Rams' Jackson breaks finger, record

~ The running back had surgery a day after becoming the team's all-time leading rusher

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson set the franchise rushing record over the weekend -- despite playing with a broken finger.

Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo said Jackson had surgery on his left ring finger Monday. The Rams said two pins were put into the finger, and his status for this Sunday's home game against Carolina was unknown.

Spagnuolo says Jackson broke the finger during Sunday's loss at Tampa Bay, a game in which he broke Eric Dickerson's all-time Rams rushing record. The coach says Jackson simply kept playing.

"He didn't think it was a big deal," Spagnuolo said. "He kept playing. ... He's going to be sore. Hopefully, he'll be able to play this week. We'll know more after he gets through it. ... He's just a warrior. He goes out and plays, and we find out later on there's a crack in there."

Jackson has topped the 100-yard mark in each of the last three games and his 617 rushing yards rank fourth in the NFL and second in the NFC behind Minnesota's Adrian Peterson (684). In his six seasons with the Rams, Jackson has 7,324 yards.

"Wonderful, wonderful thing for him, for this organization, for all the guys along the way that have blocked for him," Spagnuolo said. "Hopefully there's a lot more yards to come."

Still, the Rams continued their trend of losing games on the road with Sunday's 18-17 loss, struggling again in the second half.

The Rams, who have lost six straight road games and have one win in their last 16 road games, led 17-6 at halftime but were held scoreless from there. St. Louis has not scored a touchdown in the second half of its last three games and has been outscored 46-3 in the final two quarters during that stretch.

"It's not one thing," Spagnuolo said. "I told the guys in there, 'Don't be deep-thinking this thing.' Should we have won the game 17-12, we would have won it because we would have made one or two plays somewhere in there. That's how close it came down to and there wouldn't be as big of questions.

"Do we have to get better in the second half? Yeah. But we looked at everything this morning: It is scheme? Calls? Did they make any major adjustments? I don't think so -- a couple little tweaks here and there. It's a tackle here. It's a completed pass there. It's just simple football stuff."

The Rams will be without safety James Butler against the Panthers after he suffered a knee injury Sunday, Spagnuolo said.