Evaluation of this past weekend’s tilt against the Seattle Seahawks has confirmed that No. 39’s head is all right — literally — and that he feels he can play even better.

Coach Jim Haslett confirmed that his star running back’s head injury was not a concussion.

“From my understanding, he just got light-headed, and he didn’t feel well, and then he must have (recovered),” he said. “He went back in the game.”

After the contest, Steven said his 100+ yard performance against the ‘Hawks was only mediocre, despite eclipsing the 100-yard mark within the first two quarters of play.

“I give myself a ‘C,” Steven said. “I felt like I had a great first half but I feel the game in general in the second half didn’t match-up to how we started off.”

FRUSTRATING FINISHES
Late-game losses are becoming a recurring theme for the Rams, and Steven realizes finishing games has become the team’s Achilles heel.

“That’s exactly what’s been ailing us all year,” Steven said. “We get up on a team- have a great first half or vice versa and have a great second half. We’ve been unable to put four quarters together for a while.”

Considering SJax’s ultra-competitive nature, he hasn’t been taking these losses lightly. Losing has been just as hard for SJ as it has for the Rams’ faithful.

“(It’s tougher to lose) tight ones,” Steven reiterated. “If you lose a blow-out you just have to tip your hat to that team saying ‘you know what, they just really out-played us today’ but in a tight game like this one where you feel like we kind of did everything we could do when we wanted and still come out with a loss- these are the tough ones that we try to figure out what it is that’s preventing us from putting teams away.”

STAY CLASSY
While Steven is undoubtedly one of the fiercest, most talented backs in the league, he may also be the classiest. Win or lose, Steven is never a poor sport, as evidenced by his comments after the Week 15 loss.

“Since I’ve been here in this organization playing the Seattle Seahawks, it’s kind of one of those classic games where you know whoever has the ball last probably is pretty much going to win the game,” Steven said. “We jumped on them early but something in the back of my mind told me that they were going to make some great adjustments and make a game out of it and that’s exactly what they did.”

HE’S THE MOTOR
Steven wants to get the Rams back on track to build some early momentum for next season, if nothing else. No. 39 is perhaps the only player on the Rams with the ability to do that single-handedly, according to the Rams’ official site:

“Jackson is the guy who makes the Rams offense go. When he was out with a quad injury earlier in the season, the offense went stagnant and struggled to piece together drives.

“Upon his return, Jackson immediately has sparked the Rams. And Jackson seems to be rounding into form as he pursues another 1,000-yard rushing season.”

NEXT UP
SJax will have the chance to get himself and his team back to their winning ways this weekend against the San Francisco 49ers. The Rams host the Niners at 12 p.m. CST at Edward Jones Stadium.

RELATED STORIES
Steven Jackson wasn’t concussed (Rotoworld, Dec. 15, 2008)
http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/playerbreakingnews.asp?sport=NFL&id=1663&line=135115&spln=1
Jackson rates his performance as a ‘C’ (Scout.com, Dec. 14, 2008)
http://stl.scout.com/2/821415.html
What to watch answered: Seattle (StLouisRams.com, Dec. 14, 2008)
http://www.stlouisrams.com/article/70068/