The Falcons Won't Use Steven Jackson Overmuch This Pre-Season

When you're making a run at a title, the last thing you want to do is wear down or injure your veterans before the games even count.

While the team has been committed to getting starters reps in the past, I think they'll throttle off a bit with key veterans like Tony Gonzalez. You can add Steven Jackson to that list, as well, because the team site is reporting that S-Jax is going to get very limited pre-season snaps.

"Steven’s got a gazillion carries in his career," Koetter said. "Coach Smith will determine how many carries he gets, but I don’t believe Steven Jackson needs a bunch of touches in the preseason. You can only run inside zone, outside zone so many times. He doesn’t need to go out there and prove himself. Preseason is live tackling and getting your running backs beat up in the preseason, I don’t see the benefit. Coach Smith will determine how many carries he gets."

This is the sensible way to do things. There's nothing Jackson can learn or improve by getting 25 snaps per game as opposed to 5-10, and he'll be nice and fresh for the beginning of the season if they take it easy with him. I couldn't support this decision more, especially because it gives young backs an opportunity to prove themselves.

What do you think of the Falcons resting Jackson in pre-season?