'Josh, What Are You Doing?' Bills Ex RB Fred Jackson Calls Out Allen & Buffalo Captains
Fred Jackson is, alas, a bit too used to losing streaks in Western New York. On the other hand, perhaps that's what makes him the perfect name to help guide his gridiron successors out of their current funk.
The former Buffalo Bills running back, one of the few silver linings during the team's dreary turn-of-the-century editions, appeared on Spectrum News 1 Buffalo to discuss the 2022 team's surprising losing streak, one that reached two games through a topsy-turvy 33-30 overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings last Sunday.
Jackson hopes that this loss, combined with their prior defeat at the hands of the New York Jets, will inspire Buffalo's leadership to get more vocal as the latter half of theh team's playoff push prepares to get underway.
"I think, as a captain in that locker room, what I would do (is) I would pull guys together and say, 'Look ... of course, we're not going to panic, but we do need to see what's going on," Jackson said. "We need to stop being in the locker room, (in the) postgame saying, you know, I've got to make better decisions. You need to make those decisions when it counts."
Jackson brought up the example of defender Cam Lewis, who has become football-famous for the wrong reasons: it was Lewis' failure to pry the ball away from Justin Jefferson on the Minnesota receiver's brilliant one-handed catch that indirectly led to Josh Allen's botched snap at the cusp of his own goal line that allowed the Vikings to steal the victory.
Lewis acknowledged his error, but Jackson feels like that's not enough.
"You've play the know football that you know. You're in that situation," Jackson says.
The accountability shouldn't just go toward names like Lewis. Jackson hopes that Allen's fellow captains have addressed his own shortcomings, which have partly sunk the Bills' attempts to run away with the AFC East again. In addition to his fumble, Allen threw a game-ending interception to Patrick Peterson in the end zone, finishing things off when a Buffalo field goal would've extended the game.
"You got to hold your other captains accountable," Jackson continues. "I've got to say, Josh, what are you doing, man? We have a field goal to tie this football game. We don't need to force anything at the end of the game. You know that you've played enough football to know that. We are in field-goal range to tie this thing at the very minimum.
"We got to make plays like taking a snap. You've done it a million times you got to be able to take that when the time counts. We are not going to panic but we are going to be harsh on ourselves right now."
Buffalo (6-3) will get a chance to heed Jackson's words on Sunday, when they take on the Cleveland Browns in a game relocated from Orchard Park to Detroit and moved to the afternoon slot.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
Thanks for reading our SI-powered coverage of your Buffalo Bills ... Bills Mafia! Get your Buffalo game tickets from SI Tickets ... here!
You're a member of Bills Mafia hungry for more Buffalo coverage? Read here.
