"Rams running back Steven Jackson missed a couple of days of practice this week with a sore hip that he injured "getting out of bed."

OK, Jackson was only joking. He doesn't really how he hurt the hip, but he assured that it's no big deal. "We just took the approach of being probably a little over cautious than we probably should have," he said. "But it's better to go that route than allow something small like this to become nagging. So we just decided to ... let it calm down."

Jackson was back on the practice field Thursday and although he didn't participate in Friday's walk-through, he intends to play in tonight's preseason contest against Tennessee at the Edward Jones Dome.

"I'm not quite sure the number of reps or how long I'll be in there," Jackson said Thursday. "But definitely the plan is to go, to start getting me comfortable with the offense in a game situation."

The hip problem surfaced a day or two after Jackson sat out last Saturday's 33-10 preseason win over Indianapolis. Cadillac Williams, Jerious Norwood and Keith Toston handled the running back chores.

Jackson said he'd like to play as long as the first unit is in, which could be the entire first quarter or even a little more.

"I would like to … get comfortable with (right guard Harvey) Dahl, get comfortable with the play calling ... have (quarterback) Sam (Bradford) in the huddle with me," Jackson said. "Just go through the routine of a game ... gel with the offense, the offensive line and make sure that I'm seeing things and hitting things like I want to.""