J.C. Jackson was second in the NFL a year ago with nine interceptions.
With a pair of picks in last Sunday’s win over the Jets and rookie QB Zach Wilson, Jackson is tied for the NFL lead through two weeks this season.
In his three-plus years of pro action the former undrafted free agent Jackson has 19 interceptions in 47 games, only 24 of which he filled out a starting role in the backend of the New England defense.
Clearly Jackson has proven to have a ball-hawking style and a nose for the football. Or, as his Patriots teammates put it, maybe the football actually has a nose for him.
“J.C. is a ball magnet,” Adrian Phillips said with a smile, recalling Jackson’s first interception last Sunday in New York that the Patriots safety initially thought he had a shot at. “If you watch the film you see me sitting on the ground, I clap my hand like how did he catch that. He’s just a ball magnet. Some people have to go find stuff, but everything finds him.
“There is a saying that every squirrel finds a nut, blah, blah, whatever. But the nuts find J.C.! I don’t know what he does, but the ball just comes to him. It’s crazy.”
On a bit more serious note, safety Devin McCourty notes that Jackson’s natural ball skills are now intersecting with growing game experience and knowledge of the game. But Jackson’s knack for being around the ball is simply not something you can learn or teach.
“If any ball is in the air, J.C. is looking for it,” McCourty said. “He has incredible balls skills and understanding when to turn and look for the ball and just ball awareness. We talk about it all the time it seems like if someone fumbles, if a ball gets tipped in the air if you turn it’s probably going to be J.C. that’s going to be around the ball to catch it.
I think he’s starting put the football awareness together with that and obviously you see the results.”
