JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jaguars started over at quarterback in the offseason and now get to do it all over again.
Coach Doug Marrone said that they're ready for the challenge.
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When Nick Foles went down with a broken collarbone 10 plays into the season, that put the Jaguars in another familiar spot — scrambling to address the most important position in football.
Rookie Gardner Minshew responded in relief with one of the best debuts in NFL history. Can he have similar success against teams if they are game planning for him and not Foles?
"Obviously not to take away from Gardner's performance — it was impressive," Marrone said. "I think when anyone looks at it, I think the challenge is, ‘Hey listen, we have to repeat this. Where are we going to go?' There are some people who will question whether he can keep it up. Do you think he can do that again?
How does the offense change with a sixth-round pick running things instead of a veteran like Foles? Will it change?
Minshew got his first experience working with the No. 1s in game action against the Chiefs. He responded with a 22-of-25 game for 275 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Minshew's one interception came off of a bobbled pass.
"It's a challenge because they are all different. You can't get two people that are alike and most of the time the offense, especially the passing game part of it, is going to revolve around the quarterback position," Marrone said.
"You go through that and like you say, it's easier to say, ‘All the work we did in OTAs, all the work we did on the playbook, all of that was geared towards Nick Foles.' Well, in a matter of a quarter and here we go starting again. It's a challenge and we're up for it. I like the guys that we are going through it with."
Marrone said that there was no sugarcoating the loss of Foles, who signed an $88 million contract with the team in free agency. He underwent surgery Monday and was placed on injured reserve with a designation to return this season. The soonest Foles can come back is Week 11 at Indianapolis.
Other points of concern for Marrone also revolved around injuries.
Offensive tackle Cam Robinson, who hyperextended his knee during practice last week, is still working on getting back into practice. Marrone said Robinson's progress was a "period by period," evaluation.
Calais Campbell (foot) and Yannick Ngakoue (hamstring) both missed practice on Wednesday.
"Are you concerned about it? Of course," Marrone said of those two players appearing on the injury report. "I think that if you sit up here and you say you are not, I don't think that's accurate."