Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Pederson offered a relatively optimistic injury report Monday, 24 hours after an 18-13 loss to the Cleveland Browns .
While Pederson said the hamstring injury sustained by tight end Evan Engram in pregame warmups would have to be monitored on a game-to-game basis, in-game injuries to four other starters shouldn’t keep them out of Monday night’s game at Buffalo (7:30 p.m., ESPN).
“We’re optimistic, but hamstrings can be funny,” said Pederson, who has already lost cornerback Tyson Campbell to the four-game injured reserve list because of the same injury. “It’s kind of a week-to-week deal right now with him.”
Running back Tank Bigsby (shoulder), offensive tackle Anton Harrison (leg), safety Andre Cisco (groin) and wide receiver Gabe Davis (shoulder) were labeled either “okay” or “fine” by Pederson.
Why didn’t Maason Smith play?
The Jaguars put second-round draft pick Maason Smith on the inactive list for the Browns game, a week after the defensive tackle from LSU had 29 defensive snaps and five on special teams the week before against the Miami Dolphins.
The last time a second-round draft pick (or a second first-round pick) was a healthy scratch this early in the season was offensive guard Will Rackley in 2011.
Pederson didn’t have an answer for why Smith didn’t play — only that other players had better weeks of practice to earn the playing time.
“You’ve got 53 players each week and I get a chance to select 48,” Pederson said. “I visit with the defensive staff and it kind of goes off the prior week. It’s not necessarily what Maason did. I think guys like ‘Big O’ [Esezi Otomewo] and Jeremiah [Ledbetter] also had good weeks of preparation and practice.”
Pederson suggested that Smith use the time to his advantage.
“It’s just an opportunity for Maason to learn and put himself in a position this week to try to be elevated,” Pederson said. “I just think that it was the fact that Jeremiah and Big O had opportunities to be up this week.”
Doug Pederson remains confident in the offensive line
The Jaguars' offensive line has given up seven sacks and 11 quarterback hits on quarterback Trevor Lawrence in two games, the worst example coming late in the game against the Browns that resulted in a safety. The Jags are averaging 3.8 yards per rush (it was 4.2 last year). They’re 26 percent in third-down conversions, (1 of 7 on third-and-five and shorter). Issues of scoring in the red zone or converting short yardage remain.
However, Pederson said “confidence is still there” in the starting five of center Mitch Morse, guards Brandon Scherff and Ezra Cleveland and tackles Cam Robinson and Harrison.
“I think the communication is probably the biggest issue,” Pederson said, then alluded to the line calls by Morse and recognition of the rush by Lawrence. “Some of the hits [vs. Cleveland] ... whether it was Trevor or Mitch ... these are things we’ve got to fix, making protection calls.”
Pederson said the safety, in which Lawrence was sacked when Myles Garrett forced him into the arm of Alex Wright, who had split Morse and Cleveland, was a matter of Lawrence wanting to wait a split-second more for wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr., to get open on a double move.
“Just execution down there,” Pederson said. “It wasn’t necessarily a communication issue. If we pick up that defensive tackle right there, there’s a big play to Brian Thomas. ”
Pederson did have a word of caution: the line has to play better against the Bills .
“This is probably going to be the fastest sort of downhill linebacker group we may see all season,” he said. “These guys really attack the line of scrimmage. There were some good things, some good, positive things, nice runs that were in there. And then there were some we failed to execute on. So, you know, confidence is still high and and it's going to remain high.”
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jaguars injury report: Lone bright spot on a gloomy Monday after Browns loss
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