Patriots cornerback JC Jackson wasn’t put on a poster or anything like that against the Bills on Monday Night Football. But an image of him is burned into the minds of many in western New York.
Jackson, who’s having a fantastic season himself with eight interceptions, had something to say to Stefon Diggs early in the game. A pass to the Buffalo wideout fell incomplete in the end zone and the two got into a bit of a discussion.
From there, it was game on and Diggs was the victor.
Jackson was not the only guy covering Diggs the entire game, but just against New England’s secondary in general, Diggs had nine catches for 145 yards with a whopping three touchdowns. After his outburst, Diggs explained the exchange and it sure sounded motivational.
“He was saying, ‘Don’t play with me’ and doing the No Fly Zone thing,” Diggs said. “I don’t really like that very much. I don’t take too kindly to that. So I was just like, ‘Relax.’”
While maybe Jackson took Diggs’ advice… the receiver did anything but relax with the game he had… And if there’s another image taken from this game, it’s of Diggs waving back at Patriots (6-9) defenders just before he scores. One of the two nearby ones was Jackson.
As the contest continued, at one point, Jackson was replaced temporarily by Joejuan Williams before he was allowed back on the field.
When asked, Jackson declined to comment on why that was the case. The proof is probably in the pudding, though. He got benched.
But after the battled ended, it sounded as if Jackson did a piece of humble pie with him. He admitted that the Bills (12-3) wideout… was an experience, a worthwhile one.
“I learned from it that each play, you can’t take any reps off,” Jackson said. “You can’t fall asleep, you’ve got to be alert and ready every play when you’re playing a receiver like that. He’s a playmaker, he comes back to the ball better than any receiver in the league. He’s got great hands. You’ve got to almost be perfect when you’re guarding somebody like that. You’ve got to almost have perfect coverage in man-to-man.”
Diggs doesn’t take away from Jackson’s strong season overall. He’s probably one of the NFL’s bigger Pro Bowl snubs. Perhaps that got Jackson’s head too big because of so many analysts and other folks telling him that, causing a down game for him.
But if he’s going to learn from this… hopefully he’s going to take that to another team. Jackson will be a restricted free agent after the year.
Or maybe facing Diggs twice a year will scare him off.
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