Rickey Jackson Tribute Thread

what a badass

GREAT stuff from Bobby Hebert...

“Rickey and I always had a special bond because, even though I grew up in Louisiana and he grew up in Florida, we basically came from the same place,’’ Hebert said. “We were driving down Highway 90 outside of New Orleans one time and Rickey was looking around at the sugar-cane fields and he said, “This is home’’. It was just like Pahokee, Florida. They call it “the muck’’ in Pahokee, but it was all the same. Rickey was as blue collar as you can get.’’

Jackson was so blue collar that his body should have been black and blue and bruised throughout his career. It wasn’t.

“He never taped his ankles,’’ Hebert said. “Coach (Jim) Mora would get on him, but he wouldn’t do it. Not for practice and not for games and he never had a sprained ankle. You’re supposed to have official pads, but Rickey wouldn’t do that. He’d take the real pads out of his thigh pads and knee pads and put in these little sponges like you use for doing the dishes so he’d be faster. So it was like he wasn’t playing with any pads. But he was so good with his forearms and using his hands, that they weren’t ever going to get to his knees or his thighs. He’d wear kicker shoulder pads when he could get away with it. He was basically a rugby player.

“Mora used to threaten him that he would fine him if he got hurt, but he never got hurt. He was a man among boys.’’

And Jackson was “the man’’ in the New Orleans locker room.

“You can’t look at the NFL like war because, unless there’s a freak accident, you’re not going to die,’’ Hebert said. “So I don’t want to talk about going to battle. But, if I was in a fight, I want Rickey Jackson by my side. I can remember Rickey in the locker room. He would challenge guys. He’d walk up to guys and say if you’re scared, say you’re scared. Rickey was such a vocal leader. The coaches didn’t even have to address things because Rickey ran that locker room and nipped everything in the bud.

“I can remember him telling him Pat Swilling, “Come on, you’ve got to step it up. You’re having your big games and getting all your sacks against the Jets and the Bucs. Let’s see you get sacks against a tough opponent’’. He’d challenge players like no one else I ever saw and they would respond to it.’’

Using a 3-4 defense, New Orleans’ linebackers were called the “Dome Patrol’’. Sam Mills, Swilling and Vaughn Johnson all had wonderful careers. But Jackson was the best of the bunch, Hebert said, and that’s why he’s going into the Hall of Fame.

“Sam Mills was the brains, calling the defense,’’ Hebert said. “Pat Swilling and Vaughn Johnson were great players too. But Rickey was the heart and soul of the linebackers. Rickey was the heart and soul of the defense. Rickey Jackson was the heart and soul of the New Orleans Saints.’’

LINK

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After a game in 1989, Jackson was driving home in a Corvette when he smashed into the back of a flatbed truck. His car was demolished and he was hospitalized with a broken cheek bone.

Jackson's jaw was wired shut and he was supposed to miss four to six weeks, but instead missed only two games.

Jackson played without thigh or knee pads, which he believed slowed him down. Hebert remembered Jackson sometimes stuffing small kitchen sponges in his pants where the pads would normally go.

Jackson said he wore small shoulder pads, too. Yet he missed only two of 229 regular season games in his career.

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Toughest sombitch ever. If not for a car accident, he would have played 15 years, at SLB, wearring no leg pads and undersized shoulder pads and not missed a single game.

UN FREEKING BELIEVABLE.

Rickey Jackson is KING.

City Champ was the man. The HOF honor was long overdue. He earned his place in the hall. They just don't make them like him anymore.

A few parts of today's article made me scratch my head. His wife said one of his kids were born 7 month early.

Also, taliking about his 9 kids, he said that his daddy had twenty something kids. (I guess when you get over the 20 mark, you lose track).

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His wife said one of his kids were born 7 month early.

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noticed that too, had a child born after 2 months of pregnancy? pretty sure that child couldn't survive that.

then the fact that his mom had 5 kids by the age of 20, damn

ETA: i see they editted it to say the daughter was 7 WEEKS early, not MONTHS

This is one time I truely wished I had better comp. skills than I do. I would have liked to compile a well made vid to show those who don't remember just how damn good he was.

There are just so few modern day examples. You will never be out-dated wearing a #57

Can't wait to watch. All the best to Rickey.


P.S. He did it all from...not the blind side but right in front of the QB'S.

Yes...that is a "say no" to drugs towel

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He’d take the real pads out of his thigh pads and knee pads and put in these little sponges like you use for doing the dishes so he’d be faster. So it was like he wasn’t playing with any pads. But he was so good with his forearms and using his hands, that they weren’t ever going to get to his knees or his thighs. He’d wear kicker shoulder pads when he could get away with it. He was basically a rugby player.

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