Jackson Played Hurt Most of Last Season

by: William P. Tomisser

Catching up on my KJR interviews, I came across this interview from Mitch In The Morning from last weekend when he interviewed Lawrence Jackson. Mitch didn't pull his punches and told Jackson that he didn't feel that he had lived up to expectations in his first year and asked him what his feelings were on the subject.

Jackson surprised everyone when he revealed that he had injured his foot in the first game of the season and had played through the injury until late in the season when he finally started feeling 100% again. It was decided not to reveal the injury until after the season was over, but according to Jackson it had a big impact on his performance last year.

Jackson, who received quite a bit of criticism for his play in his rookie season based on the initial expectations for a first round draft choice, was a bit upset at having some fans write him off so early in his career without knowing about the injury he was playing through. He said he would remember that fans had written him off down the line when he showed what he could really do.

Holmgren said after the season that the Seahawks had done Jackson a disservice by making him learn both the defensive end position and the defensive tackle position and that if he had it to do over, he would have let him learn just the one position. Jackson discounted that as a factor and put the responsibility for his play squarely on his shoulders.

Addicts should give this one a listen. It looks as if there are legitimate extenuating circumstances that explain his not performing up to expectations and to expect him to be much improved in his second season. That would be a big plus for our defense, particularly if Patrick Kerney comes back to put a couple of skilled rushers on he corners.

Hasta,

Bill T

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