When it comes to New England Patriots defensive player J.C. Jackson, it's been a tumultuous past couple of weeks. He's been benched in the game against the Washington Commanders and has been seen in the injury report as out due to “personal reasons.” While that designation is always broad and can mean anything, Jackson himself revealed the reason in an interview with MassLive.
Jackson revealed in interview he missed bed checks
Jackson didn't travel with the Patriots to Germany for their matchup against the Indianapolis Colts as he explained it was “punishment on my behalf” for missing multiple bed checks. Subsequently, he went on to stress that when your head coach is Bill Belichick, you're not going to get off easy.
“What happened was I didn’t travel with the team to Germany. It was a punishment on my behalf and that’s what it was,” Jackson told MassLive. “I didn’t take it any other way than, this is punishment and I hope you learn from it and grow from this mistake I made. And I’m here now, so hopefully that won’t happen again. It was all my fault. I made a mistake. That’s what you’re going to get from Bill (Belichick). That’s one thing about him. He’s going to discipline no matter who you are.”
The former Los Angeles Charger detailed how he missed his bed checks. Jackson made it an emphasis to say that he knows better than that as he has to make sure he avoids the “little mistakes.”
“I was kind of late to bed check. They checked my room. I wasn’t there at the time,” Jackson said. “That’s what it was. It was nothing major. I wasn’t out that night doing anything stupid. It was just I wasn’t where I was supposed to be on time,” Jackson said to MassLive. “Little mistakes, man. I’m a professional I know better than that. I’ve been around. I’ve never missed a bed check. Things happen. If I knew what that was going to cause, I would have never done it.”
Jackson sees the experience as a reality check
Jackson went un-drafted in 2018 and was signed by the Patriots where he made a name for himself, becoming a vital part of the New England defense. He would leave the Patriots and sign with the Chargers on a sizable contract in 2022 until he was traded back to his original team in October of 2023. This current experience was important for Jackson to go through as it served as a “reality check” for the defensive star.
“Reality check – I’m not bigger than the team. I’m not bigger than nobody in here,” Jackson said in the interview. “This is a team sport and I have to do whatever everybody else is doing. I want to be a part of the team. This is my team, this is home for me, man, this is where I want to be. I don’t want to go nowhere else. I want to finish my career here also. I’ve just got to continue to build that leadership each and every day.”
Jackson is mentally getting better
Fortunately for Jackson, he said in the interview that he's getting better in terms of his mental health and he's ready to get back out on the field. Consequently, he also acknowledged how the past few years have had an inconsistent path.
“I would say mentally I’m getting better. The past year and a half, two years, has been up and down for me mentally,” Jackson said. “I’m working. I’m kind of settled in now – finding my peace and got me a home now in Boston. Things are going smoothly for me. It’s not a good year. It’s not the year I expected, but mentally I’m doing better.”
Jackson stressed that not a lot of people can handle the coaching of Belichick as he has the reputation to be stern and strict. However, he said he doesn't want anybody else as his head coach at the current moment.
The Patriots need all the help they can get as they're currently 2-8 on the season. At the end of the day, they're coming off the bye week after the Germany loss as their next game is against the New York Giants this Sunday.
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