We heard a week and a half ago that San Diego Chargers WR Vincent Jackson was not expected to play against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 14. Well, he may just play after all.
Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union Tribune reports Jackson returned to practice on Thursday and, all of a sudden, there's a thought he could be ready to go on Sunday. Jackson says he'll be trying to practice on Friday and, if all goes well, he'd like to be out there. Head coach Norv Turner said on Thursday that how he does on Friday's practice will tell them a lot about where he is.
Acee's Thursday story on Jackson's return to practice doesn't seem as optimistic as his Friday story which says, "Barring setback, Jackson said he'll play." To me, that sounds like the Chiefs better count on Jackson playing.
So how has VJ done against the Chiefs lately?
Pretty good. Here are his numbers in the last four games against KC: 5-83, 6-89 (1), 5-142 (1), 2-27. And any attention you give Jackson is potentially attention you're taking away from Antonio Gates so this isn't an easy duo to cover. Add into that Philip Rivers' ridiculous passing yardage this year and you know they have a lot of capable weapons.
While this certainly doesn't help the Chiefs, it doesn't sound like he'll be at full strength if plays -- and he hasn't played at all this year (outside of two plays in Indianapolis). Still, I'd rather not test out how rusty he is.