Despite a long and successful career in St. Louis, running back Steven Jackson had never come close to winning a Super Bowl ring and saw his window of opportunity beginning to close. He then decided to make the move to Atlanta, and as he's mentioned before, he thinks this might just be the place to do so.
Jackson, who signed a contract with the Falcons this offseason after spending nine seasons with the Rams, said his decision mainly dealt with his numbered chances to win football's biggest prize.
"I think Atlanta presented a great opportunity for me to take advantage of and I've been blessed over the years, so I wanted to be able not to take a step back but take a step sideways to keep moving forward," he said.
As far as the differences between his old team and the Falcons, Jackson said it's not the offense that's the major difference, but the different terms and words the Falcons use.
"It's the language, the lingo, the way we call things here," Jackson said. "Which took me a little bit of time over the spring to get used to, but I took my playbook home, took a lot of notes, and I really just took an hour out of the day to just continue to read over notes and that's how I've been able to progress and move so fast thus far."
Jackson, who turned 30 last week, isn't worried about his age but instead believes that he changed things for his position in this era.
"Like I've said before on record, I think each generation has a guy that breaks the mold," Jackson said. "And I truly believe I'm that running back for this generation."
The veteran, who will make his debut in front of a bigger crowd of Falcons fans this Friday when the team hosts Kia Motors Friday Night Lights later this week, said that although he's excited for it, he won't be in full force until the regular season gets started.
"People are very excited about Atlanta football and about what we are doing here as an organization so it'll be fun," he said. "But the month of August is the fine tuning moment for me … Progressively, fans will see more and more of the things that you guys have seen over the years with me. But come New Orleans, that's when you'll get the full package."
