TAMPA, Fla. -- By his standards, Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Vincent Jackson is off to a quiet start.
Through three games, he has 10 catches for 102 yards and one touchdown. He also suffered a small fracture in his wrist last week, but plans to play through it. Jackson is well off of his pace from last year when he had 78 catches for 1,224 yards.
But don’t say he's been invisible. Quarterback coach Marcus Arroyo, who is calling the plays in the absence of offensive coordinator Jeff Tedford, doesn’t agree with that assessment.
“I don’t know exactly what makes [you think] he’s been invisible,’’ Arroyo said when asked why Jackson has been invisible. “We’ve had the opportunities to get Vincent the ball and we’re going to continue to do that. The coverage will dictate where he is and how he gets open. Again, if they’re going to double-cover him in heavy personnel or they’re going to play off coverage and certain things, then we have to play in front of them much like we did two weeks ago and play off that a little bit and spread the ball around.’’
It’s obvious the Bucs are looking for Jackson, but he’s drawing heavy coverage. The Bucs haven’t been good at getting the ball to any of their receivers on a consistent basis.
That needs to change. Jackson is too good a receiver to be kept so quiet. The Bucs need to start finding more ways to get him the ball. Even with double coverage, Jackson should be able to get open.
At 6-foot-5, Jackson has a big height advantage on just about any cornerback. The Bucs need to start taking advantage of that.