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The Jacksonville Jaguars got good news on the injury front while head coach Doug Pederson seems to be teetering on the brink of getting fired. It doesn’t help that running back Travis Etienne is dinged up, but Pederson downplayed the injury concern, according to a post on X by Jordan de Lugo.
“Travis Etienne got popped in the shoulder again and that’s why he was held out at the end of the game. Pederson says he’ll be okay.”
Etienne rushed for over 1,000 yards in each of his first two NFL seasons. However, he’s not on that pace this year with only 231 yards through five games. Making matters worse, Etienne isn’t the team’s leading rusher as Tank Bigsby has totaled 273 yards.
Is Jaguars RB Travis Etienne fading early in career?
Pederson has already had to answer that question after Bigsby’s 101-yard effort in the 37-34 win over the Colts on Sunday. Etienne had little success, carrying only six times for 17 yards. He had more success through the air with six catches for 43 yards.
Still, Pederson said Bigsby won’t see increased carries at the expense of Etienne, according to jaguarswire.com.
“No. Travis is our guy,” Pederson said. “Tank had a good game. That’s just the way games go. Happy for Tank. Great for the offensive line, obviously, in some of those situations there. Travis is our guy. Tank had a good game today, though.”
Pederson said Sunday’s game simply came together for the entire offense.
“It’s obviously things we work on during the week,” Pederson said. “To me, it’s not necessarily a surprise. I just think it’s a culmination of a lot of things. The way we work, the way we practice, the things we do during the week. It translated today. Proud of the guys for obviously the way we finished. Great team effort today.”
And the offensive line made things easier for Bigsby with improved play as the game went along.
“This is the second week in a row our O-line has played good as a unit,” Pederson said. “Listen, it’s been the same five guys now, right? So, when I say there’s continuity keeping those five together, there’s continuity. They start learning to play together, and that’s what you’re seeing. I think these last couple of weeks, you’re seeing that. It was just a great game by those guys again today. I thought our guys did a good job there, and in the run game as well. So, there’s consistency with playing together and working through your issues that helped us win this game today.”
