As Rams fans, we all know that Steven Jackson is one of the best running backs in the NFL. When the national media will start to take notice of the fact that SJ is tied with Adrian Peterson for the third-most rushing yards in the league this season with 784, I don't know. Cameron Hallway of CBS Sports is off to a good start with a great piece on SJ up, and it's certainly worth a read. 

What I found most interesting in the piece are some statistics that point to just how good SJ is: 

Jackson, 26, has started 57 games in his career (he has missed nine games to injury and was a backup to Marshall Faulk most of his rookie season). In the history of the NFL, among players who have started 57 or fewer games before turning 27, Jackson is No. 1 in career rushing yards, with 6,075 -- and he has eight more games before turning 27 in July.

Take out the games-started criteria, and Jackson is 18th all-time in rushing yards through his age-26 season, again with eight games to go.

If he were to match his first half of 784 yards in the second half, he would climb to 10th on that list, bumping Faulk. The top 10 is a who's who of NFL backs: Emmitt Smith, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Edgerrin James, Clinton Portis, Jim Brown, Jerome Bettis, LaDainian Tomlinson, Eric Dickerson and Faulk.

If that doesn't impress you, I don't know what will. The rise of Steven Jackson as a top-tier running back has certainly been fun to watch. To me, he has become the most complete running back in the league, with the ability to do virtually whatever he wants on the field.

SJ's performance so far this season should tell you all need to know about the kind of running back he is. Every defense he faces knows what is coming, and they still can't stop him. Against Detroit in the fourth quarter, for example, he single-handedly won the football game: 

With the outcome in the balance in the fourth quarter at Detroit, Jackson had nine carries for 82 yards, including a 25-yard TD burst that was the winning score. Big chunks: 7 yards, 11, 10, 5, 17, 25 ... only two of the nine carries gained less than 5 yards.

What's been most satisfying about his success this season is the fact that he has finally emerged as a true team leader, something he did not show in previous seasons:

As the Rams have loaded up around Jackson, he has reciprocated by becoming accountable as a leader, a trait the team didn't know he had before this season. Jackson has been quick to praise teammates, unwilling to gauge his success in light of the team's struggles, is a full-fledged believer in first-year coach Steve Spagnuolo's system and has become one of the harder-working players on the team.

That last sentence is what makes me smile the most. In the past, we had never heard stories about Steven being one of the hardest-working guys on the team. This offseason, however, that changed. Steven worked harder than ever, and the work is paying off -- he's on pace to rush for a career-high 1,568 yards this season.

Now that the Rams have a competent offensive line, SJ's numbers could get even better in the next two-to-three years. With SJ, the possibilities seem endless.

Bumped. I am changing the title of this post to wish Dohn good luck from all of us here on Bruins Nation. We have had our share of disagreement with Dohn. They are well documented and archived here on BN. There are issues when it comes to culture of UCLA athletics and community, Dohn was never in sync with us here on BN and we also had concerns with number of his reports. That said we always appreciated his hard work and he has always been very cordial in our exchanges with him off this blog. We wish him luck. Plus its always nice for a kid to go home. Good luck Brian. GO BRUINS. -N

In a shocking development, UCLA beat writer Brian Dohn is leaving the Daily News. He and his family are moving back to New Jersey:

I began covering UCLA in the summer of 2003, and in the last six years I made some great friends, ticked off some folks and had a bevy of wonderful experiences.
With a lot of excitement looking ahead and some sadness, for what I am leaving behind, I wanted to let everyone know I am leaving the Daily News. My family and I are moving back to New Jersey.
Within the next week and for those interested, I will get word out a about my new gig, which is not UCLA related. Right now is not the correct timing for me to say what it is.
I want to thank everyone for all the great times I had covering UCLA, and the incredible success of this blog. The experiences I had covering UCLA are things I will always remember.

Obviously, all of us who frequent BN had our problems with Dohn. At times he appeared to poorly research the history of UCLA football and had ridiculous expectations for the program. Moreover, he would tease fans about certain recruiting stories, and never would expand on topics that he clearly had more info about. He sometimes came off as a chicken. Many of his opinions were off-base, and it showed during his (in)famous question and answer posts.

But as strictly a beat writer, I always thought Dohn was excellent. His 'Inside UCLA' blog constantly updated us on the latest news and gave us the perspectives of players and coaches. His articles in the newspaper were solidly written and insightful. I for one will miss him. I certainly won't miss some of his opinions, but I will miss his reporting and dedication to covering UCLA. He gave it his all. 

Good luck in your future endeavors, Dohn. 

Sidenote: I will be very interested to see who the Daily News chooses to replace Dohn. I think it would almost be unfair to select Jill Painter because of some of the abuse she has taken while filling in for Dohn on the blog. She deserves better than having to deal with those fools. I am of the opinion that the choice should be someone who is a UCLA alum. What do you guys think?

From Steve Wyche of NFL.com:

The Rams, who hold the No. 2 overall pick in the draft, have purchased a plane ticket for USC quarterback Mark Sanchez to fly from Los Angeles to St. Louis on Sunday, when the team plans to introduce its top selection.

This is interesting, to say the least. We've heard rumors about Sanchez going to the Rams all day long, and this would appear to add validation to those rumors. If it were to come down to Sanchez, Jason Smith or Eugene Monroe, who would everyone here pick?

If this pick is about need, then the Rams should flip a coin between Smith and Monroe and choose one of them. If it is about selecting the best player of the three, then Sanchez is the way to go. I personally think he will have a better pro career than Matthew Stafford, and I actually think he would be a very good fit for the Rams in a year or two. While he doesn't have the arm strenght of Stafford, he is much more accurate and an excellent decision-maker. He's also more mobile then Stafford, and I think he will prove to be an outstanding leader and face of the franchise for years to come.