed 18 times for just 18 yards against Tampa Bay last Sunday. Against the Cardinals, the offense rushed for 27 yards on 14 carries.
The Falcons had to abandon the run after falling behind by 21 points.
“Again, until I actually watch the tape, standing on the side lines (it looked like) there wasn’t a whole lot of opportunities,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said. “Obviously, the statistics will back that up at this point in time. We’ve got to be more efficient.”
Jackson was injured when Rams rookie linebacker Alec Ogletree, who played at Newnan High and Georgia, tackled him while he was making his way into the end zone on an 8-yard pass play.
This was the third straight season that Jackson, who turned 30 in July, suffered an early-season soft tissue injury.
Last season in Game 2, Jackson suffered a groin injury against Washington. In the 2011 season-opener against Philadelphia, he pulled a quadriceps muscle after running 47 yards for a touchdown.
However, he sat out just one game the past two years. The Falcons went 1-3 over the four games Jackson missed.
Jackson ended with no yards on three carries against the Rams. In the season opener against New Orleans, he had 11 carries for 77 yards, including a 50-yard romp.
Jackson was expected to help boost a running game that is averaging 68.3 yards per game and was ranked 30th in the league of 32 teams before facing the Cardinals.
Jackson was signed last offseason to replace Michael Turner, who was released March 1. Despite dropping a potential game-winning touchdown pass, Jackson had a strong showing in the opener against the Saints and was off to a good start against the Rams.
The Falcons originally thought Jackson might miss just two to three weeks with what was first called a hip injury. But he missed five weeks, four games and the bye week.
Jackson wrote in his personal blog that he didn’t want to return until he was “100 percent healthy.”
Despite the rash of soft tissue injuries, Jackson was able to continue his string of 1,000-yard rushing seasons.
Jackson was the Falcons’ most prominent free-agent signing on offense in the offseason.
In nine seasons with the Rams, Jackson gained 10,135 yards rushing – which leads active players — on 2,395 carries (4.2 average) with 56 touchdowns and 413 catches for 3,324 yards (8.2 average) with eight touchdowns.
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