Around this time last season, the St. Louis Rams’ backfield was in need of Isaiah Pead or Daryl Richardson to fill the void as the premier back when long-tenured running back Steven Jackson left for greener pastures. And with some of the sample doses that we saw of both running backs, in either practice or preseason games, you came away with the feeling that they would do well in carrying the football.
But, that never happened. Richardson was hobbled by an injury, and when he did play it was like watching a person run in a room with the lights off. Pead’s season got off on the wrong foot, or wrong hand. In the preseason opener against the Cleveland Browns, Pead looked spooked, holding the football like it was a lit firecracker.
Oh, no! Here we go again. More problems on top of the problems we already have.
Enter Zac Stacy. The fifth-round pick in last year’s draft snatched the opportunity that was there for the taking. After just getting one carry against the Arizona Cardinals, the Rams turned back to Stacy. And he became the stabilizer for the run-heavy offense the Rams feature now. Week in and week out, Stacy carried the football and the team started to form an identity.
Then on a national stage on Monday Night Football against the Seattle Seahawks, Stacy crashed and plowed and made tacklers miss en route to a breakout performance of 26 carries 134 yards – the lone highlight in a frustrating 14-9 loss to the Seahawks. From that point on, Stacy took claim of the position.
In just one season, he scored more touchdowns than Pead and Richardson combined. Pead is still here, but for how long? Richardson now is with the New York Jets. And the Rams also have second-year running back Benny Cunningham and rookie Tre Mason.
No question, the job is still Stacy’s, but injuries happen. The Rams have some healthy battles at RB, as we all know. So it made sense drafting Mason to make the Rams offense more formidable and to create a situation for guys like Pead and Cunningham to battle for a roster spot and possible playing time.
This doesn’t faze Stacy, the former Vanderbilt RB from Pleasant Grove, Alabama. He welcomes the competition and sees it only as an opportunity to improve. All signs show he may follow the trend of other great running backs that have played for the Rams since they acquired Marshall Faulk. He deserved just as much credit as was heaped on former backup QB Kellen Clemens for not letting the 2013 season sink into eternal darkness.
He just has to stay healthy.
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