"He's not accusing Denver of cheap-shot tactics, but Rams running back Steven Jackson said the Broncos roughed him up more than any other defense he has faced lately.

"They played a lot of old New England-style of football," Jackson said. "I don't know about the receivers, but they banged me around a lot in the flats or just checking me over the ball. They were making sure to get a body on me."

(Visions of the Patriots all but tackling Marshall Faulk on every play in Super Bowl XXXVI — whether he got the ball or not — come to mind.)

"It was actually a game that I learned a lot from because I haven't played that physical kind of a defense in a while," Jackson said. "So it woke me up to get ready for the next month of football."

Anderson's outburst

Jackson was more than an interested bystander to the controversy centered on Arizona quarterback Derek Anderson following Monday night's Cardinals-San Francisco game. Jackson and Anderson were teammates at Oregon State.

Late in a lopsided loss to the 49ers, Anderson was captured on camera laughing and joking on the bench with teammate Deuce Lutui. When questioned about the scene after the game, Anderson lost his temper and stormed away from the podium. He later apologized.

"Me and Derek go back to freshman year in college," Jackson said. "His personality is he's happy-go-lucky. And when things are bad, he tries to not dwell on them but he tries to find a positive in all that's going on that's negative.

"I know that he cares about what's going on. He has a ton of pressure in filling in for Kurt Warner and how explosive that offense has been over the years. ... And he's not happy with his performance. For him to be singled out like that I thought was unfair. Now, I'm a little biased, too, because I'm a good friend of his."