Jaguars Name Gardner Minshew Starting Quarterback (Again) For Week 15

On Monday, Head Coach Doug Marrone announced that quarterback Gardner Minshew II would be starting for the Jacksonville Jaguars next Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens. It will be Minshew's first start since Week 7.

The Jacksonville Jaguars (1-12) will start quarterback Gardner Minshew in their Week 15 matchup against the Baltimore Ravens (7-5, with a game tonight) on Sunday, head coach Doug Marrone announced Monday.

Minshew replaced Mike Glennon in the third quarter of yesterday's 31-10 loss against the Tennessee Titans. It was Minshew’s first game appearance since Week 7. The Jags former incumbent starter went 18-31 for 178 yards and a touchdown in his quarter and a half of playing time.

That route by @Air4Cole 👌@GardnerMinshew5 finds him for the TD.

📺: CBS | https://t.co/ipBIjeiLwZ pic.twitter.com/DrNImXmxS3

— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) December 13, 2020

He entered with the team facing a 28-point deficit. The Jags still lost, extending their franchise losing record. However, the offense put up 276 of their 354 yards under Minshew. That means Minshew led the offense to 78% of their production on the day.

The second-year passer started the 2020 season as a starter and went 1-6 before being sidelined with a hand injury. He had suffered the injury to the thumb on his throwing hand, reportedly even playing through the injury for two weeks before alerting the Jaguars.

Even after being cleared to return medically, Minshew still was kept on the inactive list in Week 12. He returned to the active roster in Week 13 but did not enter the game. A week ago, on Dec. 7, Marrone said he needed to see more in practice from Minshew before feeling comfortable in plugging him back in as the starter.

“We talked and just like I told him, I just want to see more at practice. I think he’s working on his volume and the amount of throws and all of that. He’s obviously cleared medically, but still you want to be able to see those things on the practice field. I just think right now in practice Mike [Glennon] is throwing better and giving us the best chance to win. I don’t think Gardner [Minshew II]’s 100 percent as far as his workload and that’s always [of] concern to me. I’m trying to understand it and we’re both trying to work through it.”

However, on Sunday, the head coach was left with little decision after Glennon threw his third pick in two games.

“Mike [Glennon] took a pick, and we were behind, and I really wanted to try to get a spark. Thinking that Gardner [Minshew II] could extend plays and make some plays with his feet and then he did that.”

Minshew in fact accounted for 22 yards on two scrambles. Asked after the game if he'd done enough to earn his job back, Minshew effaced somewhat but admitted there's nothing like playing. 

"That’s not my call," he said. "I’m going to try to help the team score points and help the team get better in any way I can. Whatever they need me to do, I’ll do. But obviously there’s nothing like being out there and being under center.”

After examining the tape and what the offense could do under each guy, Marrone said he spoke with the trio on Monday and informed them of his decision.

“I explained to them, I mean all three of them, you know, during the course of this year I've been, you know, things haven't gone the way they want them to go. Neither have I, neither have anyone, and there's a lot of pressure to get everyone else around us playing well.

“And I think, you know, that’s it's going to be important for the pieces around on them to play extremely well for them to have success. So you know Gardner is going to go ahead and get the start this week and I told Mike to be ready and Jake [Luton] to keep coming along because there's pressure on all of us to go in there and win football games, and to win a game, and we're going to need a lot of people around us. So, that's how we're going to go into this game.”