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Jackson, crutches, contract

By Jeff Russo
November 30, 2011 Updated Nov 30, 2011 at 9:23 PM EDT

You had to feel for Fred Jackson on Wednesday. The Bills running back was back in the Buffalo locker room for his weekly availability but this time with crutches by his stall. He says he only has to use them to take long walks at this point, but this was not the plan. Jackson went from watching defenders miss, to now watching from his couch.



"It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Definitely want to be out there helping my teammates as much as possible. It's been tough", said Jackson.



Jackson is done for the rest of the season, he was put on injured reserve with a broken bone in his right leg last week. Jackson says he suffered the fracture on the final offensive play in the Bills blowout loss to the Miami Dolphins on November 20th.



"I saw it on film and I felt it right away but I saw it it was his knee. Right where it broke his knee hit right where the fracture is", said Jackson.



Injuries have once again taken their toll on the Bills this season, but perhaps none will have the impact of being without Jackson for the final stretch of the year. Before he was injured Jacksons 1376 total yards made up close to 40 percent of the Buffalo offense. He'll finish the season averaging 5.5 yards a carry, and 11.3 yards a catch to go along with 6 touchdowns.



Jackson proved himself once again as one of the top weapons in the NFL, but because he only played 10 games this season he will not be eligible for the Pro-Bowl. "Definitely disappointed. It was goal of mine to start the season to get to the Pro Bowl and to not be able to do that again because of the injury is just the icing on the cake to how disappointed I am in it., said Jackson. "I wanted to play for the Bills' fans one more time and I can't do that now". Well not this year.



Jackson has one year left on his current contract and says the injury will just add fuel to the fire to come back even stronger next season. He has been in talks with Bills management on a contract extension. Jackson hoped to get one done at the beginning of the year but believes his play will now speak for itself when negotiations continue.



"I felt like I did as much as I could and that hopefully will take care of itself. It's not something that I'm going to worry about right now. Like I said, I put faith in Buddy Nix and that's all I can do. He's man of his word so I'll have faith in him and see what happens"