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Bo Jackson was a phenomenal athlete. In fact, we’ll probably never see another two-sport pro athlete again.
Jackson was good but the legend of Bo Jackson grows every year, kinda like Paul Bunyan or Paul Rudd, and even Jackson is starting to believe the hype.
On a recent episode of another two-sport athlete, Deion Sanders, Jackson moaned and groaned about NFL players today being unable to tackle.
“Nobody wrap up and tackle no more,” explained Jackson. “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.”
Jackson isn’t wrong. NFL tackling is sometimes sloppy, but, the rules for what’s legal and what’s a penalty has changed significantly since Jackson’s days in the league.
After critiquing the NFL for their shoddy tackling, Jackson went on to make a bold statement about how well he’d do in today’s game.
“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.”
The Score points out that Jackson’s best season in the NFL was in 1989. He rushed for 950 yards in 11 games. Jackson averaged 73.2 yards per game.
Due to injury, Jackson only played in 38 NFL games over 4 seasons.
The tackling might not be textbook but the players are bigger, stronger, and faster than during Jackson’s glory years.
Jackson claiming an average of 350 yards a game is obviously an exaggeration unless he’s referring to Tecmo Bo.
[via The Score]
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