Austin Jackson – October 7, 2021
Download PDF version
Thursday, October 7, 2021
T Austin Jackson
(How do you think last week went?) – “We didn’t win so it was not good. Pretty much at the end of the day, there’s no glory points to take away from not winning. That’s what we get up and do all that we do for. We put in 12 hour days so at the end of the day if we don’t win, it doesn’t really matter.”
(Obviously specifically to your play, how do you think it went?) – “I did some good things. There’s definitely some things I could do better at. As a unit, too, we definitely did some good things and definitely did some things we could be better at. But if you don’t win, it’s different.”
(When you see plays that maybe don’t go your way in games, are there things that you kind of key up on or are there things that you kind of see for the future that you know maybe you can keep an eye out for this or can keep it in your notepad for next time? Things that can help you improve?) – “Definitely. I’m on my second notebook this year already. I take notes. It’s something I’ve been working at since I was 12 years old and it’s not going to stop. I figure if I’m here it’s because it’s never going to stop for me. The only way is up. I think that along with my position group, we’re all kind of the same type of ‘we’re going to get it right’ guys. The only thing we know is to work harder when we get into situations like this. And work smarter.”
(What’s the note-taking process like that?) – “It’s a lot of different things. You have scouting. You have to scout the defense. You have to see who your nickels are, who your Stars are, what safeties they like to rotate down and out. They’ve got some guys that like to come in in sub packages to play different rush positions, whereas in normal base downs, they’d be coverage guys. That’s one part. Then also, you have your technique that you work with you coaches and stuff like that. You take that from them. Then you have your assignments, which you get from coaches too, which you need to handle.”
(How do you prevent the start that you’ve had as a player and then as a unit from chipping away at your confidence?) – “I don’t get the question. Can you explain it for me?”
(Confidence-wise, where are you?) – “I’m very confident. I’m very confident in myself and in my team. It’s the National Football League. Obviously we come in here and we work every day and we want to win. There’s no excuse for not winning at the end of the day. But confidence wise, every person we play put their pants on the same way we do. We know that we can fix things and we can be better. We’ve won games before. We obviously know there’s stuff that needs to be done and we’re doing it – like the process of doing it. Yeah, I think our confidence is good.”
(With this team, you guys started out with the identical 1-3 start last season and then turned it around. What, in your mind, was the key to turning it around?) – “Last year was a long time ago. A big thing for us turning it around, really I think we just kind of settled down a little bit. We became a little more focus-oriented on the little things and what we do. You’ve got 11 people on the field trying to get one goal. But if all 11 pieces aren’t lined up how they should be, it makes it harder. So I think just as a unit, we come together. Then also individually, we all focus more. I think that’s what is going to be the focus to some Ws.”
(In pass protection, has Offensive Line Coach Lemuel Jeanpierre made any change from how Steve Marshall taught you? Have you made any technical adjustments in pass protection?) – “Yeah, there’s some different stuff there.”
(Is it an adjustment at all?) – “An adjustment how? Like obviously when you have to do something different, it’s always an adjustment. So yeah, it was an adjustment just because they’re two different coaches.”
(I guess some people wonder with all of the turnover of offensive line coaches here, does that impact the players much in terms of at your position, it seems significant in terms of having to learn a technique with a new coach once. I know you wouldn’t make excuses or would not blame that for anything, but is that a reasonable explanation for perhaps anyone’s struggles on the offensive line? One of several factors.) – “I don’t think they pay me to answer that question at all. (laughter) So I don’t think I can. But I do know as a player, one thing I can do is focus on what I do. No matter what’s being told, it’s like you’ve got a job and you’ve got to do it. That’s like a ‘Flo’ (Brian Flores) or Chris Grier question. (laughter)”
(On your run blocking, we saw the great block on the RB Malcolm Brown TD run a couple of weeks ago. Are you happy with that part of your game, your run blocking?) – “Oh, yeah. Run blocking is fun. I think going back to college, we would just line it up and hit all practice – in high school. It was fun. I think kind of making the adjustment to an NFL offensive tackle is – when you play 10-year professionals, you’ve got to get your professional technique up. That’s something I have fun doing and getting better at every day. Run blocking is fun.”
(I wanted to ask you about RPOs. Is RPO run blocking a lot different than regular run blocking from the standpoint that in RPO run blocking, you can’t really be super aggressive. You have to be basically one yard downfield. You can’t just tee off on somebody.) – “Yeah, it’s a little tricky. It’s a little tricky. If you remember, I had a down-the-field call a couple of games back on an RPO. It’s definitely – I don’t want to say more passive. You just have to be smarter about it. You have to try to sustain your blocks long enough to give the quarterback time. If he needs to throw the ball, you’ve got to make sure he has enough time to throw it without being downfield. Versus if it’s a run, you’ve got to take care of the down linemen first before you get to the second level because if you’re in the second level too soon, that’s when penalties start coming out and stuff like that.”
(How do you know it’s a run play if it’s happening behind you in those situations?) – “It’s hard. You’ve got to be on your toes. With a lot of offensive line play, you’ve got to be on your toes. You’ve got to think fast. But that’s what we practice for. We practice, we study, the coaches are available. There’s always an adjustment or something you can do.”
(There’s a lot of versatile guys on this line. You’ve been pretty steady as the left tackle since you’ve been here. Do you feel you also have versatility at different positions if ever called upon?) – “Oh, yeah. I definitely think I could play anywhere. I think I could play guard, center, tackle. I love to play football. Offensive line play is something I’ve been around for a long time. If you ask any receiver if they could move around, I’m sure they all could. I think offensive linemen are the same way. Any offensive linemen – you’ve got short tackles, you’ve got tall tackles, you’ve got short guards, you’ve got tall guards. Anybody can move around. It’s about the mental.”
(Center, too?) – “Center too. Mental. There’s a lot of centers that can move out to tackle though, too. Michael Deiter did his freshman year. I know you guys remember that. I remember seeing that and it was crazy. (laughter)”
(Did he tell you that?) – “I watch a lot of film so I remember going back and I was like ‘Whoa!’ I didn’t expect that.”
(Overall, when the offensive linemen gather in their room, what is the general feeling for the level of performance you’ve put up so far and the level of performance that you’re capable of moving forward?) – “Overall, like I said earlier, when we’re not winning, we’re not accomplishing our goal. So I think first and foremost, we’re not accomplishing our goal and instead of getting into the finger-pointing game that a lot of people can get into, it’s more so there’s obviously things we can do better to help our team out and help everybody out. That’s pretty much the vibe, I would say. I know for me personally, there’s some plays I wish I could take back and do way differently now but it’s in the past now. The best thing I can do is just not make the same mistake again.”
(Offensive Line Coach Lemuel Jeanpierre was having a conversation with a reporter and he talked about the difference between a question and the test. He was explaining how just because you get one question wrong doesn’t mean the whole test has to be a failure. I don’t know if he’s spoken to you about that philosophy. I was thinking about how when I was in class, I didn’t know which ones I got wrong until the test was over. How do you process knowing that you might have gotten a question wrong and there’s still like three quarters to play?) – “Especially in the NFL, you can’t let one bad thing spiral into something else. If you mess up on a play, you can’t (go) ‘Oh, I messed up on that last play and now I’m going to go out here and be scared to do anything else.’ You kind of just have to learn from it quickly without putting a bunch of blame on yourself to restrict you from doing better on the next play. About the question and test thing, yeah just because you fail one question doesn’t mean you fail the test. But I know for me personally, I don’t want to get anything wrong on the test. That’s where we’re at with that.”
