|
|
“How about 14-2?”
An Interview with David Garrard
by Paul
Eide
Senior Writer
9/19/08
 The Jacksonville
Jaguars suddenly find themselves in a tough spot. The
team that found itself two wins from a Super Bowl appearance a year
ago, now finds itself in an 0-2 hole already facing a “Must win”
situation in only week three. No team in NFL history has ever recovered
from an 0-3 start to come back and win the Super Bowl. But to David
Garrard, history is just that.
“We can’t be thinking about ‘Oh man, we’re 0-2’,” said Garrard on his
cell phone. “We have to take it one game at a time like we always have
been, but we really have to do that. We just need to start winning
games and everything will take care of itself.”
So far in 2008 things haven’t taken care of themselves for the Jaguars
like they did in 2007. The Jags have lost their first two games by a
total of 10 points and have lost the services of two starting offensive
lineman (Guards Vince Manuwai and Maurice Williams) for the rest of the
season. Additionally, starting center Brad Meester is still recovering
from off-season surgery and back up tackle Richard Collier was also
lost for the season after he was shot sitting in his car and will spend
the rest of the year on IR.
“Nobody sees these kinds of things coming,” said Garrard. “Our prayers
are with Richard. We hope he comes back healthy, but these other teams
are not going to feel sorry for us or give us a pass just because this
has happened (with the offensive line). We lost other lineman in the
first game and now we just have to come together for this next game.”
So how do you regroup from losing two offensive linemen and do the fans
understand how important that is?
“I don’t think most people understand how much that affects a team.
When you go thru an entire off-season with the same guys who have been
playing these roles day in and day out it goes a long way. And now
you’ve got all these new players coming in, you’ve never even seen them
so what do you expect from them? It just makes it tough on you but I’ve
been in tough situations before.”
The key to the Jags 11-5 record a year ago was success in the running
game. The team was second in the NFL last year in rushing, averaging
149 yards a game. This season the team has only managed to rush for 131
yards in two games. The two headed monster of Fred Taylor and Maurice
Jones-Drew has yet to produce the way it can, averaging only 2.7 yards
per carry on 35 attempts. Fred Taylor was limited in practice all week
with a sprained toe and Jones-Drew injured his ankle in last weeks lost
to the Buffalo Bills.
“I didn’t even know he was hurt until I heard from my wife after the
game because he still played and was doing fine. I’m sure it wasn’t
more than a little tweak,” said Garrard of MJD.
And of Fred Taylor; “Fred has looked good this week. He looks like he’s
25 years old and is as strong as ever.”
The match up between the Colts and Jaguars this Sunday will give the
winner a big head start in the race for the lead in the always tight
AFC South. It may only be week three, but Garrard knows starting out
0-3 is an ominous beginning which is why everyone will be motivated.
“I predict were gonna show up in Indy ready to play as hard as we can
and let everything lay the way its going to lay,” said Garrard. “You
can’t predict wins and loses but you can predict everyone showing up
and giving 100% and that’s what it takes.”
Click here
to listen to Michael Cooper and Paul Eide’s full interview.
|
|
|
