Rams interview Hue Jackson for OC

The Rams have interviewed former Raiders head coach and OC Hue Jackson for the currently-still-open offensive coordinator role here. The Raiders went 8-8 under Jackson last season. They were in the top 10 in scoring offense (22.4 ppg) and total offense with Jackson as the team's OC in 2010, 2nd in the league in rushing, 23rd in passing. Jackson is said to prefer a power running offense and a lot of play-action. (Slight plus)

In one season as Atlanta's offensive coordinator in 2007, the Falcons were 29th in scoring (16.2 ppg), 23rd in total yards, 26th in rushing, 18th in passing. That team, which finished 4-12, had Joey Harrington at QB, with a RB-by-committee of Warrick Dunn and... Jerious Norwood. (EHH)

Jackson was the Redskins' offensive coordinator in 2003 under Steve Spurrier. Offensively, those Redskins were 21st-23rd in about everything, scoring 17.9 ppg. That team was quarterbacked by Patrick Ramsey and Elizabeth Hasselbeck's husband Tim, and their leading rusher was...........

TRUNG CANIDATE!   (EHH)

In 2001-02, Jackson was Redskins RBs coach. Their leading rusher was an already-entrenched Stephen Davis. '02 was Ladell Betts' rookie year. He ran for 300 yards and somebody named Kenny Watson ran for 500. The Skins averaged 4.3 and 4.0 ypc under Jackson. They were 8th in the league in rushing in '01, 13th in '02. (PLUS)

More of Jackson's resume:
2008-09: Ravens QB coach, Joe Flacco's first two seasons (PLUS)
2004-06: Bengals WR coach, pretty much the height of the Chad JOHNSON / TJ Houshmandzadeh years, with Chris Henry also developing as a promising receiver (PLUS)
1997-2000: USC offensive coordinator, most of it in the unsuccessful Paul Hackett era. Team averaged 25.75 ppg over that time and went 25-23. He was also RB coach for two seasons and QB coach for two seasons, including Carson Palmer's sophomore year. No notable pro RB talent emerged from those teams, and Palmer won the Heisman two years after Jackson left USC for the Redskins. (EHH)
1996 Cal offensive coordinator under Steve Mariucci. QB was Pat Barnes, who threw 52 completions to a freshman tight end named Tony Gonzalez. Bears went 6-6 but averaged 31.8 ppg. (PLUS)
1992-95 Jackson was Sun Devils QBs coach for Jake Plummer's junior season. He was RBs coach for three years before that. No notable pro RB talent from those teams. (Slight plus)

So:
Jackson has worked with several young QBs (Plummer, Palmer, Flacco) who went on to be successful. You have to like that for Sam Bradford.
He's done pretty well at establishing a running game at each of his pro stops, though, even at Oakland, almost always with the RBBC approach. His offensive style should suit Steven Jackson well, though the substitution style probably won't.

I like Jackson a little better for the Rams' OC job than Brian Schottenheimer, though nowhere near enough to get into even a warm discussion over it. I think he's consistently better at establishing a successful running game where he's been, and that Bradford's more like the QBs Jackson has worked with than the QBs Schottenheimer has (successfully) worked with. Jackson did throw his Raiders players under the bus after this season, which seems to have been the spark that lit his firing, and is a significant minus.

As  in B-minus.

-$-