Bo Jackson lamented the quality of tackling going on in today’s NFL and believes he would be racking up the stats if he played now.
Jackson joined Deion Sanders’ “21st & Prime” podcast on Monday. During his interview, Jackson talked about how much MLB and NFL have lost their fundamentals.
“Nobody wrap up and tackle no more,” Jackson said, talking about the NFL. “With me being a ball carrier, my coach taught us, number one, he said, ‘I know you can run, but I’m gonna teach you how to carry that football.’ He said, ‘that football is like your newborn baby, don’t ever put it on the ground. And keep it away from the enemy.’
“It’s like this – and I watch technique – I don’t see nobody hitting or wrapping up. Everybody’s running into each other and trying to use their shoulder pads to knock the ball carrier down. And I’m like, if I played during this era, man, I’d be averaging 350-400 yards a game … because nobody wraps up anymore. They run into each other with their pads.”
Jackson also had some thoughts on what MLB is lacking.
“When was the last time you watched a baseball game and saw a baseball game to where everybody is doing the basics? When was the last time you saw a hit-and-run? Everybody is swinging for the fence now. You either hit it out the park or strike out. Nobody practices base stealing, nobody practices hit-and-runs, hitting the cutoff man and so forth and so on and in football I’ll say the same thing. Nobody wraps up and tackles no more…If I played during this era I’d probably be averaging 350-400 yards a game.”
Bo is obviously exaggerating, but his point stands. Ray Lewis even recently did a video showing where defenses are lacking.
Jackson played 38 career NFL games over four partial seasons before a hip injury ended his career. He averaged 5.4 yards per carry during his career and led the league three times for the longest rush of the season. Keep in mind that Jackson would join the Raiders after his MLB season finished and was just a part-time football player.
Bo was listed at 6-foot-1 and 227 pounds. He also had great sprinter speed. Probably the best current comparison for him is this fella.
