Thomas Jackson (football player)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tom Jackson
Date of birth	April 4, 1951 (age 56)
Place of birth	Cleveland, Ohio
Position(s)	Linebacker
College	Louisville
NFL Draft	1973 / Round 4 / Pick 88
Pro Bowls	3
Statistics	Pro Football Reference DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
1973 – 1986	Denver Broncos

Thomas (Tom) Jackson also referred to "TJ" or Tommy (b. April 4, 1951 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an NFL analyst for ESPN and a former All-Pro linebacker for the Denver Broncos.

1 College
2 NFL
3 Broadcasting
4 Personal
5 Notes
6 External links

[edit] College

Jackson attended the University of Louisville, where he was coached by current college football analyst Lee Corso. During his college career, he was a two-time Missouri Valley Conference player of the year selection.

[edit] NFL

Jackson was selected by the Denver Broncos in the 1973 NFL Draft. He enjoyed a 14-year career in Denver where he was a three-time Pro Bowl selection, a two-time All-Pro selection, and was voted Denver's Most Inspirational Player six times by his teammates. He also assisted the team to Championship appearances in Super Bowl XII and Super Bowl XXI. Jackson finished his career with 20 interceptons, which he returned for 340 yards and 3 touchdowns, and 8 fumble recoveries, which he returned for 104 yards. Jackson ranks second only to John Elway on the team's all-time list of games played with 191.

In 1992, Jackson was inducted in the Broncos' Ring of Fame.

[edit] Broadcasting

In 1987, Jackson joined ESPN where he was teamed with Chris Berman on the network's signature NFL shows, NFL Countdown and Primetime. On Monday Night Countdown, Jackson hosts the controversial segment "Jacked Up!," which features five hits from the previous day's games. The shows hosts recite the title phrase as they cackle at humiliating and painful hits inflicted by players on the field. Jackson has made a couple of controversial comments as a broadcaster:

In 2003, the New England Patriots released popular safety Lawyer Milloy, who signed with the Buffalo Bills and helped his new team shutout New England on opening weekend, 31-0. On an episode of NFL Countdown, Jackson claimed that the Patriots were not behind head coach Bill Belichick: "Let me say this clearly: they hate their coach." His provocative claim drew fervent denials from the Patriots locker room. Belichick was stunned by the remark and the lack of an apology as the season continued. The Patriots recovered from the Buffalo loss and finished the regular season at a league-best 14-2. After the team was victorious in Super Bowl XXXVIII over the Carolina Panthers, Jackson (who was a player on the Denver teams of 1977-78 on which Belichick was special teams coach) attempted to shake Belichick's hand. The coach responded: "Go fuck yourself you pigfucker." The post-game interview with Belichick was handled entirely by Berman.^[1]
On the September 10, 2006 edition of Sunday NFL Countdown, he asked Michael Irvin "Are you retarded?" when Irvin said something about the Mannings that Jackson disagreed with. Jackson issued a formal apology.
Jackson was roundly criticized by NFL players for not adequately responding to Rush Limbaugh's claim that Donovan McNabb was given too much attention and credit by the media because of his race. The incident led to Limbaugh's resignation from the show in his short-lived ESPN experiment; Jackson himself had threatened to quit the show if Limbaugh had stayed. The Sunday after Limbaugh's resignation, Jackson delivered a stinging speech:

“

Let me just say that it was not our decision to have Rush Limbaugh on this show. I have seen replay after replay of Rush's comments with my face attached, as well as that of my colleagues. Comments that made us uncomfortable at the time, although the depth and insensitive nature of which weren't fully felt until it seemed too late to reply. Rush Limbaugh is known for the devisive nature of his rhetoric. He creates controversy, and what he said on this show is the same type of thing that he has said on radio for years...Rush was brought here to talk football, and he broke that trust. Rush told us that the social commentary for which he is so well known would not cross over to our show, and that instead, he would represent the viewpoint of the intelligent, passionate fan. We know of few fans, passionate or otherwise, who see Donovan McNabb, a three-time Pro Bowler with two NFC Championship Game appearances, being somehow artificially hyped because of the color of his skin. The fact that Donovan McNabb's skin color was brought up at all was wrong—especially in the context of the brotherhood that we feel we have on this show...Rush Limbaugh was not a fit for 'NFL Countdown.'

”