Falcons running back Steven Jackson will miss his second game with a hamstring injury and wrote in a Friday post on his personal blog that he won’t return until he’s “100 percent healthy.”
Jackson won’t play in Sunday’s game against the Patriots at the Georgia Dome after sitting out Sunday’s defeat at Miami. Jackson suffered the injury in the Week 2 victory against the Rams.
The team initially announced Jackson suffered a thigh injury. In the days after Jackson’s injury, Falcons coach Mike Smith said Jackson could be out two to three weeks.
Jackson declined to comment this week, citing the team’s policy against injured players giving interviews.
During the preseason, Jackson proclaimed that he would “break the mold” for running backs declining physically once they turn 30 years old. He lasted only nine plays in his home debut with the Falcons before getting hurt while scoring a touchdown reception.
At Jackson’s Web site, sj39.com, Jackson wrote that he puts “a lot of pressure on myself” to “make a huge impression” with his new team. The Falcons signed Jackson to a free-agent contract in March.
But Jackson wrote that he won’t rush back from the injury.
“I have to be patient,” Jackson wrote. “That’s just part of being mature as a player. I know my body, and I have to make sure that I’m right. I don’t want to come back too soon, and just be an average guy on the football field.
“When I come back, I want to be 100 percent healthy and be the dynamic running back who can catch the ball, run between the tackles and do all the things that I’ve done. I have to make sure that I’m ready for the latter part of the season more than anything.”
On second thought: Falcons wide receiver Roddy White said he and the team's training staff have done "everything medical we can do" to mend his gimpy ankle, including placing White in a hyperbaric chamber. Yet White still isn't healthy six weeks after he suffered a high ankle sprain.
White played limited snaps in the first three games, acknowledging that he was essentially a decoy for many plays, but said he felt he could do enough to help the team. White has never missed a game in his career, a streak of 131 games.
In retrospect, White said he may have been better off missing a game or two instead of continuing to play on the ankle.
“Maybe now that I look back at it,” White said. “But it is what it is. I can’t go back and change it. I’ve already came this far. Every week I’ve got to get better and hopefully I come out and I’m not injured or hurt in the game or don’t re-injure it, and I will be better the next week.”
In three games, White has played in only 61 percent of the team’s offensive snaps. He has seven catches for 56 yards with no touchdowns.
“Every day it’s got to be me pressing myself a little bit more to see what I can do and just trying to get to the bye week to where I can really rest,” White said.
The Falcons will have a bye the Sunday after they play the Jets on Oct. 7.
Injury report: White, offensive tackle Sam Baker, wide receiver Julio Jones, and cornerback Asante Samuel were listed as questionable on the Falcons' injury report Friday. All but Baker played against the Dolphins.
Baker, who was out with knee and foot injuries, said he’s “good” physically after two days of limited practice. Against the Dolphins, the Falcons moved Lamar Holmes from right to left tackle to replace Baker and put Jeremy Trueblood in the lineup at right tackle.
About the Author
