By Bob Harris, Special to SI.com, FootballDiehards.com

Julius Jones, Dallas Cowboys

After rushing for 819 yards and seven touchdowns in only eight games as a rookie last season, Jones has only 644 yards and three touchdowns in 2005.

After topping the 100-yard mark three times last year, Jones has yet to rush for 100 yards in a game this season. His longest run is 25 yards and he is averaging only 3.2 yards per carry.

But head coach Bill Parcells still believes in Jones. So much so, that he pulled the second-year halfback aside Thursday to give him an individual pep talk.

Parcells told Jones that a team's "whole dynamic for a season" can be changed by a running back fighting off a hit in the backfield and getting a first down on a third-and-1.

And according to the Fort Worth Star Telegram, Parcells believes Jones is that kind of back because he said he has seen him do it before, namely last year when he rushed for 150 yards and 198 yards in back-to-back weeks against the Bears and Seattle Seahawks.

"I feel I am close," Jones said. "It's a matter of it happening. We have been close all year. There has always been something to hold us back. We will get there."

Especially if Parcells continues to feed him the ball like he has the last three games -- contests in which Jones has hauled the rock 64 times.

Steven Jackson, St. Louis Rams

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jackson is starting to lose patience over his lack of involvement in the Rams' offense. It's hard to blame him.

When Marc Bulger and Jamie Martin suffered injuries, the attention on the Rams offense shifted to Jackson. In spite of that extra attention, Jackson ran for 179 yards and caught a touchdown in a win against the Jaguars only a week after posting 97 yards and two touchdowns against the Saints. As recently at Nov. 27 against Houston, Jackson ran for 110 yards and a touchdown.

But the staff's commitment to getting him the ball has been hit or miss.

Against Arizona, Jackson hit a low with 12 carries for just 6 yards. Last week, with rookie Ryan Fitzpatrick starting at quarterback, Jackson got just 11 carries.

Jackson obviously feels he can make a difference, and the numbers bear him out. According to STATS, Inc., he's tied for fifth in the NFL in broken tackles, which indicates an ability to make something out of nothing.

He also ranks sixth in the NFL in rushes of 20 or more yards.

In other words, all we really need is for interim coach Joe Vitt to realize his failure to put the ball in Jackson's hands is costing him wins -- and understand the need to correct the shortcoming.

Kevin Jones, Detroit Lions

Putting Dick Jauron into the head coaching position for the remainder of the 2005 season wasn't the only change the Lions' made when Steve Mariucci was fired two weeks ago. Quarterbacks coach Greg Olson moved into a co-offensive coordinator role.

So even though Jones' carries have diminished in recent weeks, Olson's stated belief that he needs to get the second-year man 20-30 carries per game is encouraging.

It might be worth noting that during his five-year stint as head coach in Chicago (from 1999 through 2003), Jauron clearly preferred to rely on a single feature back as much as possible. The breakdown: Curtis Enis averaged 19.1 carries per game in 1999; James Allen, 18.1 in 2000; Anthony Thomas, 19.8 in 2001, 17.8 in 2002 and 18.7 in 2003.

Perhaps more telling would be the one season in which his feature back played all 16 games. That would be Allen in 2000. During that campaign Allen carried the ball 290 times. The other two backs with carries that year, Marlon Barnes and Enis, combined for 51 carries.

If the Lions follow that same pattern, Jones will deliver.

Bob Harris is co-founder of the FootballDiehards Web site and senior editor at FSP Inc., publisher of Fantasy Football Pro Forecast, DraftBook, CheatSheets and Football Diehards magazines. Harris is a member in good standing of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association.