Jacksonville Jaguars RB Maurice Jones-Drew aims quick return to prime form – NFL News
Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew knows missing the entire offseason programme is too lengthy a period for a rusher to stay away from the game and can potentially have an impact on the performance, and he might need quite a few games now
to return to full form.
Maurice skipped mini-camp, organised team activities, training camp and then preseason phase in protest to the Jaguars’ refusal to negotiate a new deal for him which never happened and at the end he had to come back at the start of the season unconditionally.
He was left for a backup role in the season opener with an aim to have enough time to find his rhythm and form, and then was promoted at the leading position in the second game. Although he performed reasonably well in the opener, the second game was insignificant
given it was a total team failure, not just failure of quarterbacks or rushers.
Still, the fact is that Maurice has yet to return to prime form that makes him one of the most formidable rushers in the league. It was down on his impressive performance that almost all pundits had backed his demand for a new contract.
He stands out as the leading rusher among the elite crop and there was a unanimous agreement among commentators that he deserves a better payout irrespective of the fact that he has two years left on his current contract which general manager Gene Smith
and other officials had demanded from him to serve first.
Also, he is yet to find the lost form but this does not worry him and coach Mike Mularkey. It is rather a setback that the player could not work with the coach during the offseason and then at training camp and the absence is now making him struggle.
Both – the player and coach – are nevertheless optimistic about improvement in the performance of the player in the next couple of games. An important and notable achievement of the RB is that he has maintained his fitness and there are no issues as such
of him struggling on the field as far as sustaining the game time is concerned.
The team had kept him limited in the initial game to see if he shows any sign of fatigue or tiredness but he proved his fitness and now gears up to achieve other targets.
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