Not A Silver Tongue Devil....

Although Rickey Jackson was fleet of foot no one will ever accuse the now Hall of Famer of being fleet of mouth. I should preface my comments by saying no one and I mean NO ONE is a bigger Rickey Jackson fan than I am. To quote "Dirty Harry" though "A man's got to know his limitations". By now you would think Rickey would know his. For someone who is not accustomed to speaking to groups of people of any size let alone the crowd he spoke in front of yesterday, Jackson would have done well to have a prepared speech written for him with his own input of what he wanted to communicate. But as he did during his playing days he freelanced it all the way with rambling thoughts and disjointed sentences. Those of us who have come to know Rickey as fans and I am sure his close friends as well, know Rickey is going to do it "his" way. That's Rickey Jackson. He never relied on someone else to help him to the quarterback and he wasn't going to rely on someone writing a speech. That's Rickey Jackson. He fought his way out of a small town in Florida to become a Star Player in the NFL. Knowing that many of his friends and family had chosen the wrong path, Jackson refused to follow in that direction because he had a vision and laser focus of what he wanted to be. The best in football at his position. It would be hard to argue that he isn't.
Second in the NFL at the time of his retirement in fumble recoveries with 28. Tied for most fumble recoveries in a single season with seven in 1990. He played for 13 seasons with the Saints and his last 2 with the Forty-Niners culminating his career with a Super Bowl ring which Jackson knew he wouldn't get with the Saints of that era. He had eight interceptions in his career and 128 total sacks(3rd all time at his retirement) officially and unofficially 136. You see Jackson had eight sacks in his rookie season, one year before sacks became an official statistic in the NFL. So, really he still ranks up there in the top tier of sack leaders. Also, worth mentioning is that Rickey rushed in the face of opposing quarterbacks unlike some of his counter parts in the NFL who rushed from the blindside of the quarterback. Quarterbacks could see Rickey coming and still they got sacked. In his 15 seasons he played in 195 games with the Saints(still a team record)as an outside linebacker and 32 with the Forty-Niners as a defensive end slash pass rush specialist. As a Saint he never left the field playing throughout the game including Special Teams. His durability is truly unmatched.
Finally, we have a true New Orleans Saint in the Pro Football Hall Of Fame. Thanks Rickey, for the memories. Saints fans never forgot you, now the world will never forget you as you are a permanent fixture in Canton.