Broncos’ Kareem Jackson faces backlash for helmet-to-helmet hit on Vikings’ Josh Dobbs

The Denver Broncos had high hopes for the 2023 NFL season with coach Sean Payton. Instead of a promising season, the team has been on a losing streak for the past few weeks. After defeating the Kansas City Chiefs, they signaled a potential comeback.

The Broncos won three consecutive games until week 11. After smashing Josh Allen’s Buffalo Bills, they defeated the Minnesota Vikings. The 21-20 win could not even shield Broncos safety Kareem Jackson from the jabs of fans due to his notorious action.

Kareem Jackson draws criticism for controversial hit

During the first quarter of the Vikings vs. Broncos match, Jackson lowered his head before driving the top of his helmet into Vikings quarterback Joshua Dobbs’ chest as well as his face mask. The signal-caller was sent to get checked for a concussion following the brutal hit. He could not resume play and was ruled out for the rest of the game.

The NFL community threw jabs at the Broncos star for his booming tackle that came just as the Vikings signal-caller coughed up the ball to pick up a first down. Meanwhile, NBC rules analyst as well as former official Terry McAulay sparked a new controversy by disagreeing with the non-call on-air.

Showing a replay of the moment, the veteran said Jackson intentionally made “forcible contact” and that should have penalized 15 yards for “unnecessary roughness”.

“He lowers his head and makes forcible contact to the opponent. You see, his head is down. This should have been a 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness.”

Sam Monson, senior analyst of Pro Football Focus, also shared the video on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, saying the Broncos safety didn’t reform his action despite being slapped with fines for the similar action.

“Kareem Jackson has been fined, ejected and suspended this season for lowering his head and launching. Guy’s learned nothing. This is dangerous to both himself and who he’s targeting.”

The replay of the broadcast didn’t go unnoticed by sports enthusiasts as well, and they took to social media to criticize him. While many fans have called for his suspension, even many Broncos fans felt disgusted by his action.

Broncos star seemed to get away with a dirty hit

The NFL strongly prohibits forcible contact with helmets against opponents, although a flag on this action is often overlooked. Ahead of Jackson’s gruesome hit towards Dobbs, he served a four-game suspension without pay due to delivering an illegal hit on Green Bay Packers tight end Luke Musgrave in the fourth quarter of their Week 7 game.

With the current hit, the footballer is likely to get slapped with a FedEx envelope this week as well. Following the match, the safety was asked if he would change the way he plays, and he said the move was necessary given his type of play.

“I guess so. I mean, for me as a player, as an instinctive player, I’m going to always be in those (bang-bang tackling) situations because my preparation and my instincts are going to put me in those situations,” he said via Heavy.

Apart from getting suspended, Jackson has also been fined four times this season due to unnecessary roughness and had to pay a hefty amount of $90,000. If he continues following this style, his fines may exceed his NFL earnings soon.