News and Notes: Jaguars face the Bills without DJ Chark
By David Levin
The Jacksonville Jaguars will go into Sunday’s game at Buffalo without one of their best special teams players and questions about injuries on defense.
The losses keep mounting and the injuries continue to pile up. It has already been a long season for the Jacksonville Jaguars. There are still six games to be played starting with the team’s contest in Buffalo this Sunday. The team will be without DJ Chark, who is one of Jacksonville’s best special teams player.
The loss of Chark to a quad injury is bigger than one might think as the rookie has also earned more playing time in the passing game. Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett has tried to get the 6-foot-4 wideout from LSU more involved the past month.
"“Rookie wide receiver DJ Chark Jr., who has played his way into the Jaguars’ top three receivers in recent weeks, will miss Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills – and defensive tackles Marcell Dareus and Eli Ankou both will enter the weekend as questionable,” John Oehser of Jaguars.com wrote."
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Injuries have been the prevailing story with this franchise in 2018 after a 2017 campaign where the team was one of the healthiest in the league.
Not having Dareus, whom the Jaguars acquired from Buffalo last season for the fifth-round draft pick, could be a huge blow to the run defense. Jacksonville is faced with the task of stopping LeSean McCoy this week. Head coach Doug Marrone spoke about the progress of Chark and how his absence is another tough break for this team.
"“It’s always disappointing when a guy is really starting to come on (and can’t play because of an injury),” Marrone said when he met with the media. “He’s doing really well special-teams-wise; everyone saw that. But he’s doing really well in practice offensively.”"
The Jaguars spent Friday in practice looking at other options to replace Chark in their special teams’ packages. With him out of the lineup on offense, Rashad Greene could be active for the game on Sunday.
Dareus has been dealing with a back issue most of the season, but Marrone was optimistic about him being able to play on Sunday.
"“Dareus, a starter in all 10 games this season, is listed as questionable after not being listed as practicing Wednesday and Thursday and practicing limited on Friday, Oehser wrote. “Nose tackle Eli Ankou is listed as questionable after being listed as limited the last three days with a calf injury.”"