Now hear this: Jackson adjusting to Tua’s presence
Left tackle is so important to the protection of right-handed quarterbacks’ blind sides, they named a movie after the phenomenon.
But when Dolphins left tackle Austin Jackson returned from a monthlong injury rehab stint last Sunday, much of his football identity had significantly changed.
No longer was he defending Ryan Fitzpatrick’s back.
Now he has to worry about Tua Tagovailoa’s front.
The Dolphins made their quarterback switch while Jackson was away, with righty Fitzpatrick giving way to Tagovailoa the southpaw.
Jackson, the 2020 firstround pick who before Sunday hadn’t played since Oct. 4 with a “small” foot sprain, didn’t start against the Cardinals in his first game back, but subbed in after the first 15 plays and went the rest of the way.
“It wasn’t too different,” Jackson said. “The only difference was probably the voice of Fitz vs. the Tua. It sounds a little different. I think my very first snap, I almost didn’t fully hear him just because it was so different. But we had all week to practice. We had all camp to play, to open the playbook, so it wasn’t too much of a difference.”
There was little drop-off in Jackson’s play. Despite giving up one sack — he said he was tripped up on the protection — Pro Football Focus gave Jackson the second-highest grade among all Dolphins offensive linemen Sunday against the Cardinals.
“I think I played well,” Jackson said. “... Having that spatial awareness that you kind of get a sense of, you know, where you’re moving in the pocket and stuff like that. For an offensive lineman, it’s big. So being my first game back, being not used to that was a challenge. But for the most part, I felt like I prepared myself to go in there and not be a drop-off for the team. So I think I did pretty well.”
Jackson’s return, even in a limited capacity, meant significantly reduced playing time for right guard
Solomon Kindley, who went to the bench when Jackson went in.
It remains to be seen whether the Dolphins will use a similar platoon — Jesse Davis played both left tackle and right guard Sunday — when Jackson’s conditioning and sharpness return to his preinjury level.
“You’ve just kind of got to heal those things up with time, unfortunately,” Jackson said. “That was the approach we took. In the meantime we worked on making sure I didn’t lose my upper body strength and lower body strength even though I couldn’t be on my feet. That incorporates a lot of different exercises.”
He continued: “I just trusted my trainers and coaches. I talked to Coach Flo and they had a plan for me. I just stuck to it and attacked it the best I could. Sure enough, toward the end of when I came off of IR, I was feeling pretty good, good enough to practice. It worked out. It was pretty exciting to play my first game back, watching them play for so long. It was nice to be part of the fun.”
As for the Dolphins’ plan going forward?
“It’s always an open competition,” said Dolphins coach Brian Flores. “We’ve got a number of guys we feel very good about and there’s a few different combinations we could go with. Jesse Davis is someone who’s played multiple positions and played them at a good level. We’re also working in the young guys — [Robert] Hunt, Solomon, Austin — and we feel good about all of them. We’ll see how practice goes this week and we’ll see the group that’s out there on Sunday.”