News

NO DECISION YET AT GUARD

The Jaguars’ starting left guard situation likely won’t play out until later in the week.

Veteran Eben Britton and rookie Mike Brewster each will work at the position in practice this week, and Jaguars Head Coach Mike Mularkey said a decision on who will start won’t come until after that.

“We’re going to see what happens,” Mularkey said. “We’re going to give it the week.”

Britton, who started at left guard Sunday, was removed from the game after struggling with Bengals defensive tackle Geno Atkins. Brewster replaced him and Mularkey said he played a bit better.

Mularkey said with center Brad Meester missing practice as is the norm on Wednesday, Britton was to work at guard with Brewster working at center.

Mularkey said Wednesday he has confidence in Britton and Brewster.

“At the time, what was going on in that game with the pressure we were getting and where we were getting the pressure, we had to make a change or it wasn’t going to change in the second half,” Mularkey said Wednesday. “That’s anybody. If there’s somebody struggling anywhere that is not holding up we’ve got to move him and if we have a chance to improve or at least get to an even level, we will do that.”

Britton, who missed Weeks 2 and 3 with an ankle injury, has handled the situation professionally, Mularkey said.

“He has a lot of pride and that’s not easy on anybody,” Mularkey said. “I’m hoping another week would make him even healthier than he was last week when we went into it, and more effective than he was last week.”

ROBINSON REMAINS UNLIKELY

Wide receiver Laurent Robinson likely will miss Sunday’s game against the Bears.

Robinson, who sustained a second blow to the head in as many weeks Sunday, missed practice on Wednesday. He is in the team’s concussion program for a second time in as many weeks and a third time this season.

Mularkey said the chances Robinson will miss Sunday’s game against Chicago are greater than the chances that he will play.

Defensive end George Selvie, who has missed the first four games of the season with a knee injury, returned to practice Wednesday. Mularkey said he has a chance to play, while it’s likely outside linebacker Daryl Smith will miss a fifth consecutive game with a groin injury.

“Daryl again will do a little more today than he did even last week,” Mularkey said. “I don’t want to totally rule him out, but we’re going to be extremely smart with him for as long as it’s been. The injury, to rush him back and to try to push it is not a good thing on our end.”

Selvie was officially listed as limited while center Brad Meester and defensive tackle Tyson Alualu were listed as not participating for non-injury reasons Wednesday.

MULARKEY SAYS

“I wish I had all the answers. The best thing we can do and the best thing they can do is be in a position to make a play. They’ve done their job if they’re where they’re supposed to be. It’s just finishing the play. I can’t explain it. One thing we can’t do is we can’t get away from it. If we’re in the right spot we’ve got to make plays.”

QB BLAINE GABBERT SAYS

“You just keep drilling. You keep executing. What we preach in practice is you got 11 guys on the field and everybody’s got to do their job because everybody depends on one another and so does the play. If one person out of the 11 messes up the play isn’t going to be successful, so we do that in practice and try our best to eliminate those little mistakes. They are going to happen, it’s inevitable, but we try to minimize it.”

RB MAURICE JONES-DREW SAYS

“The way I was raised on this game is it’s a violent game so you have to be in a violent mood — not necessarily to hurt someone, but you have to understand what their intentions are with you. Tackling, when you tackle somebody you’re not tackling them to make them feel better, so you just know they are going to play and that’s just how I was raised. Certain guys are brought up differently like I said before – it’s not necessarily having an edge, we just have to execute our game plan.”

WHAT’S NEXT

The Jaguars will hold a non-padded practice Thursday and another Friday before playing the Chicago Bears at EverBank Field Sunday.

QUICK HITS

* In addition to discussing the Bears and other topics Wednesday, Jones-Drew was asked why he opted to shave his beard. “It stunk,” Jones-Drew said. Jones-Drew grew the beard this past offseason, and returned to Jacksonville sporting it following his preseason holdout. “I tried to trim it up,” he said. “My wife wanted me to keep it, but it was stinking. I tried to wash it. It doesn’t stink in California because there is no humidity.”

* Guard Uche Nwaneri, asked what Chicago defensive end Julius Peppers brought to a situation, said, “Problems.” Peppers, in his 11^th season, has 2.5 of the Bears’ 14 sacks this season. “He makes some rare plays for a guy his size being able to run down backs from behind,” Mularkey said. “I think we’ve all seen the things he’s capable of doing. I think he’s still capable of doing that because of the way they’re rotating him. He definitely can become a game wrecker.”

* The Jaguars have two sacks this season and none in the last three games, but Mularkey said there have been flashes in recent weeks of effective pressure. Those flashes include a solid rush early against Cincinnati by rookie Andre Branch that led to an interception by Kyle Bosworth. “We’ve seen flashes of the good things we can do,” Mularkey said. “We just need to do it more.”