Jaguars begin preparing for the Eagles sans multiple players

The Jacksonville Jaguars began to practice on Sunday ahead of the game against the Philadelphia Eagles without several key players.

It’s one of the words the Jaguars don’t need to hear this preseason.

Injuries.

The last thing this 5-11 team needed was to begin preparing for their Thursday night home matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles without several key players who are nursing injuries already this coming season.

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To start off his presser on Saturday afternoon, head coach Doug Marrone stated that both left tackle Cam Robinson and wide receiver Marqise Lee are still rehabbing knee injuries and the team may have to prepare to start the regular season without either one in the starting lineup.

"“They’re working hard, the trainers are working hard, everybody’s working hard, but we just can’t get them over the hump,” Marrone said. “We’ve got to go and start preparing to play without them, unfortunately. It could change, obviously, but it’d be tough.”"

Those are big blows to a team that needs a fast start to the season. Robinson may be a bigger loss given the issues the team had last season along the offensive line. Neither, player, Marrone explained, got through a benchmark which would have given the coaching staff more information as to when they would be on the practice field.

Injuries were such an issue last season, and continue to mount during training camp and into Week 2 of the preseason that it has left Marrone and his staff a bit bewildered.

The Jaguars will also be without right tackle Jawaan Taylor today in practice. The offensive line is now a serious question mark heading into Thursday night and potentially beyond. How long the second-round pick is out is a mystery and may mean Cedric Ogbuehi will play in the season opener against the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Jaguars have changed their approach to working through minicamp and training camp with an emphasis on trying to remain healthy before the season starts. But as injuries mount and the roster begins to look more like a M.A.S.H unit, it makes things harder to plan for the team’s next preseason game, let alone the regular season which begins in under a month.

Per Michael DiRocco of ESPN, the change in practices for the Jaguars has been dramatic.

"“Marrone had changed the way he runs training camp — two years ago the Jaguars were in full pads for 14 consecutive practices and did the same for 11 consecutive practices last year — after owner Shad Khan asked how he planned on avoiding the injuries that plagued the team last year,” DiRocco wrote.“Seven starters were injured by the second week of the season and eventually ended up on injured reserve.”"

The Jaguars cannot expect to be a winning football team or even a playoff contender with those kinds of numbers on the injury front.

"“We’re trying to get guys to the season and ready to go,” Marrone said. “So that’s why practices are the way they are and that’s why we’re playing the way we are. Is it something that we’d like to do, myself personally? Absolutely not. That’s not been my background. I said it after [the first preseason game]: I’ve changed obviously the philosophy of what I’ve had in the preseason, and I’ve had to do it. It was something that was kind of forced with the injuries and everything that happened."

Marrone said there were some positives to take from the team’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens from Thursday night. He reiterated he was pleased with the play of defensive back C.J. Reavis and rookie pass rusher Josh Allen. He also said he was pleased with what he saw from defensive tackle Taven Bryan.