Eddie Jackson Drops Warning That Chuck Pagano Is For Real
Eddie Jackson has played for some smart defensive coaches in his short football career. He had Nick Saban during his time at Alabama and then walked right into Vic Fangio’s yard when he was drafted by the Chicago Bears. So it’s fair to say the young safety knows what good coaches on that side of the ball tend to look like. That’s why his assessment of Chuck Pagano can mean a lot.
Matt Nagy believes the experience Pagano brings from his time as head coach in Indianapolis and defensive coordinator in Baltimore made him the right choice to replace Fangio. There are some critics out there who hold it against the veteran coach for how his tenure with the Colts ended. While it didn’t go well, the fact is he didn’t exactly have ideal circumstances to work with.
More than a few people have sworn by Pagano. A man who is a natural leader and motivator. Those are not in question. What they wonder is whether the man can put his players in the best position to succeed through scheming and play calling. Jackson, in the practices he’s worked through so far, has zero concerns about that as he told JJ Stankevitz of NBC Sports Chicago.
“You know what he brings. The energy. The enthusiasm. Also, play calling. He does a lot of different things. I don’t want to go too much into detail with it but a lot of things that’s going to be fun and different and tricky for quarterbacks on the field.”
Eddie Jackson can be trusted when it comes to scheme mastery
Jackson is a smart man. Sure he’s athletic and fast but what separates him among great safeties is both his uncanny instinct and ability to read what offenses are going to do before the snap. There’s a reason the Bears secondary was rarely caught off guard all of last season. Jackson was on top of everything. That’s why his loss was felt so much after he went down with injury against Green Bay.
So when he says Pagano has a chance to make this defense even more dangerous, it means something. The defensive coordinator may not be the tactical strategist that Fangio was, but his attacking style has been known to give quarterbacks fits many times in the past. He is not content to let the offense dictate the tempo. He knows he has the firepower on that side of the ball with Jackson, Khalil Mack, Akiem Hicks, and others.
Pagano fully intends to use them in whatever way possible to win football games.