Now that the Buffalo Bills will be forced to go the rest of the way without star cornerback Tre'Davious White, who suffered a torn ACL in a 31-6 win over the New Orleans Saints on Thanksgiving night, unproven second-year player Dane Jackson will be tested over and over again by opponents, starting with the New England Patriots next Monday night.
That's the bad news.
The good news is that Jackson has one hell of a support group around him in veteran safeties Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde and fellow corners Levi Wallace and Taron Johnson, who mans the slot in the team's base nickel package.
All will have to do their part to get Jackson up to his maximum speed, whatever that may turn out to be.
In White, they knew what they had: An ascending 26-year-old star who had been selected for the previous two Pro Bowls and could be counted on to follow opponents' top receivers around the field and generally make life miserable for them.
"He's obviously a big part of what we do on defense," defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said of White. "He allows us to do so many things because of his talent and how smart he is, how hard he works, and just how talented he is. He's a matchup guy, and it's hard to find those guys in our league. But he's allowed us to do some things on defense because of his ability to eliminate other people's No. 1 receiver, so there's some big shoes to feel.
"I think Dane Jackson is one of those guys who will step up. He's the next man up and he'll do a good job for us. But to say that he will play at the level of Tre'Davious, that would be, you know, misleading."
A former seventh-round draft pick out of Pitt, Jackson's encouraging play in a limited role as a rookie last season helped put him in position to challenge Wallace for a full-time starting job this year. Although Wallace won the job convincingly, it did nothing to diminish the team's high expectations for Jackson's development, which for better or worse will be accelerated over these next six regular-season games and whatever may be in store for the Bills beyond them.
Jackson has been limited mostly to special teams this season, but did play 47 snaps with the defense in Week 2, helping the Bills to a 35-0 shutout over the Miami Dolphins. He stepped in for White in the first half at New Orleans and finished with three tackles on 36 snaps.
The Bills will no doubt have to adjust their defensive schemes without White. They're just not going to advertise their plan for obvious reasons.
But everyone will know soon enough, which could make this next game that much more intriguing, considering it's the first of two battles between the only real contenders for the AFC East crown, which the Bills are hoping to capture for a second straight year. They hadn't done that since 1991, one of their Super Bowl seasons.
"We obviously believe in Dane," Frazier said. "He competed in training camp for a starting job. So we have confidence in him, But we do have to be mindful of the fact that Tre'Davious is Pro Bowl corner, and we'll be missing him.
"So we'll be conscious of the fact that Dane is replacing Tre'Davious, and we'll do the things that are necessary to help him and really help our defense. But it's not the same with Tre'Davious not being there, and we will have to be cognizant of the fact that he's not out there."
Coach Sean McDermott expressed his belief in Jackson.
"He's always been a guy, you know, coming from Pitt that has had our DNA in terms of [being a] gritty resilient player that's tough," McDermott said. "And he's up for the challenge.
"It's next man up, regardless. But I think collectively as a team we've got to take our game to another level."
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