Steven Jackson: “Rams will never back down”

Dec 2, 2012; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson (39) rushes for a first down against the San Francisco 49ers during the second half at the Edward Jones Dome. The Rams defeated the 49ers 16-13 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

The St. Louis Rams have managed to go 4-0-1 within their division. Including beating and tying the San Francisco 49ers, who played in last season’s NFC Championship game. Despite a dominate record against their divisional foes this season the St. Louis Rams have only won one game outside of their division.

Rams running back Steven Jackson went on ESPN Radio in St. Louis and talked about the victory and the statement the Rams are making this season.

“It really [helps] us in our division and our conference as well. Teams are going to respect the St. Louis Rams now when they see us on the schedule,” Jackson said. “They know we’re a tough-nosed team that’s never going to back down, regardless of the situation, regardless of what the past may have been. This team has taken on a new identity.”

Despite only winning 1 game outside of their division, the Rams are pleased with their performance within the division.

“It feels good, that we’ve established ourselves in this division,” Jackson said. “Tough defenses, good running offenses and quarterbacks that are going to get it done. We have some young, talented quarterbacks in this division that are going to be around for a while.”

The Rams are 5-6-1 and have a slim chance of making the playoffs. But the Rams aren’t trying get too excited and maintaining their focus on the next game against Buffalo.

“We dare to dream, but we know we’ve got to do it one game at a time,” Jackson said. “It means a lot. We have a tremendous team, a lot of talent in this locker room, and guys that are willing to stick around, study film together, put in the time so we can all trust and go together. It’s starting to happen. You can see it on the football field, that we’re willing to play, we say, through the echo of the whistle. Guys are playing hard for each other.”

Jackson isn’t the only one who is playing down their playoff chances and claiming to solely be focused on next weeks game against Buffalo. Rams head coach Jeff Fisher addressed their slim playoff chances at a media gathering at Rams Park on Monday.

“This team is focused on Buffalo. It’s our next opponent,”  Fisher said. “There’s too much that could happen right now. I don’t even know what the record is of some teams in the division. So, we just go play.”

Sam Bradford echoed Fisher and Jackson’s sentimaents and is also focused on Buffalo, and not leap frogging 4 teams to make it into the playoffs.

“Regardless of whether we’ve won or lost the week before, our focus has gone on to the next week and that’s exactly what we’re going to continue to do,” said  Bradford. “Our focus now is going to Buffalo and getting another win.”

But after years of struggles, the Rams feel good to be headed in the right direction.

“It feels pretty good,” running back Steven Jackson said. “We have a lot of room to grow, but the one thing about this team that we learned about the personality of it that guys are going to continue to fight. Guys are going to continue to bring their ‘A’ game despite what it looks like, despite what people may think. This group of men believe that we can compete at a high level.”