Bills CB Dane Jackson draws on memories of 4 late friends
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. » Dane Jackson pays little heed to questions of what challenges he faces in preparing to replace Tre’Davious White in the Buffalo Bills secondary.
The second-year cornerback need only point to his left arm, where the initials D, D, D, R are tattooed in honor of four late childhood friends. He does it to show the emotional pain he’s overcome in having gained this opportunity, knowing he could have wound up like them had Jackson chose a different path, and how important it is to not let them down in memory.
For Jackson to fail on Monday night, when the Bills (7-4) host the New England Patriots (8-4) with first place in the AFC East on the line, would also personally represent him failing De’Von and Diondre Dozier, Domanek Cabbagestalk and Ricky Giles, who were among his biggest football backers growing up in Pittsburgh’s Greenway projects.
The Dozier brothers and Cabbagestalk were shot and killed, and Giles died in a car crash while being chased by police over a four-year period spanning Jackson’s senior year in high school to his junior year at Pitt.
“I faced a lot of adversity, so this is nothing different. You have to be strongminded and deal with anything that comes your way,” he said.
“I lost four of my closest friends back to back to back to back. At some point,
some people may want to give up,” he added. “But that just made me push harder, and made me want to see myself succeed more. So I just use that as fuel to the fire.”
The fire Jackson steps into is replacing White, Buffalo’s top defensive player who will miss the remainder of the season after tearing a ligament in his left knee during a 31-6 win at New Orleans on Thanksgiving. White is a five-year starter and a key fixture in a Bills secondary which ranks second in the league, behind New England, with 16 interceptions.
White’s injury also comes at a crossroad in the Bills’ season, with the team slipping in the AFC standings by going 3-3 in its past six outings.
Jackson is a 2020 seventh-round draft pick, who has played just 128 of Buffalo’s 705 defensive snaps this year, and will make his third career start after filling in for Josh Norman and Levi Wallace last season.
As much as coordinator Leslie Frazier can’t quantify how big of a loss White represents, he has confidence in Jackson.
“Things don’t get too big for him,” Frazier said. “We saw it in his rookie year when he had to step in and play in some tough situations at times, and even the game on Thursday night. He has real good poise and a good feel for the game.”
Jackson made a splash in his starting debut last year by intercepting Sam Darnold at the Buffalo 36 in the final minute of the
second quarter. The turnover led to Buffalo hitting a field goal to cut the New York Jets’ lead to 10-6 in the Bills’ eventual 18-10 victory. He also had a career-best eight tackles and recovered a fumble in his second start, a 32-30 loss at Arizona.
“He knows the system. He trusts the guys around him. We tell him all the time, he’s not out there alone,” safety Jordan Poyer said. “He ain’t gotta do nothing other than be Dane Jackson.”
Jackson hasn’t changed much regarding his routine except for exchanging notes with White on what each sees from New England on game film. He also takes in stride a missed opportunity this summer, when he failed to beat Wallace for the starting job.