"He has been much more than a coach, sometimes a big brother," Lewis said. "Players cling to that because he is very patient."
The Ravens needed someone like Jackson. When the quarterback competition started back in training camp, the Ravens had the erratic one in Kyle Boller. They also had Smith, who could change moods the way a chameleon changes colors. And then there was Flacco, the rookie without a clue.
After Boller was knocked out of the competition with an injury and Smith with an illness, that left the Ravens with two cool guys, Flacco and Jackson. The rest is now history.
"He's been great," Flacco said of Jackson. "We meet as quarterbacks pretty often, and Hue's in there, just as we all are, and we're trying to get better, and he's coaching us up really well."
There are constant comparisons of Flacco to Palmer, but Jackson is careful not to talk about either much. He doesn't want to put a lot of undue pressure on Flacco.
Sometimes, Jackson is as cool as Flacco.
"Each situation is different," Jackson said. "Carson played as a true freshman at USC, and he had some injuries that forced him to miss some time. Joe transferred from Pitt, and made his mark at Delaware. The obvious comparison is physical, but they have different styles.
"But both are poised, have strong work ethics, strong arms and are tall, athletic guys. But Carson plays for Cincinnati and Joe for Baltimore."
The lack of notoriety doesn't affect Jackson. He doesn't mind working in the background. He treats Flacco the way he treated Johnson and Houshmandzadeh.
"Those guys were characters," said Jackson of the Bengals' duo. "They were good guys, good football players. You handle those guys just like you handle the Joe Flaccos of this world. The beautiful part of this league is to coach guys, and get them to follow you and trust you, because we all want to go out on the field and produce."
