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alaina getzenbergESPN
ORCHARD PARK, NY — As Dane Jackson watches the collision that forced his head and neck to jerk backwards, his back begins to hurt again.
Teammate Tremaine Edmunds’ incidental hit when Edmunds attempted to make a tackle in the second quarter of a Monday Night Football game against the Tennessee Titans earlier this month resulted in Jackson spending several minutes on the ground before he was caught. they will take off the field. ambulance.
Just nine days after that trip to Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, New York, the Bills cornerback returned to practice Wednesday and was a limited participant.
“It meant a lot to be back with the guys, to get moving,” Jackson said. “I felt like I had been gone for a month or so. So it felt good to be back.”
He noted that the trip to the hospital was long because his head was tied and he could not move much for safety reasons.
“It was scary in the hospital not being able to move or anything like that without knowing…really the unknown was the scariest part,” Jackson said. “Once I knew everything was okay, I relaxed a bit.”
Ultimately, 25-year-old Jackson was found to have no structural damage, but did experience pain in his neck. Once that pain goes away, she said she’ll be 100%.
“I was really worried about my future at the time,” Jackson said of his mindset before learning of the diagnosis. “I wasn’t worried about anything related to football. I was worried about my son at home, my mom, I know everyone was crying. My girl was by my side, so it was an emotional roller coaster, really.”
The cornerback shared his appreciation for all the support he received, including letters and even edible arrangements sent to his home.
“After you’re on the good side now, you joke around with him and say, ‘Man, you’ve got a skinny neck,'” Bills teammate Von Miller said. “‘And if you didn’t have a loose collar like that, man, it might have been a little worse.’
“…But it was definitely a serious situation. And it’s just the ugly side of our sport, man. It’s a real blessing that it was able to turn out well. And he’s here at practice. And he should be ready to go this week. And It’s a real blessing. As if he had some angels for him.”
“It’s a real blessing that he was able to turn out well… As if he had some angels for him.”
Von Miller on his teammate Dane Jackson
Jackson had been practicing all last week, but he stood to the side watching. He earned a starting job this year based on his performance in training camp and preseason, plus his experience on defense, despite the Bills drafting a corner at No. 23 (Kaiir Elam) and in the sixth round ( Christian Benford). With top cornerback Tre’Davious White still on reserve/PUP while rehabbing a torn ACL, Jackson became the number one cornerback in his place. He also started for White after he tore his ACL on Thanksgiving last year.
The 2020 seventh-round pick was one of several minor injuries the Bills have had to start the season. Safety Micah Hyde also went to the hospital with a neck injury sustained in the Titans game and is now on injured reserve for the season. Safety Jordan Poyer missed the Bills’ Week 3 loss to the Miami Dolphins with a foot injury but was limited in practice Wednesday. Benford broke his right hand during the Miami loss and will miss a couple of weeks.
“For me it was like, damn, I want to be there,” Jackson said of the number of injuries. “It was difficult because, as I said, everything was fixed structurally, so in my mind I want to play. But my body says, ‘You’re sore, sit down.’ So, it’s a little bit difficult for me to be in that position, but everyone else did their thing and thanked the young guys who came in and did their thing.”
But it hasn’t been ruled out that Jackson will return to the field on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens, saying he’ll take it one day at a time and see how he feels when he wakes up Thursday morning.
“Usually what happens [with injuries] is to ramp them up a little bit today, like we’re going to do with Dane, and then see how he’s doing when he comes back tomorrow and then assess and then try to ramp him up even more the next day,” Bills said, coach Sean McDermott said. “So that’s usually be the progression, so to speak. And I hope that’s the case with Dane.”