Some Historical Love For Vincent Jackson
November 19th, 2012
Vincent Jackson’s production is rivaling the stunning campaigns turned in my Mark Carrier and Kevin House in the 1980s
Rockstar Bucs general manager Mark Dominik offered historical perspective on Vincent Jackson during a recent Peter King podcast. Dominik said he was targeting Jackson for a long time because it appeared he could be the first elite No. 1 receiver in his prime to available in free agency in many, many years, if not ever.
That was an interesting take on the Jackson signing, and one that’s delivering sweet music for the Bucs.
Not since Antonio Bryant’s eye-popping 2008 season has a Bucs wide receiver struck fear into opponents like Jackson has done in 2012. Bryant was one of Joe’s favorites, but it became clear he was off the couch and playing for a contract in ’08, while Jackson is collecting an eight-figure check and being an ultimate team player.
Jackson’s got 42 catches this season for a stunning 863 yards and seven touchdowns. He’s on pace to turn out arguably the best receiving season in Bucs history. Not since Mark Carrier’s Pro Bowl 1989 campaign (84 catches for 1422 yards and nine touchdowns), or the 1981 edition of Kevin House (56 catches for 1176 yards and nine TDs) have Bucs fans seen such explosiveness.
Jackson’s late touchdown grab yesterday in traffic was extraordinary yet Josh Freeman seems to be getting more of the credit for the throw. Yeah, it’s splitting hairs to argue who deserves more credit, but Joe wants to heap a bigger share of the love on Jackson. It was a brilliant catch.
If only Jackson could have managed another 45 inches on his 95-yard catch and run against New Orleans, this would practically be a perfect season for him.
November 19th, 2012 at 12:13 pm
If only they hadn’t tried to run LeGarrett Blount 4 times on the goal line… have you ever seen a bigger dude run with less authority.
The man is bigger than Mike Alstott and runs weaker than Warrick Dunn
November 19th, 2012 at 12:20 pm
LGB is like an old school steam locomotive. He needs room to get going, but when he gets going he’s almost impossible to stop. Unfortunately if there is no whole for him to hit then he doesn’t have enough room to get to top speed. This causes him to the the non existent whole “soft.”
November 19th, 2012 at 12:21 pm
causes him to hit* the non existent whole “soft”
November 19th, 2012 at 12:43 pm
For the first time in Bucs history we have an awsome offence that by itself should fill the stand,plus we are in the playoff hunt.I have been going to games since the late 80s and the offence has never been even close to what it is now,dont get me wrong I love our great defence team but it is so much fun to watch this offence.This Buc team will only get better year after year until most people might say the Bucs have the best offence in the league.
November 19th, 2012 at 1:02 pm
@bucobruce – I take offence to your use of offence 🙂
And I agree 100%, it’s nice to finally see a team that doesn’t struggle to get a first down.
November 19th, 2012 at 1:19 pm
@joe.. It was a great throw and catch… Leave it at that. I guarantee Josh or Jackson give a rip who gets credit. Now if it was the Panthers Newton and Steve Smith, they both would have taken credit but we have a team. Quit trying to divide it.
November 19th, 2012 at 1:22 pm
Everyone has the couple of favorite players around the league that aren’t Bucs. VJ was one of those guys for me. Unbelievable WR. And every week, I still can’t believe he’s on this team. Is there a player in the NFL with better hands? One could argue Calvin Johnson – but are they BETTER than VJ’s hands? He’s ridiculous. That catch yesterday was the highlight. You’re right, Joe – the throw was great but the catch was better.
November 19th, 2012 at 1:34 pm
Best hands in NFL? I think Mike has better hands and reacts better when the ball is in the air, he has a knack for going up and getting it. But VJ is awesome don’t get me wrong but the reason he is awesome is because of the whole package he brings he’s strong, tall, great leader. But best hands i NFL…naaah.
November 19th, 2012 at 1:34 pm
No love for Joey Galloway? My favorite Buccaneer WR by far.
November 19th, 2012 at 2:06 pm
Galloway was great fun but really he had two plays. Go route bomb and yea….not much else
Lets not kid ourselves here. Jackson has been awesome, but he always was in SD. His biggest downfall was always taking games off which he seems to have rectified, but Calvin Johnson is the best receiver in the league and could easily be the best receiver ever in the NFL by the end of his career.
November 19th, 2012 at 2:12 pm
Jackson has stolen my heart.
November 19th, 2012 at 2:34 pm
V-Jack for President . Been watching Bucs for a long time and am loving this offense . Any time we have the ball I expect the offense to score . Muscle Hamster and Josh and the whole gang make it loads of fun to watch .
November 19th, 2012 at 2:50 pm
I dunno, I’d say VJax and Calvin Johnson are neck and neck, really, what is the difference? If Calvin is better, then at what? VJax is clearly faster, he leads the league by a mile on avg per catch, the closest one behind him for Christ sake is Mike Williams! Vjax is the same size, weight, but is faster and one can argue which one has better hands, but I don’t recall VJax missing many balls within his reach, we had a hopes of drafting Johnson, but Detroit beat us to the punch, we stepped up to the plate and STOLE VJax from everybody and he is paying HUGE dividends for the Bucs, my bet is on Action Jackson baby!!!
November 19th, 2012 at 3:53 pm
VJax has been what was needed and expected. You can draw comparisons to Megatron for sure but I think you need to toss AJ Green in that group as well. He is a frigging stud and still so young and doing it with a less known QB.
That said I was sitting in the end zone when Jackson caught his second TD against Kansas City and the guy is fricking intense. There is a lot to like about how he goes about his business.