We all know about how injury ravaged the Jacksonville Jaguars team has become, but the brunt of the damage has come on the defensive side of the football. The team placed defensive end Matt Roth and cornerback Ashton Youboty on injured reserve yesterday, making it the 30th and 31st player placed on injured reserve this season. I haven't looked it up, but I assume that this is an NFL record. It had just looked like the Jaguars had settled in on defense after all the changes, then they took more hits.
Matt Roth had been out for the past five weeks, so his injury has been dealt with accordingly. Defensive tackle Leger Douzable has stepped into the left end role and filled in quite nicely. He's not so much a pass rusher off the edge, but he can hold the point of attack on the side and anchor in the running game. He also does a nice job generating some pressure with a bull rush and some stunts.
The cornerback position is another issue, however. With the loss of Youboty, the Jaguars are down to Morgan Trent, Kevin Rutland, David Jones, and Drew Coleman. "We don't see it as a drop-off when somebody new is in the game," Rutland told Jaguars.com. "It's just the way it is. We keep rolling." Thankfully the Jaguars have just one game left on the season, but they'll need the guys remaining on the roster to step up and make an impact. "We have guys here who are available to step up and play for us," Tucker said.