JACKSONVILLE — On a short week, the Jacksonville Jaguars have injury issues. Defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks suffered a triceps injury and may not only miss the Tennessee game, but the rest of the season.
The Jaguars are short on defensive tackles because Michael Bennett missed the Baltimore game with a hamstring injury. Abry Jones or Tyson Alualu would likely start for Marks.
–Running back T.J. Yeldon suffered a foot injury and was in a boot Monday and is day to day.
Another key player, wide receiver Allen Hurns, is playing with a foot injury but he also has an abdominal problem and visited a specialist in Philadelphia Monday.
Head coach Gus Bradley downplayed the injury but if he has a sports hernia and needs surgery, he could be out six to eight weeks.
–Rookie wide receiver Rashad Greene is eligible to return to the active roster from reserve/injured, designated for return Thursday night against Tennessee, but head coach Gus Bradley hasn’t yet given him the green light to play.
“That will be a day-to-day thing, but if he is available, that will be something we need to look at,” Bradley said Monday. “(general manager) Dave Caldwell and I talked about it to see how everything shakes out. We can’t make a decision until Wednesday anyway.”
He’s been practicing for two weeks and Bradley said he’s “looked pretty good.”
“I am real surprised,” he said of the way he’s looked after the layoff.
Bradley said one factor may be what condition Greene’s in after the long layoff. He played in the first two games, but missed the last seven games with a thumb injury.
“There’s nothing like playing,” Bradley said.
Bradley indicated Greene may be able to return punts despite the thumb injury.
“He’s been doing some of that in practice, so it doesn’t seem to have any impact on him,” he said.
Bryan Walters handled the punt return duties in Baltimore, but he’s in the concussion program so they’ll have to decide whether to use Greene or go back to Nick Marshall, who had a critical fumble of a punt against the New York Jets.
Greene returned three punts for an average of 13 yards a return, including a 24-yarder, in the first two games.
Greene, drafted on the fifth round out of Florida State, said he’s ready to go if the Jaguars call on him. He caught nine passes for 35 yards before he got hurt.
“I definitely feel like I’m ready,” he said and added that conditioning wouldn’t be a problem. “I was able to start running immediately and started conditioning to get myself back into game mode.
I am trying to do whatever they allow me to do.”
Greene said he wasn’t frustrated about getting hurt.
“You get caught up in things like that and you get mentally out of it,” he said. “It’s football. It’s physical. Things happen. Now it’s time to focus on getting myself back to playing. You can’t think about things you can’t control.”
–With Bryan Walters in the concussion program and with Allen Hurns dealing with an abdominal problem although he has a history of being hurt, the Jaguars got more good news on the wide receiver injury front besides the possible return of Greene.
Marqise Lee, who had 24 snaps and caught one pass and had a drop, said he had no issues with the hamstring that sidelined him for 5 1/2 games and he’s ready to continue to play.
“I’m fine,” Lee said. “I’m back to myself so we’ll see what happens this week. I’ve got no worries. I’m pretty sure the main focus was for me to finish the game without an injury.”
Head coach Gus Bradley said Lee was dealing with the conditioning issues that are normal for players who missed multiple games.
“We went through that with Julius (Thomas) and guys that are coming back from injuries,” Bradley said. “But I thought he did OK.”
–T.J. Yeldon suffered his foot injury on his final carry Sunday, a two-yard loss with 5:25 remaining when he appeared to be landed on by Lardarius Webb.
If Yeldon can’t go and if Bernard Pierce is sidelined with his calf injury, Denard Robinson will likely start although Toby Gerhart, who’s been inactive the last two games, said he could play even though he is suffering from an abdominal injury and is not 100 percent.
“It’s up to them,” Gerhart said. “I’ll do whatever is asked of me, whatever is needed. For two years now, I can’t get close to 100 percent. I’ve been like 75 to 80 percent.”
Head coach Gus Bradley said that Yeldon is day-to-day. The other running back on the roster is Joe Banyard, a third-year player who was signed to the practice squad on Oct. 14 and promoted to the active roster a week later.
–Jaguars linebacker Dan Skuta said his groin injury, sustained in Week 9 against the New York Jets, “is definitely getting better. Hopefully, we’ll be good for Thursday.”
Skuta missed the Baltimore game after going through a workout several hours before kickoff and finding out he wasn’t ready to play.
“I felt like I was probably 70 percent and I wanted to wait a little longer,” he said. “I just have to feel like I’m not going to reinjure it and make it a longer thing and that it becomes 4-5 weeks.”
Skuta said he’ll “run around” on the practice field Tuesday to gauge his progress.
Rookie Thurston Armbrister had 43 snaps in place of Skuta plus 14 on special teams. He had four tackles, one for a loss.
–Rookie James Sample has been out five weeks with a shoulder injury and now the question is whether he will return this season.
“I think we are looking at other options to try to find out exactly where he is at, so I don’t know (if he can return),” head coach Gus Bradley said. “I would say in the next week or two, we will have a better idea.”
When he was asked if Sample could go on injured reserve, Bradley said, “I think we just want to see where he’s at and where this injury is at. He is obviously having some issues with and he’s improving, but it’s causing some frustration for him because he wants to be back at a hundred percent. That’s what we’re looking for.”
–Jason Myers got a chance to make up for missing his fourth field goal of the season, a 26-yarder, with his 53-yard game winner.
“I think for him (the big thing is) to bounce back, but that’s what’s required of the whole team,” head coach Gus Bradley said. “We talk in many terms to our team about quickly recovering. I think the big thing is to come back and capture the opportunity like he did. That’s what he learned. I think you have to quickly recover in this profession.”