On Monday, Jaguars coach Gus Bradley said that running back Maurice Jones-Drew could play against the Seahawks in Week Two after injuring his ankle in Jacksonville’s loss to Oakland and things are looking a little more certain as the game draws closer.
Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reports that an MRI showed no serious damage and that the plan is for Jones-Drew to play on Sunday.
Jones-Drew has gained just 72 yards on 25 carries so far this season, numbers that don’t fill you with much encouragement about his prospects for success against a very good Seahawks defense playing on a field where they don’t make a habit of losing games. With a healthy Jones-Drew, there would be a good chance that the Jags would fall behind by enough that they’d have to abandon the run early in the game.
That’s even more likely with Jones-Drew on a balky ankle, especially since he spent the first two weeks still looking like he might be knocking off the rust accumulated while rehabbing the foot injury that wrecked his 2012 season.