Running back Steven Jackson, who is 56 rushing yards from 11,000 in his career, is an important figure for the Falcons, who need to balance their offense behind a revamped offensive line.
Jackson, who had his second-fewest carries with the Falcons last week, is on the hot seat against the Baltimore Ravens.
He had only six carries for 25 yards against the Bears. His lows with the Falcons came when he had three carries for no yards against the Rams last season before leaving the game with an injured hamstring.
While there have been cries to get running back Antone Smith more touches, Jackson is the primary back who could help the Falcons solve their balance issues.
But his last 100-yard game occurred Nov. 25, 2012, when he rushed for 139 yards as a member of the Rams.
Only the Raiders and Jaguars, the only NFL teams without a victory this season, have run the ball less frequently than the Falcons.
The Falcons have run on 136 of 374 plays (36.4 percent) and passed on 238 (63.6 percent).
“Any time you can be a more balanced offense, (it can) get us out of a rut and put us where we feel we don’t have our backs against the wall and we are not one-dimensional,” Jackson said. “Any time you can be more balanced, it helps everyone outm from (quarterback) Matt (Ryan) all the way down offensively.”
The Ravens have allowed only 90.7 yards rushing per game, which ranks seventh in the league.
“Certainly we’d love to be able to run the ball a little more effectively than we have up until this point,” Ryan said.
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