A sudden wave of injuries for the Jacksonville Jaguars hasn’t convinced head coach Doug Pederson that he should keep his starters on the sideline Saturday during the team’s preseason finale against the Miami Dolphins.
“I’m still in the same mindset,” Pederson said Monday. “I can’t really worry too much about who gets hurt and this and that. If I do, then people get hurt. I just think you practice and play just like you’re getting ready for a regular season game and our starters need some time together on the field.
“They’ll get that opportunity this week, and I’ll monitor it. I’ll be on top of that too, so if I need to pull them out, I’ll pull them out. Right now, it’s still full steam ahead.”
Among the players recently sidelined with injuries are offensive linemen Anton Harrison, Josh Wells, and Cooper Hodges, as well as defensive linemen DaVon Hamilton and Folorunso Fatukasi. While some of those players (like Harrison and Fatukasi) have been kept out action due to what Pederson has called “precautionary” reasons, the team is still dealing with a lot of bumps and bruises.
Still, Pederson believes it’s important that his starters playing a significant chunk of time in the final tune-up game before the regular starts begins in September.
“You can’t substitute game reps and the feeling of a little bit of pressure and heat from execution,” Pederson said. “In practice, it’s okay to make a mistake because we can correct it on film. In the game, it gets magnified. We just need those guys to play together, if they can play two quarters, I’d love to get a two-minute drive if we could.
“Those are all things that are hard to simulate in practice. We’d love to get the defense in a two-minute scenario in there as well. We’ll see how it goes, but they need the time in a game setting and being a home game too makes it a little easier that way.”
After the preseason game Saturday against the Dolphins, the Jaguars will have 15 days before their regular season opener on the road against the Indianapolis Colts.
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