FanHouse TravisMinor

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

The 2008 season was an unmitigated disaster for the Rams. They had their star running back hold out, only to be re-signed and get injured -- an injury which lingered far too long. They fired their coach after four embarrassing games, won two straight under his replacement, but then dropped their final 10.

It was hard to find a strength on this team. The offense ranked 27th in the league, while the defense was 28th. Then again, Donnie Jones was one of the best punters in the league. So there's that.

Steven Jackson is easily the best player the Rams have, when healthy. Of course, he's not healthy at this point, as evidenced by his lackluster at best performance Sunday. Apparently he wasn't as confident as he led everyone to believe leading up to the game.

When the Rams' offense trotted out for their first series of the day Sunday, Jackson was in the huddle. But before the Rams broke the huddle for their first play, Antonio Pittman had replaced Jackson. What happened?

With his strained right thigh muscle not 100 percent, Jackson said he wasn't comfortable running the play once he heard the call.

"The play call was really more of an outside play, a cutback play," (Jim) Haslett said. "He didn't think he was ready for that play. ... It kind of caught everybody off guard."

The entire backfield was in flux for the game, as Antonio Pittman and Travis Minor also suffered injuries. The Rams offense was handcuffed at that point. They had Jackson and Pittman fight through injuries, but they really couldn't advance the ball via the ground as a team.

Steven Jackson is easily the best player the Rams have, when healthy. Of course, he's not healthy at this point, as evidenced by his lackluster at best performance Sunday. Apparently he wasn't as confident as he led everyone to believe leading up to the game.

When the Rams' offense trotted out for their first series of the day Sunday, Jackson was in the huddle. But before the Rams broke the huddle for their first play, Antonio Pittman had replaced Jackson. What happened?

With his strained right thigh muscle not 100 percent, Jackson said he wasn't comfortable running the play once he heard the call.

"The play call was really more of an outside play, a cutback play," (Jim) Haslett said. "He didn't think he was ready for that play. ... It kind of caught everybody off guard."

The entire backfield was in flux for the game, as Antonio Pittman and Travis Minor also suffered injuries. The Rams offense was handcuffed at that point. They had Jackson and Pittman fight through injuries, but they really couldn't advance the ball via the ground as a team.

In the break between the first and second days of the NFL draft, the Saints targeted two running backs who out of the third round. After the Raiders took Michael Bush, the Saints traded up in the fourth round to grab the other. Antonio Pittman was supposed to play a small but noteworthy role in a Saints offense that relies on every single player on the depth chart.

Except a funny thing happened in training camp. Pittman was outplayed -- badly -- by undrafted Illini rookie Pierre Thomas. And when final cuts came, the Saints made the right choice, ignoring draft status and keeping Thomas, the better player.

A few Rams were looking to extract revenge against their former team on Sunday, and they all did, including Pittman. Despite being the third-string back, the Rams took the revenge factor into consideration and used Pittman to spell Steven Jackson, not Travis Minor. And it paid off. Pittman gained 53 yards on seven carries, including a 43-yard run at the end of the third quarter that set up what would ultimately be the game's deciding touchdown.

It was a miserable day for the Saints all around, but seeing Pittman run amuck (Thomas, for the record, piled up 233 yards of excellent kickoff returns but didn't have a carry) might have hurt the most.