Philm Study: Austin Jackson v.s. Bears

To say Austin Jackson struggled against the Bears is quite the understatement

Overall, the Miami Dolphins had a load of positives against the Bears, but one area of huge concern was the struggles of young left tackle Austin Jackson. Now, this isn’t a shock jock claim to generate reads because I have PLENTY of tape below that clearly demonstrates my point that Jackson had an abysmal day. While bad days come and go, this appears to be something more. The only questions are why the intense struggle in Year 2 and how long will it take to correct them?

Now, for you Jackson fans, hear me out and watch the film before you dismiss what I am saying.

Below is a video on Jackson and the actual ‘Philm Study’ starting at 2:58 mark that shows the vast collection of most of his bad plays. Normally, I do an ‘every snap study’ to show context, but because the volume of poor plays makes it clear, I didn’t need to cover my bets to prevent being called hyperbolic.

Hyperbole: exaggerated statements and claims

Austin Jackson entered the 2020 Draft an athletic, young, raw prospect lacking strength

Here’s is the cliff notes of the consistent problems in Jackson’s poor play against the Bears:

1. Bull rush was his kryptonite in 2020. Against the Bears, it looked like kryptonite was falling from the sky. Big and small rushers bullied Jackson all day. Some were 75lbs lighter and still dominated Jackson.
2. Jackson even struggled to deal with speed from the edge and his footwork and handwork collapsed, time and time again.
3. The combination of poor technique and strength had him getting beat mostly in the run game. A stalemate was a win for Jackson against the Bears.
4. Jackson struggled even with double-team help.
5. His all around technique was very poor and undisciplined. It was hard to tell where poor technique ended and poor strength began.
6. The above plays came in such numbers and only in a half of a game that they were impossible to dismiss.
7. Jackson did give his all though and it appeared he was fighting on every play. While this is good news, it also makes the play look worse.

This isn’t a knock in anyway on Austin Jackson the person because the he’s a damn good kid and fought with his all. This also isn’t an indictment on his future. Clearly with his talent, size, intelligence, and character the kid will eventually grow and get better. BUT, for the Phins and the fans, the question is when? This year, next year… the year after that? Michael Dieter was an undeveloped physically and it took him three seasons and moving to center to be able to compete and produce. Jackson was more raw than Dieter and younger and even less developed, so it could take Jackson a bit longer to grow into his final form.

This certainly doesn’t bod well for 2021.

Of course, we need more tape because things could change next week with more tape… But this isn’t minor tweaks we are talking about, the issues we saw were serious fundamental flaws. You can bet with the best pay per head that going forward that every player facing Jackson will copy the Bears game plan until the he overcomes the weakness or gets benched.

Now, we don’t know if Jackson is hurt… maybe that’s the life line? We’ll know soon enough what is what. While I do believe more time is needed to pull the fire alarm, the tape makes concern fair as well.

The competition Jackson will face is only going to grow

The Bear didn’t play Khalil Mack and the edges Jackson saw were decent and not great. Robert Quinn was the best of the bunch and most of them were in the 250lbs range. The Jets, Patriots, and Bills will present far stiffer and bigger competition. On one play Jackson was folded up and thrown into Tua’s knees! Beyond anything else, Tua needs to be protected as any normal QB does… but, even more so because of his long injury history.

After watching the 1st Half near 10 times as of this writing, there was so much good to talk about and this was the only real negative of any concern. I’m happy to get the ugly out of the way so I can now move on to the good…

… let’s hope things fix quickly and Austin Jackson can fall into the good pile very soon! Go Phins!!!